You Can’t Keep An Old Dog Down
Post \"The Fifth Race\"
by Lady Foxfire and Corwalch
In the waiting area of Gate 19, a man in his late 40\'s with salt and pepper hair sitting in one of the uncomfortable airport chairs, his hand holding the hand of a sleeping young man. The younger man’s head was wrapped in bandages. The older man spoke softly to the unconscious young, speaking words of comfort and encouragement.
A pretty young woman wearing the uniform flight attendant of Air Canada stopped next to the older man. \"Mr. Maybourne?\" she asked, her nametag was bearing the name of Kelly on it.
\"Yes?\" the lean man got to his feet, pulling his aviator sunglasses off as he faced her.
\"We can load your nephew and yourself now,\" Kelly replied.
Maybourne replied with a smile. \"Thank you, miss,\" he grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and started to push it towards the entry ramp.
The flight attendant looked down at the sleeping young man, his forehead covered with bandage. Licking her lips nervously, \"Mr. Maybourne?\"
\"Hmmm?\"
\"I know it\'s none of my business,\" she began.
\"It was a car crash,\" Maybourne answered her unspoken question. \"My brother and his wife were killed instantly and Daniel was… they didn\'t think he would live. The doctors just cleared it so I can take him home with me. I just wish that the pain meds he\'s taking didn\'t leave him so dopey. It seems as he sleeps most of the time and when he\'s awake... I don\'t know if he understands what\'s happening\"
\"Oh! I\'m so sorry Mr. Maybourne,\" she gasped.
\"Harry. Please call me Harry,\" Maybourne replied. \"And it\'s alright you didn\'t know.\"
\"I know. It\'s just that I feel bad now,\" Kelly replied, \"so if you or your nephew needs anything please let one of the other flight attendants or myself know. We‘ll help anyway we can to make the flight as comfortable as possible.\"
\"I will Kelly,\" Harry Maybourne replied, \"And thank you.\"
As Maybourne pushed the unconscious Harry Potter onboard the airplane a voice announced over the loudspeaker \"Flight 127 to Vancouver will begin boarding shortly at Gate 19.
~*~
With a soft groan of pain, Harry opened his eyes and then just as quickly closed them to the barest slit as the light from the window stabbed into them like a knife. He noted absently that his head felt fuzzy like it had the one time he’d taken too much Muggle cold medicine because Aunt Petunia wanted him well before he could make Dudley sick. It took him a few moments to realize he wasn’t staring at the white walls of the Hogwarts hospital wing, or even the walls of his prison at the Dursley’s. Instead, he saw white walls with generic pictures on them.
Raising himself unsteadily up onto his elbow, Harry looked around at the rest of the room he’d found himself in. It contained what appeared to be two full size beds, a low dresser, a small table with two chairs, and most important of all a television sitting on the low dresser. As he looked at the television, Harry suddenly realized that he wasn’t dressed in his school robes but in clothing that he’d never seen before that looked brand new and fit him perfectly.
Adrenaline flooded his system as he realized that the last place he clearly remembered being was the loo on the Hogwarts Express. Rising shakily Harry got to his feet, trying to see if he could find his wand. Spying a carry-on bag on the far side of the other bed, Harry moved slowly over to it. He’d noticed after the first couple of steps that moving quickly was a bad idea, unless he wanted to end up face down on the well-worn carpet. Picking up the bag and placing it on the nearby bed, Harry unzipped it and was about to start looking inside when he heard the sound of the door opening.
Turning toward the door, Harry positioned his body so that he could fight or flee at a moments notice. The graying man stood in the doorway and stared at Harry, two pizza boxes balanced in one hand and a six pack of soft drinks in the other. \"Harry,\" the man said breathlessly as he looked at Harry with longing.
\"Who are you?\" Harry demanded as he unsteadily backed away from the man. \"Where am I?\"
The man shut the door behind him and moved slowly into the room, his eyes on Harry the whole time. \"My name is Jack,\" he said as he placed the food on the dresser next to the television. \"And you\'re in a hotel room near Vancouver, Canada.\"
\"Can… Canada!\" Harry sputtered. \"I can\'t be in Canada.\"
\"Trust me kid, you\'re in Canada,\" Jack said. \"I should know. I’m the one that brought you here.\"
\"But I can\'t be. I have to go back to the Dursley\'s,\" Harry said more to himself than to Jack. Suddenly as if he realized what was going on Harry\'s head snapped up and his narrowing eyes fixed onto Jack. \"Why?\"
Jack sighs as he ran a hand over his short graying hair. \"It has to deal with Sirius Black.\"
\"What about Sirius?\" Harry demanded. \"What do you know about him?\"
\"I know that he died a week ago,\" Jack said. \"Look kid, what I have to tell you is difficult and I hardly believe any of it myself. And this isn\'t exactly the best place to tell you any of it. So you got to trust me. Let me take you to someplace safe and I promise I\'ll explain everything.\"
\"Why should I trust you?\" Harry demanded. \"You kidnapped me from the Hogwarts Express or had someone do it for you. You drugged me. Undressed me and then dressed me like I was a doll to be played with. Kidnap me from my homeland. And take my wand, my only means of defense away from me. So why the bloody hell should I trust you?\"
\"You\'re definitely Lily\'s child,\" Jack mumbled.
\"What!\"
\"Look if I give you your wand back will you trust me enough to come with me?\" Jack asked. \"I want to get out of here before anyone in England realized you\'re missing and starts trying to find you.\"
Harry shook his head no. \"Why wouldn\'t I want to be found?\"
\"Harry do you honestly think that Sirius\'s death was an accident? Dumbledore has plans for you, plans that Sirius disagreed with,\" Jack stated as he pulled Harry\'s wand out of his jacket and tossed it onto the bed near Harry.
Harry licked his lips as his eyes moved between Jack and his wand. \"Ok,\" Harry said as he grabbed his wand off of the bed. \"Let\'s say I believe you for the moment, where are we going?\"
\"I own a cabin in Minnesota. When we get there I\'ll explain everything. I promise,\" Jack said with a relieved smile.
Harry looked down at the wand in his hand and slowly nodded his head. \"OK.\"
\"Great. That’s great,\" Jack said. \"Umm I got pizza. I got you one with green peppers since I know you love them.\"
~*~
\"You\'ll love the place,\" Jack said as he drove the rental car slowly down the road towards the cabin. \"I have a lake you can go fishing at. Acres of woods you can run around in but you have to be careful of bears, skunks, snakes… umm pretty much anything.\"
\"No centaurs?\" Harry commented as he looked out the passenger side window.
\"No. No we got lucky on that,\" Jack replied with a chuckle.
Harry nodded his head half heartily before turning to stare out the passenger side window again.
Jack glance briefly at Harry before turning his attention back to the road. \"We\'re going to have to go into to town tomorrow,\" Jack stated. \"I have food at the cabin but I didn\'t think on getting you any extra clothes.\"
Harry let out a weary sigh. \"Why am I not surprised?\"
\"Give me a break kid,\" Jack grumbled. \"I\'m not used to kidnapping teenage wizards from a train and transporting them half way around the world.\"
\"Oh and you\'re used to kidnapping other people transporting them half way around the world?\" Harry asked.
Jack squirmed slightly under Harry\'s gaze. \"Maybe.\"
Harry crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at Jack waiting for more information.
\"I\'m a Colonel in the United States Air Force,\" Jack stated, \"and that’s all I\'ll say on that subject.\"
Harry relaxes slightly at Jack\'s confession. \"Have you ever caused a friend to die?\" Harry asked, as he seemed to shrink into himself.
Jack glanced over at the teen. \"Yes.\"
The growl on the engine and the hum of the road was the only thing that filled the cabin of the vehicle as the miles sped past.
\"How do you get through it?\" Harry asked finally breaking the silence.
\"Finding someone to talk to, someone who will actually listen to you is the first step,\" Jack said as he watched to road. \"The next step is to realize that no matter what you did differently it probably wouldn\'t have made a difference.\"
Harry snorted. \"Yes it would have.\"
Jack glanced over at Harry, his concern evident in his eyes. \"Yeah, well sometimes it might but you know what they say about hindsight. Look kid, when you\'re out in the field, you have to make decisions on the info you have. Good or bad, you make the best decision you can at the time and fucking hope for the best. But I\'ll tell you this, looking back at the decisions you made in the past with the knowledge you have now… well it\'s either going to cause you to crawl into a bottle or put a gun in your mouth. You made the best decisions you could with the info you had at the time.\"
\"Yeah but Sirius… Cedric still died,\" Harry replied softly.
Jack slowed the car down and pulled of to the side of the road. Coming to a complete stop, he put it in park. Turning in his seat, Jack took a good look at the youth next to him. \"I\'m going to tell you the God’s honest truth Harry. The decisions you made even the ones that turned out bad you made honestly; you weren\'t trying to get anyone hurt or killed. It just turned into a big cluster fuck. And it will probably happen again and nothing you do will stop that. But letting the guilt eat you up, you\'ll start to second guess everything you do and that will get you killed and probably other people too.\"
Harry wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand. \"It\'s not fair. It\'s not right.\"
\"It never is,\" Jack replied. \"But who ever said that life is fair. All you can do is live for those who didn\'t get the chance.\"
Harry nodded his head.
\"Look kid… Harry, if you ever want to talk about,\" Jack said, \"I\'m here to listen and if you don\'t want to talk to me I know some other people who are good at it too.\"
\"Ok,\" Harry replied his voice breaking up as he tried to keep from crying.
With a nod of his head Jack turned back in his seat and put the car into gear.
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You Can’t Keep An Old Dog Down
by Lady FoxFire, CorwalchKapitel Bemerkung:
Disclaimer: This fit of madness if from the twisted minds of Corwalch and Lady FoxFire. If you recognize something from Stargate SG-1 or from Harry Potter then you better believe we don't own it or make any money from it.Author Notes: The writing styles of Corwalch and Lady FoxFire don't mesh very well therefore we decided that one of us would write one chapter and the other would write the next chapter. So here's Lady Foxfire's chapter…
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