"I, Sirius Black, being of sound mind and body, I hear-by declare on my magick, I am not under the influence of any Potions, spells or compulsions, declare this is my Last Will and Testament," the goblin read.
A number of those gathered to hear the reading of the Will glanced at each other. Their brows furrowed at the strange start to the Will.
"To my cousin, Andromeda Black Tonks, I leave the family jewelry which I expect to be passed down to your daughter Nymphadora upon the proper milestones of her life. I'm sure you'll remember them well Andromeda. In addition I leave for you 100,000 galleons," the goblin’s head was bowed over the Will, until the goblin raised it to look directly at Andromeda. "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?"
Andromeda held out her wand and said, "I do." The end of her wand glowed for a moment.
"To my dark haired cousin who bleaches her hair, Narcissa Black Malfoy. My dear cousin, no one believes you’re a natural blond so stop pretending to be. Now I know that you believe in your little black heart that I'm going to leave that little maggot you gave birth to the mantle of the Black family but you're wrong. That worm doesn't deserve to be even associated with the Black family name. No, the Head of the Black family will go to the last true Black on Earth and that is Nymphadora Tonks. The Black family is not about using the Dark Arts to achieve our goals but using our brains and cunning to get what we desire even if it is to lock away criminals. And Narcissa I expect you to help the new Head of the family in even way possible after all you did swear and oath to the family.
The goblin looked directly at Mrs. Malfoy. "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?"
Narcissa's lip curled back in a snarl as she whipped out her wand. "I do not!" Her wand glowed for a moment before going out.
The goblin turned to Nymphadora Tonks, who was sitting there still as stone, her mouth slightly open in surprise. "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?" the goblin asked her.
Andromeda nudged her daughter as Tonks turned to her mother questioningly. Andromeda nodded to the goblin.
Tonks blinked a couple of time as she tried to clear her shock. "Excuse me?" she said in a voice that squeaked.
The goblin sighed wearily. "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?"
Tonks nodded her head.
The goblin sighed once again as he rolled his eyes. "You have to swear on your wand, human," everyone heard a low growl under the words.
"Oh," Tonks said as she pulled out her wand only to drop it on the floor. Reaching down for it, she bumped her head on the back of the chair that was in front of her. Standing up with wand in one hand as the other rubbed the goose egg on her head with the other she said, "Ummm…"
The goblin closed his eyes. His lips moving as he said something softly to himself. Finally the goblin opened his eyes and said, "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?"
"I agree," Nymphadora said causing the end of her wand to glow briefly.
As Tonks sat back down her mother pulled her into a hug as he Aunt Narcissa with hatred.
"I wouldn't get to comfortable as the head of the family, my dear Nymphadora," Narcissa said smugly. "I plan on fighting dear Sirius' Will. After all your mother was expelled from the family for marrying someone of lesser blood."
The goblin tapped the papers against the desk in order to straighten them. "Actually he reinstated her and all of her descendants. So you see Mrs. Malfoy, everything is in order and Nymphadora Tonks Black is now the head of the Black family."
Narcissa glared at the goblin before picking up her stuff and storming out of the office.
"Pity," the goblin said. "She should have stayed around to hear the rest of the Will."
The goblin turned to the next page of the Will. "To my almost brother, Remus 'Moony' Lupin. I leave the sum of 500,000 galleons and the land I own on the Isle of Skye. I expect you to write that book on Defense Against the Dark Arts you always wanted to write, Moony. I'm sure it will be a best seller in no time. Now I do have one thing to ask of you and no it doesn’t have anything to do with Harry, by now he's in good hands. No, what I have to ask you is for you to help Nymphadora in her duties as head of the Black family. I know that Andromeda will help as much as she can but to be honest she was never trained to take over the family. You, Remus on the other hand have heard both James and I bitch about what we have to do. You sat down and helped us study the rules and by-laws our family forced on us. You're the only person that I can trust not to screw her over or to try to influence her for your own benefit."
The goblin looked up from the pages of the Will. "Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?"
"I do," Remus replied his wand glowed for a moment before going out. Turning to the new head of the Black family line, he said, "When would be a good time for us to meet?"
"Umm… 10 o'clock tomorrow?" Tonks stammered.
"Very well, Lady Black," Remus said with a bow of his head.
"It's Tonks," she replied.
Remus shook his head. "Once you became the head of the Black family your last name automatically became Black. You have no choice in the matter."
"Wonderful," Tonks snarled as she crossed her arms over her chest and sulked.
"The clan Weasley, I leave 50,000 galleons and the mortgage to their home known as the Burrow," the goblin read aloud. "To Ron Weasley, you're about the same age I was when I made what had to be one of my biggest mistakes. I allowed my hatred of another student to blind me to the dangers I placed my fellow students, my friends and myself in. My temper and desire to what I saw as justice allowed others to believe in the worst about me instead of seeking out the truth. Learn to curb your desires. Remember the best revenge is not to live but to live well. To Fred and George Weasley, your mother is a shrew."
Molly screeched in outrage at being called a shrew.
The goblin looked up from his papers. "Madam, shut up," he said before continuing with the reading of the Will.
"To Fred and George Weasley, your mother is a shrew. She would rather see you under her thumb than for you to live your own life. Live your own dreams. Go out into the world and create your joke shop. If it's a success then it's a success. If it's a failure then learn from it, so next time it will be a success. Don't let her dictate to you what you can and can not do. And to help you fulfill your dreams I would suggest you go talk to Moony, after all he is an evil genius when it comes to the world of pranking."
Fred and George looked at each other as huge and very scary grins appeared on their faces. Slowly the twins turned to Remus still wearing the grins.
Remus looked at the twins and then scooted his chair closer to Tonks for protection.
"Sucks to be you," Tonks said to Remus as she eyed the twins before moving over to take the chair Mrs. Malfoy had used.
"Please bear in mind that we are not finished reading the Will of Sirius Black," the goblin snapped stopping whatever the twins were about to do.
"Yes, sir," the twins said similarly as their creepy grins vanished. "Sorry, sir."
The goblin let out a huff of frustration before picking up where he left off. "Arthur and Molly Weasley, in life we are often faced with choices, either to do what is Right or to do what is Easy. The first time I truly had to make this choice was when I was being Sorted. I could have followed the easy path and entered the House of Slytherin as my family has done for generations, instead I was shunned and disowned by my own family, not that they were much of a family but I did love them. In the past few years you have been presented a choice where you chose what was Easy over what is Right even though your own children have shown you proof of what was really happening. When it is all said and done and you are standing before your Creator, will you say you did what was Easy or what was Right."
"What is he talking about," Molly demanded. "Our family has always done what is Right."
Arthur looked at his wife then at his three sons who had been invited to the reading of the Will. Slyly he glanced over at the Headmaster then over at Remus.
"I think his time around the Dementors have rattled his brain," Molly commented to herself. "I hate myself for saying this but it might have been a good thing that he's gone before he infected the children with his… insanity."
"Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?" the goblin asked of the older red headed man.
Mr. Weasley, as head of the Weasley clan stood up, his wand in this hand. "I do," he announced as the tip of his wand glowed briefly.
"To Hermione Granger," the goblin said as he glanced briefly over to the young Muggleborn girl who has taking careful notes on the goings on during a reading of a wizard will, "that day you saved my life and my soul, you did what you believed was Right. Therefore I'm leaving you a sum of 25,000 galleons and some advice. No one is infallible. We all have our weakness; our strengths; our own desires and goals and we will do whatever is necessary within the limits of our powers and ethics to do what we want to achieve those goals. Now with this in mind remember it is these same people who write the books that you trust and believe in so much."
"Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?" the goblin asked
Granger stood up and looked over to Dumbledore who simply nodded his head. Turning back to the goblin she said in a clear voice, "I do." And with that her wand glowed briefly before going out.
"To Albus Dumbledore, I leave the sum of one Muggle penny."
"What!" Hermione shouted as she stood up. "How dare he insult Dumbledore that way!"
"Sit down and shut up, child," Andromeda commanded.
Hermione turned to the older woman and sputter, "Did you hear! How... how could he insult the Headmaster in such a fashion!"
"What insult?" Arthur Weasley asked as he looked back and forth between Andromeda and Hermione.
"He gave the Headmaster a penny!" Hermione replied as if that cleared up everything.
Andromeda turned to Arthur and said, "In Muggle America when someone does a service for you like waitressing or carrying your luggage to your room it is customary to tip the person; to give them a percentage based on the bill, usually 10 or 15 percent. Now if they give you poor service and you want them to know that you do it by giving a tip of lesser value and if they did a really crappy job you leave a penny."
"Wouldn't leaving nothing be a better way to know they did a bad job?" one of the twins asked.
Andromeda shook her head. "To leave a penny implies you took the time to think about it. If you left nothing they would think either you forgot, someone stole the tip, or you're just cheap."
"So Sirius Black is saying that Dumbledore did a poor job," Madam Bones spoke for the first time since the reading of the Will had begun.
"I'm afraid that Sirius' mental state might have been a bit rattled from his time in Azkaban," Dumbledore suggested.
"Indeed," Bones replied as she studied Dumbledore for a moment before turning to the goblin who was waiting impatiently for the humans to quit interrupting him. "Could you please reread the beginning of the Will?"
The goblin grumbled under his breath as he turned back to the beginning of the Will. " I, Sirius Black, being of sound mind and body, I hear-by declare on my magick, I am not under the influence of any Potions, spells or compulsions, declare this is my Last Will and Testament," the goblin repeated.
"Is this a standard wizard will?" Bones asked.
"Of course," the goblin growled. "If it had been anything less then it would have been invalid."
"Thank you," Bones said with a bow of her head towards the goblin.
The goblin sighed loudly. "Can I continue now or do you humans want to continue debate Black's reasons instead of having them read to you?"
"Oh please do," Tonks said with a cocky grin.
"Nymphadora," Andromeda said in a chastising tone of voice
"But Mum, we're just getting to the good part," Tonks replied.
The goblin shook his head as he started reading again. "To Albus Dumbledore, I leave the sum of one Muggle penny." The goblin glanced over to Hermione to see if she would interrupt him again. "I'm sure that by now one of the better educated witches or wizards has explained the meaning behind the penny to you but to make everything crystal clear; you, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore are a failure. You are a failure as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. You are a failure as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. And you are a failure as a human being. You can deny it all you want Dumbledore but the truth is the truth.
"You are a failure as Chief Warlock since you did not do your duty in seeing to it that everyone accused got a fair trial. How many Death Eaters did you allow to walk away from justice for the price of a few galleons? How many innocent souls did you allow to wither away in Azkaban? And then when faced with the truth about an innocent soul locked away without a trial, did you fight for a trial for this person? How hard would it be to say that you were reviewing a trial transcript and discovered that someone,… that I did not have a trial as was my right? How hard would it be to place a hold on the sentence to have me Kissed as soon as I was captured? How hard would it have been to arrange to have Shacklebolt capture me, after all you did live in my home and eat my food while preaching to me how you were doing your best to get me a trial and how I must remain hidden until then."
Madam Bones looked over at Dumbledore with a determined glint in her eyes.
"You are a failure as a Headmaster. Not only have you placed my Godson in danger multiple times but you placed the whole school if not the whole world in danger with your games. How many times have you lied to the Ministry so that they wouldn't come and find out the truth behind your precious school, Dumbledore? Do they know about the possessed teacher you had? Or about the one who tortured her students if they said something she disagreed with? Or how about the Death Eater who pretended to be your best friend and you couldn’t tell the difference? Or did you, Albus? Did you know that Moody had been locked away by someone pretending to be him? Did you even care or was it all for the Greater Good."
"And speaking of the students of Hogwarts can you explain why there are fewer students attending Hogwarts now than there were when I was a student or when you were a student? Oh I know you will claim it's because of the lives lost during the two Wizard wars and that might be true of the Pureblood and Half blood but it doesn’t explain why there are so few Muggle born when in fact there are more Muggle born witches and wizards being born everyday compared to those who are wizard born. You would be surprised what one can learn when one is rich, powerful and bored. I learned that Hogwarts turned away wizard born who are moderately powerful but lacking the funds or political powers, while those with money or political powers can become a student now matter how little magic they have. But if you're a Muggle born, you must be controllable and able to pay your way through Hogwarts after all who really wants to spend the money set up to pay for the poor."
"Have you even read the Muggle book Animal Farm by George Orwell, Dumbledore? It's about farm animals who take over the farm in order to create society in which all the animals are equal. The problem starts when some of the animals, pigs started to think they were more equal than the other animals. So while the other animals are cold, starving, and overworked, the pigs are warm, fat and lazy. You could say that the animals were working for the Great Good, Comrade Dumbledore. I mean it was for the Greater Good that Harry was sent to the Dursley, which was against Lily and James' Will. It was for the Greater Good that you had the Philosopher's Stone brought to school instead of having it placed in a vault with stronger wards. I'm sure that the Flamel's would be really happy with that decision if they weren't dead."
"I could go on and on about how you're a failure Comrade Stalin… I mean Dumbledore but why waste the time. You won't listen or if you do you'll dismiss it as the rambling of a mad man but let this mad man tell you one thing, Dumbledore, someday you'll die too and everyone will be waiting for you. And it won't be pretty!"
The goblin looked up. "Due to the amount being less than one galleon you are not required to accept or reject the bequest."
"To the fair and just Amelia Bones, I leave to you all of the Black family blackmail information; all the dirty little secrets and lies; all the skeletons, alive and dead that are hiding in people's closets. This includes all the blackmail information Malfoy has gathered on my dear cousin's money. Since I'm so sure Lucius would gladly hand over the information I had the goblins collect it for you. I have faith in you Amelia to do the right thing with this information whether you use it to solve a crime, bring peace to a family or to roast marshmallows over. On in the event of your untimely death or dismissal from your post, the information will be sent to every wizard news agency in the world and to the British Secret Service. I'm sure James Bond will enjoy it."
"Who's James Bond?" Arthur whispered to Hermione.
"A fictional character who was a spy for the British government," Hermione whispered back.
Ron leaned over to Hermione, "But are you sure he's a fictional character?"
"Oh course he is," Hermione snapped back. "The stuff he does is impossible."
"You mean like magic?" one of the twins added in. "Bet you didn't believe in magic before you got your letter."
"Do you accept this bequest from Sirius Black?" the goblin asked.
"I do," Madam Bones replied, her wand tip lighting up before going dark.
"To my Godson, Harry Potter, if everything has gone right then you are not sitting there listening to the goblin reading my Will."
The goblin stopped reading as he waited for someone to interrupt. Looking up from the Will, the goblin scanned the faces waiting for the proverbial light bulb to go off. Seeing only confused faces over the fact that he had stopped reading, the goblin shook his head before picking up were he left off.
"If you are here to hear the whining and moaning of my friends and family…"
"Wait a second," Ron suddenly shouted out. "What do you mean if everything has gone right?"
Everyone looked at Ron in confusion.
"You mean that Sirius planned Harry's kidnapping?" Ron demanded.
The goblin reached down beside him and raised a huge battle-ax up, and put it down heavily on the desk.
Ron stared at the battle ax for a moment before meekly saying, "Never mind."
"To my Godson, Harry Potter, if everything has gone right then you are not sitting there listening to the goblin reading my Will. If you are here to hear the whining and moaning of my friends and family then my good friend Jack needs his arse kicked once again," the goblin read as he rested one hand on the battle-ax. "But knowing Jack he's probably done something that even the Gods would have a hard time believing, so it's probably safe to say that Harry is safe and sound, far far away from merry old England. Now don't you worry about our little cub, Moony. I've known Jack for a very long time and I trust him completely. You could almost say that Jack is my evil twin brother except for the fact we look nothing alike and he's older than me."
"Now on to what I left you since I know everyone who is gathered here is dying to find out and they’re hoping I'll drop some hints about the tall dark stranger who is in your life now, not that it really describes Jack. I mean he's fit and trim, a true fighting man's man but in no way is he dark. You know reading over what I just wrote make it sounds like I'm lusting after Jack… it has been too long without a woman in my arms. Oh well it's too late for that now, I can only hope there are beautiful and willing women at my next destination but with my luck they will all be doctors or nurses who want to take my temperature and tuck me into bed."
"Now the first thing I'm going to do in my list of last things to do is to adopt Harry as my son. Yes I know Narcissa, if you stayed to hear out the rest of the Will, which I doubt you did, just because I adopt Harry as my son doesn't mean he's a Black or that he can inherit any title or wealth from the Black line. But he can inherit my personal vault and I'm sure that 14 years of deposits from the family vault plus interest will add up to be a nice sum. Also I can't forget the few trinkets I've thrown into my Vault from over the years. I’ve always had an interest in all things Egyptian. In addition to that Harry will now have a family that will look out for him, well he'll have the new head of the Black family, Andromeda and her husband to look after him. I always hated the family motto, Always Pure. It should be something like Never cross a Black or it will lead to your blackest days."
"And with that my dear friends, family and bastard, this is Sirius Black signing off. Hope to see you again in a land far far away."
The goblin stood up and picked up his battle-ax. "This concludes the reading of the Will of Sirius Black." And with that the goblin turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
~*~
While it's nearly impossible for a human to tell one goblin from another, anyone would instantly know that the goblin sitting behind the simple desk was the leader of the goblin nation. The goblin had a presence that radiated authority without the need of bloodshed to prove it. He had a presence that if he asked a goblin to fall in his sword, the goblin would do it without question believing in his heart that his death would benefit the goblin nation.
So it was quite understandable that when a lowly human entered the office of the leader of the goblin nations, he was nervous but confident enough to know that this goblin would not kill him simply because he's the messenger.
"Sir?" the man's voice broke as he tried to project a confidence he didn’t feel.
"Come in Sutton," the goblin ordered without look up from his papers. "And shut the door behind you."
"Yes, sir," Sutton replied as he closed the door behind him before walking over to stand before the desk.
"Report, Sutton," the goblin ordered.
"Dudley Dursley has been arrested and charged with numerous crimes including kidnapping," Sutton reported. "He is currently being held without bail because of the nature of the charges against him."
"And the likelihood that the charges will be dismissed or young Mr. Dursley will be found innocent?" the leader of the goblin nation inquired.
"Very slim, sir but it is possible," Sutton admitted. "More likely he will be give a reduced sentence because he is a juvenile or for becoming a witness for the Crown, sir."
The goblin looked up at Sutton. "They would give him a lesser sentence because of his age," the goblin said a touch of disbelief was evident in his tone of voice.
"They're Muggles, sir. They lack the means to insure that someone is telling the truth. They have to rely on the evidence gathered and the word of witnesses," Sutton replied. "A good solicitor might be able to argue that Dudley was an innocent youth who was just employed by Steven McMaster as an errand boy and had no knowledge of the true nature of Mr. McMaster’s business."
"That will not do," the goblin said thoughtfully. "Our client wishes that young Mr. Dursley be imprisoned for no less than 15 years."
"That would be highly unlikely at this time, sir. Dudley will probably turn Crown evidence and then combined with his age and lack of a previous arrest record… even with the crimes he's being charged with… 10 years max," Sutton admitted.
"Then we will have to provide the police with more evidence," The goblin stated.
"Sir?" Sutton said.
"Inform our agent within the Surrey police to contact the Yard," the goblin said. "Have them turn over the evidence they're been collecting on young Mr. Dursley. I'm sure it will be enough to extend his stay in prison enough to satisfy our client."
"Yes, sir," Sutton said with a grin.
"And what news do you have about the parents?" the goblin asked.
"As to be expected they are in denial, sir," Sutton replied. "Mrs. Dursley is accusing the police of falsifying evidence against her son. Mr. Dursley is saying that his son is an adventurous youth who was looking for a good time with older more experienced ladies and that he had no idea he was in a house that catered to those with younger taste."
"And of course they are searching for the very best solicitor to defend their child in court," the leader of the goblin nation said with smile that would send the strongest of men running for their life.
"Yes, sir," Sutton said nervously as he fidgeted in place.
"Excellent," the goblin said with a glint in his eyes that even Dumbledore would be jealous of.
##############
Jack drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he waited for the Airman to return his ID.
"Here you are, sir," the Airman said as he handed back Jack’s ID and access badge. "I've also been told to inform you that Dr. Jackson would like to see you in his office when you get back."
“Is something wrong?” For a brief moment, Jack thought something might’ve happened to Harry.
“I don’t think so, sir, I was told that he sounded excited about something.” The airman watched as O’Neill then proceeded to bang his head gently against the steering wheel of his car. He could understand the Colonel’s reaction. It was a well-known fact that an excited Dr. Jackson was not a good thing for his teammates.
#######
As Jack rode down the elevator to the level where Daniel’s office was, he steeled himself to deal with an excited Daniel. Even though the gate guard had said it had that Daniel just sounded excited, it might have been anxiety instead of excitement. Harry was like Daniel in many ways. If there was a disaster just waiting to happen his godson would stumble right into the middle of it. He thought about if for a few more moments and decided that if Harry had been hurt that it would have been Janet or Carter who would’ve left the message, because if something bad had happened to Harry it would’ve happened to Daniel too.
That meant the excitement reported by the gate guard had to be something to do with his rocks. Daniel reminded him in many ways of Hermione Granger. He loved finding out new information and working out complicated puzzles. He also had a tendency to become so absorbed in his research that he forgot to eat or sleep and tried to survive on coffee and chocolate, unless someone… Jack… dragged him kicking and screaming off base.
Jack was willing to bet a month’s salary, that Daniel hadn’t left his office until the day before yesterday when he’d gone to Jack’s cabin because Jack had been missing, which meant that Daniel was still recovering from his usual research routine. Exhaustion usually cut the edge of Daniel’s usual hyperactive Energizer bunny impersonation, but if he’d managed to get his hands on enough coffee after a night’s sleep, then Jack knew he would be hard to contain. Daniel bouncing around after spending a week or more figuring out something about one of the rocks he’d brought back or about one of the rocks he’d been given by another team was bad enough, but Daniel on a caffeine and information high was not something he wanted to face ever again. He would rather face the Goa’uld than that.
As Jack entered Daniel’s cluttered office, he spotted Harry reading a comic book. He was relieved to see that because even though the gate guard had told him Daniel sounded excited, it might’ve been because something happened to Harry.
Jack barely had time to notice that Harry’s nose was buried in what looked like one of Teal’c’s Batman comics before Hurricane Daniel hit him. “Jack, you won’t believe it. Harry can read the language that we found on …”
“Which language?” Jack interrupted before Daniel accidentally gave away the planet’s designation.
Daniel waved a piece of paper in front of him. Jack grabbed his wrist and held it still so he could see what it looked like and found him looking at something vaguely familiar… from the Sirius part of his life. It took him a few moments to place it. He’d seen something similar in a book that held sections of various old languages that his family had full scrolls and tablets of in the family vault. His father had told him when he was younger that the squiggly script was parseltongue, because the last person who’d been able to read and write with it was Salazar Slytherin himself. The Heads of the Black family made a habit of showing the languages in that book to their children before they went off to Hogwarts, hoping that maybe they might have the heir to Slytherin in their family. It would’ve been a great coup for them among the rest of the Pure Bloods.
Quickly controlling his expression, Jack looked over at Harry who was looking at both of them and asked. “Parseltongue?”
“Not sure,” Harry shrugged. “But it seems likely given it mentioned a group called the Serpent Lords in the little bit of it I did read.”
“What did the part you read say?” Jack asked him.
“Something about welcoming the person reading this home,” Harry’s brows were furrowed in thought. “It also mentioned someone named Moros taking their ancestors somewhere to protect them from the Serpent Lords.”
“Serpent Lords?” It took Jack a moment to make to connection with the Goa’uld. The next thing that occurred to him was that the Goa’uld had destroyed an entire race of parselmouths on PX7226 because they were the biggest threat to them given that a parselmouth could command any snake. Could Harry’s gift, which was considered something Dark by wizardkind, be the thing to help them defeat the Goa’uld? Or could there be a weapon there that could be used to destroy the Goa’uld once and for all? The only problem with the second option that Jack could see, was that if there was anything useful on PX7226 they would probably have to take Harry with them if they were to have a hope of finding it.
Jack sighed. “Looks like I have more to talk with Hammond about than I thought.”
Daniel caught the knowing look he gave Harry and whispered. “I thought you weren’t going to tell Harry about the Stargate til he was a lot older. I mean he’s still a child.”
“No,” Jack countered solemnly, in a low voice, “he’s not. In many ways he grew up a lot like you did. Though I wish it hadn’t been that way, Harry was never allowed to be a child. Between the actions of the Dursleys and Voldemort, he had to grow up fast if he was to have a chance of surviving. Not to mention the actions of Dumbledore, the so called Leader of the Light.”
Jack hadn’t wanted to get Harry involved with the SGC. Personally he would’ve preferred Harry not get involved at all, but if he had to be, Jack had hoped it would be about ten or twenty years from now after Dumbledore was dealt with, but it was beginning to look as though there was going to be no way to avoid it. They needed to deal with the Goa’uld and if that planet might have something they could use they needed to check it out. He would have to get Hammond’s permission for Daniel to explain about the Stargate to his ward.
He looked at Daniel. “Looks like you and I will need to make arrangements to go to my vault at Gringotts soon. There are some scrolls there that have things written in parseltongue as well.”
“When?” Daniel asked eagerly.
“Dunno,” Jack shrugged. “Right now, I need to go talk to Hammond about a few things.”
Jack looked over to the young man on the couch. “I’ve got to talk to the General and I’ll be back in a bit to get you so we can go get something to eat.”
Harry nodded and returned his attention to the comic book.
###########
“Welcome back Jack,” Hammond greeted his Second in Command as he entered his office. "I heard that Dr Jackson asked that you join him as soon as you returned to base. I hope it wasn't a serious matter."
“No sir, Harry was apparently able to read something off one of his rocks.” Jack told him, not really surprised that Hammond knew. There wasn’t much that happened on this base that Hammond didn’t know about, even if he did have a great poker face.
Hammond sighed, wishing he hadn’t run out of antacids earlier today. “And what did it say?”
“From what he told me, he didn’t read anything too revealing, though we may want to tell him about the Stargate.” Jack told him. “If what Harry read was correct then the Goa’uld killed the race of PX7226 because they were a race of parselmouths.”
“Parselwhat?” Hammond demanded.
“Oh sorry sir,” Jack apologized. “They were a race that could speak with snakes and understand them and if what I remember about parselmouths from my memories of being Sirius are accurate, a parselmouth can command a snake and the snake has to obey them.”
“And just how common are these parselmouths?” Hammond wanted to know.
“Very very rare,” Jack told him. “I only know of two who are currently living. Voldemort and Harry.”
“I see,” Hammond was quick to realize what Harry being a parselmouth could mean to the SGC and their fight against the Goa’uld, but he also hated the idea of bringing a child into the middle of a battle. “Do we know if this trait works on the Goa’uld?”
“No sir,” Jack told him honestly, “but given what the Goa’uld did to the people of PX7226, I would say they believed the people there could control them.”
Hammond was silent for several minutes. “We will need to need to explain things to Mr. Potter, but that is going to be postponed until we find the leak. The last thing we need is for the NID to find out what he is capable of doing and kidnapping him like they intended to do to you.”
“Maybourne actually admitted that they intended to kidnap me.” Jack wasn’t really surprised to hear that Maybourne might’ve already betrayed those who sent him. The man was weasel, out to save his own skin first, and while that normally would’ve insured that such a person was at the top of a number of hit lists, Maybourne was useful and had dirt on a lot of major players in a number of governments that they didn’t want to get out, so they left him alive.
“Only to Teal’c,” Hammond told him. “Since he was placed in solitary, he hasn’t said a word. He knows that sooner or later his people will arrange for his release. If they do come to the base to arrange it, we will need to make sure you and Mr. Potter are off the base when that occurs, so they don’t get any ideas about using him to get to you.”
“I don’t think they would like the results if that happened sir.” Jack told him calmly.
“Colonel,” Hammond chastised him, though he could agree with the sentiment.
“I wasn’t referring to me, though I would retrieve him.” Jack told him calmly. “No if they take him, then it is possible that one of the other wizards who is part of the military will learn of it and some of them have to know who Harry is if only by reputation. Someone at the Department of Magic did this morning, though she won’t say anything.”
“Are you sure?” Hammond wanted to know.
“Yes sir,” And Jack was certain that Helen would say nothing. He got the feeling she enjoyed knowing something that pompous little scut of a bureaucrat Maxwell didn’t. Jack also couldn’t help wondering how good her contacts were in Britain, given that she recognized Harry’s name, but Maxwell didn’t. Maxwell struck him as being a lot like Percy and if he’d recognized Harry’s name he would’ve been kissing ass big time. Given that he hadn’t, Jack was willing to bet that the majority of American born wizards wouldn’t know who Harry was, only those from Britain or Europe who had come to America in the last ten or fifteen years would recognize Harry’s name.
Hammond knew that Jack was fairly good at reading people so he took his word that this unknown woman wouldn’t reveal Harry’s presence to others. Then he realized what else Jack had said. “There are magic users in the military?”
“According to Dame McKnight a lot of the magic users who join the military go into what she called the ‘Normal Air Force’ though I would imagine there are some in other branches as well.” Jack told him. “I was thinking it might be useful to get a list of the witches and wizards currently serving in the regular military, because they might prove useful here at the SGC. Those with a Mastery in Wards would definitely prove useful, even if we do get help from the Goblins as well.”
"I agree," Hammond nodded. "However I do have some concerns. The first being, who would they ultimately be loyal to? Are they are loyal to the United States as a whole or just their part of the US since they have kept themselves largely separate from the rest of us."
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "We could have a magically binding contract drawn up for them to sign to keep what they are shown confidential or risk losing their magic. That would protect the Stargate, Harry and anything we might find out there that might be of benefit to the magical people of Earth. The politicians of the magical world seem to be just as power hungry as non-magical ones."
Hammond nodded his head. "And that brings up the other concern, if they do become part of the Stargate program we need to have some way to insure their safety. Aside from some of the scientists who would be very interested in figuring out how their magic works, we would also have to deal with those who believe that magic users are evil or who wish to use them for their own benefit."
Jack nodded, his understanding. Aside from rescuing Harry it had been one of his main worries as well. “Well if we do bring them in, we can pick their brains for ideas. I think between them, Sam and Daniel, we should be able to come up with something that will work for both sides.”
Before Hammond could say anything, an alarm began blaring and a voice announced.
Unauthorized Stargate Activation!
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