Jack was very, very glad his unusual 'tenant' was out of the house with her studies and not around when he had to go clean up the mess he left behind when the soldiers came. None of them asked questions about the fact that it was obvious there was more than one occupant in his home, but then again she usually kept her things inside her room and did her best to help around the house.
He kept his silence on her presence throughout the entire thing, outside of leaving a note someplace she was sure to find it (in the guest bathroom that was officially designated as her personal one) and went back to a place he thought he'd never see again.
The entire thing was a damn mess.
One day later...
Daniel looked down and saw what looked like someone attempting to transcribe ancient runes...specifically Norse.
"You trying to pick up a new hobby Jack?" asked Daniel. Last he checked Jack didn't really have the patience to learn how to read ancient languages.
Jack looked at what he had in his hand, and handed Daniel his beer.
"Nah, that's just her homework," said Jack.
"Your daughter?" asked Daniel.
"My tenant," corrected Jack. "I owed someone a favor, his kid called it in because they were in a bind and needed someone to trust after leaving England. They pay me a fair rent and help with the household chores, and they get the spare bed and bath. It's all notarized in an unofficial contract and everything."
"That's a bit unusual."
"She's just a kid and only turned sixteen recently. Worse case scenario it gives her a chance to set down roots and look for her own place once she's eighteen," explained Jack.
"So where is she?"
"She normally doesn't leave her homework laying out like this," said Jack.
"Yes, well you normally don't bring a rune master into the house either," said an unfamiliar female voice.
Jack and Daniel turned to see... a girl with wet black hair that went down to her neck, clearly having recently taken a shower and gotten dressed. She had bright green eyes and a new pair of glasses, as she didn't feel like wearing contacts at the moment.
That had been one of the things Jack had done for her without her asking. Mostly because he had noticed her squinting far too much and correctly assumed she had the wrong prescription.
"Rune master?" repeated Jack.
The girl stared at Daniel, who almost felt like flinching.
"Remember those stones I put down around the house with your permission two months in?" she asked Jack. "Those were basic ward stones, and one of the things I set up tells me if there's someone with trained magic in the immediate vicinity. It told me when he stepped foot in the house."
Jack turned to look at Daniel. Daniel however was looking more closely at Jack's tenant before he carefully turned to him incredulous.
"Your 'underage tenant' is the girl who lived?" he asked.
Jack looked at her.
"There's a very specific reason I tell people my name is Ivy Evans, not Ivy Potter," she deadpanned. "It's a ridiculous name and I hate everything about it."
Jack blinked. It didn't really matter to him, as Ivy was a rather polite kid who clearly had a crap hand dealt to her. Besides, it meant he could at least put that one favor he owed to rest.
"Did the government know about this before..." asked Daniel, but Ivy tiredly put up a hand.
"The contract is an informal one for legal reasons, I only came here about three months ago, and I spend most of my time playing catch-up on my normal schoolwork while trying to get through my magical ones in night school because I don't want anyone to know where I am. MACUSA is very well aware of my current living address, Jack has already signed some legal documents allowing him into the magical side of things but he prefers not to deal with it since technically I am an emancipated adult on that side of things, and in general we don't pry into each other's past exploits unless asked first. That help?" she asked.
"...Actually, yes. One unrelated question...who's been teaching you runes? This translation is rather poor."
"I only picked up runes two months ago once I fully settled in," said Ivy patiently. "And my rune teacher has to deal with two full time students and can only teach me twice a week at a premium rate."
Jack had the sense to back off, as Daniel was essentially stuck here for a year. Odds were Ivy was about to get a new teacher in magic, which was firmly not his problem.
In retrospect, he hadn't expected Ivy's reputation to proceed her to the point General Hammond was openly asking to bring her in as a "civilian consultant".
Jack looked at the older man in open confusion.
"She's a kid."
"She also has better pull with the magical government than we do. I'd rather have the security of knowing we can detect other infiltrators, even if the most we can get away with is decent ward stones," said Hammond flatly. "Never mind the potions she would have access to."
"I can ask, but I don't know if she's up to it. I'm mostly letting her live with me to repay a favor to her godfather," said Jack.
"What sort of favor?" demanded Hammond.
"The kind where you get into trouble that you're better off not explaining to your superiors because it's above their paygrade," deadpanned Jack. "Or because they don't have the right clearance for it. Though after that I was listed as 'in the know' once I signed a very specific NDA with the other government."
Hammond made a face. It sounded like one of those missions, and from the sound of things the person Jack owed the favor to was either high up enough or had enough pull to insure Jack kept his memories after the fact. Which usually meant old blood at the very least.
Later that night...
"So your current boss heard I was living with you, and immediately asked if I could be brought in because of my connections?" said Ivy bemused. At least they were up front about their intentions.
"He wants you classed as a 'civilian consultant' same as Daniel. That way you don't have to deal with the chain of command as much as I do and have some leeway. From the way he worded the contract, I think his plan is to have you finish your magical training on the SGC's dime in exchange for letting them use your name to put some magical protections around the place," admitted Jack. "While you will have to sign an NDA, I looked it over and it's about the same as the one I had to sign when I agreed to take you in."
"So don't talk to anyone about it unless I've seen them in the SGC or you let me know first, right?" she said.
"Pretty much."
"Am I allowed to bring my pet?" asked Ivy seriously.
Ivy had, at the suggestion of the specialized therapist Jack had found for her, gotten a registered emotional support animal to help her deal with the trauma.
Jack thought back on how fast the lizard had learned within the first week or two the house rules, and how it had a special collar so that it didn't accidentally wander off too far past the special wards or the matching bracelet that insured it didn't leave it's owner unless explicitly given permission.
She would have gotten a dog, but the memory of Sirius was too fresh, and Jack wasn't a huge fan of cats. So she had gone looking for an unusual pet and brought back a blue and purple reptile that had a habit of hiding in cupboards to scare Jack when he wasn't expecting it.
"Tell him to limit his pranks to off base and we'll talk," said Jack.
"Fair enough."
General Hammond was more than willing to be perfectly up front about his intentions. After the unfortunate mess with Kawalsky, he didn't want any more...surprises. Mundane detection could only do so much, but magical protection would at least give them peace of mind because they could play it off as an experimental security system with little problem. Never mind how they might have been able to save Kawalsky's life if they had access to magical potions.
Ivy wasn't expected to help out on any off-world missions, she wasn't expected to take part in any fights that came onto the base. They would set up a section near the upper levels of the base or close enough to secure for her magical training (Daniel had offered to teach her ancient runes since he was qualified to do so), she would help brew any potions when needed, and she would add any input where magical assistance could be of help.
In exchange she gave them permission to use her name and any connections she had to get the compound warded, give the magicals discreetly working the base an allowance to use magic in front of no-maj without their memories being wiped repeatedly for it, and to get 'special assistance' during certain events.
All of this required permission from someone who either had a lot of political pull...most of whom wouldn't be allowed anywhere near this particular project because of how sensitive and how much finicky equipment was involved that didn't like heavy magics being cast around it. Or...someone who was of old blood, old money, and had enough pull with the higher ups that people would be willing to look the other way if it meant getting into that person's favor later.
Ivy looked Hammond dead in the eye and said "I'll agree to most of this on a few conditions."
"Go on," said Hammond patiently, fully expecting a headache.
"If you use my name to get special permissions and it requires favors such as appearances or endorsements, I would prefer it if you ran them by me first so I can judge whether it's worth it," said Ivy. "I'd rather not have someone promise something in my name that I can't or refuse to uphold."
"Fair enough," agreed Hammond, as that was a rather reasonable request.
"I'm going to assume that since we're dealing with alien species, that there will be times when some jumped up fool with not enough sense and too much pull to simply dismiss will attempt to 'claim' them for some government project or another...like Teal'c for example. Since I am not an American citizen and I do hold some degree of diplomatic immunity, I'd like to suggest that should other species come to us seeking asylum or aid, that you do so under my name first," said Ivy.
That particular request had Jack sit up a bit in surprise.
"Explain your reasoning," said Hammond. That wasn't a flat no.
Ivy had a thin smile on her face, as she just knew Jack was going to love this.
"From what Jack told me after I signed the NDA, Earth has apparently pissed off a large number of beings who would happily see us wiped out or enslaved for daring to challenge them. That means we need allies. The problem is that governments are made up of the worst sort of people and rarely do the ones who can do some actual good have the ability or pull necessary to deal with the greedy idiots who screw everything up. Which means they won't hesitate to piss off potential allies for their own gain regardless of what it will cost Earth in the long run," explained Ivy. She could see both men agree to that particular comment. "Such people often have enough pull in the government to force your hand...however they very rarely would have the right sort of connections to force mine."
Jack was grinning now, as he was getting to what she wasn't saying.
"You want us to use you as a neutral third party that they can't harass and we can honestly tell them to pound sand if they come knocking."
"Consider it this way...I'm already getting training courtesy of the SGC. Why not include training on how to act as a goodwill ambassador for Earth ahead of time so we at least give a good impression to any potential allies in the stars?" said Ivy.
She could see Hammond was seriously considering the idea. It was an offer that benefited both parties in a way that could provide long-term benefits.
"We'll have to run this through both of the governments first...and it will mean involving the British eventually," said Hammond.
"The mundane side of Britian is fine...magical England is too backward to even consider helping their mundane counterparts," said Ivy. Then a thought occurred to her. "Although, considering how things are going in England, we might be able to rope a large number of magicals willing to be part of this."
A chance to be part of something major and get one over on the uptight pure bloods? They'd likely jump at the chance once they knew it was an option.
Hammond sent her 'requests' to the higher ups he answered to (namely the president) while Ivy forwarded the contract to the few people in the MACUSA who had the right connections to handle this and get it approved by the magical president.
It needed a bit of revision, on both sides, but the end result was the same. Both Ivy and General Hammond came out of the deal with a bit more hope than they had going in. Ivy was just happy the issue of her boredom was now very thoroughly resolved for the foreseeable future.