Visits
Langford Residence, 20th May 2004
“…and a friend wants me to go to Colorado Springs to visit her, so we are suddenly on a schedule, now. But she promised us some short course on avionics! So… well, that’s all.”
I clear my throat, having talked for so long, after Ms. Langford politely but insistently asked what Sai’yo and I have been up to in New York thus far.
The kindly old woman beams at us. “I’m glad for you! I’m sure you would consider that course a holiday after what you’ve found in the museums.”
I grimace, agreeing. “Can’t stop thinking about it. But, well, we’re still here till this afternoon, at least, so, umm, would you like to go out for a lunch with us?”
“A date, Mister Potter? Am I not too old for you?” she grins and winks at me. I blush hot and stutter out a denial, stopping only when she laughs merrily and leans forward – across the low, small tea table – to pat my hand.
“It’s a date,” she affirms smilingly, then switches her attention to Sai’yo and teases him in turn, “Making big friends, now, eh, Sai’yo? With Mr. Stark’s help, soon you will be somewhere high in one of his companies, or owner of your own company. I might even be tempted to join as advisor, if you owned an exploratory company.”
The addressee looks confused.
A moment after, Ms. Langford and I know why, as the befuddled Jaffa repeats slowly and wonders aloud, “Big friends? But Tony Stark is a short man.”
I choke and sputter on the tea I’ve just sipped.
Ms. Langford giggles.
“A figure of speech, my good man, just an expression in words.” Her eyes twinkle mirthfully, making her look decades younger. “Do you not have it, in your culture?”
“Ah.” Sai’yo smiles awkwardly, and I burst into a mixture of coughs and giggles.
“That madman is certainly strong, though, if not big,” I pipe in, once I’ve got myself under control. “He pinned me!”
Ms. Langford turns more serious, just so. All traces of mirth leave me, accordingly, and Sai’yo, seated beside me on the couch across from her, straightens up.
“That so-called madman is strong in many arenas,” she warns. “You are playing with fire, my dears, and fire can burn or warm you.”
“Warm, I hope.” I acknowledge her with an uncertain nod and smile. “His bluster and outgoingness certainly look like they’re defending something else, the longer we talked.”
She nods to my assessment, then waves a hand dismissively. “Enough about him. That man likes to hear his own voice. We don’t need to add to it.” She raises an eyebrow on my sniggering response to that statement, but then chooses to go on instead of inquiring about it, “Now, what do you want to do, yourselves? Life is too precious to be spent just catering to somebody else’s whims, you know, even mine.” She smiles self-depricatingly. “I admit, I was selfish to remind you again that I live here. But it is just so exciting to meet the two of you, and I wish dearly to know more about you, just to talk, as friends. In my age, you need something new to keep yourself young, you know, and new things are hard to come by.”
I shrug. “Sai’yo?”
Well, my pride allows me to chicken out before an old lady, apparently.
McDonald’s Restaurant, 20th May 2004
“Hello, hello, hello, hello,” Daniel chirps when he spots me and Sai’yo coming in through the front door of the restaurant. He seems to have been idly playing with his meal before we came, but now he rushes to us and pumps my hand a few times before treating Sai’yo with the same enthusiastic welcome.
“How early did you come and wait here?” I muse aloud, amused, as he ushers us to his table on the far corner. “And… is there a reason you picked a fastfood restaurant? Not typical for a scientist, is it?”
“Oh, just, I got to be accustomed to unhealthy meals when preparing for something, including this symposium,” he grins, as he retakes his seat and resumes playing with his potato chips. “Got no time to prepare a meal, or to wait for it. Actually I just got things delivered to my apartment when I’m in the middle of something, and this is the first time I got to go out after preparing for this one. Nice!”
“And you pick a fastfood restaurant for that?” I query while snatching a chip from his paper container. “I thought you’d choose something… classier.”
“Buy your own!” he pouts at me, snatching his container of chips away. “And no complaint about the venue, please. You seem to like it very much, if the thievery is to go by.”
“Well, I got no chance to enjoy it when I was little,” I grin unrepentently at him, while snatching yet another chip with some subtle help from my magic.
He kicks me under the table for that, but misses, and nearly topples himself out of his chair – and the table with him – when his foot got tangled on the chicken-foot-like support of the table.
I help right him up with the same tendral of magic that snatched his chip, then, sniggering, stand up to order my own meal. Sai’yo follows behind, as usual… which makes me think that I will have to train him about Earth 101 soon.
That’s for later, though. For now, I’d like to enjoy a simple meal with friends, like what Sai’yo and I had with our early lunch with Ms. Langford, a few hours ago.
Oh, and note to self: I must also ask Daniel why he’s well-packed as if moving homes like that, with two huge suitcases arranged by his chair.
US Air Force Academy Hospital, 20th May 2004
“You didn’t warn me enough,” Daniel complains weakly, looking rather green, at the end of our Portkey ride using his empty container of chips.
“You’ll get used to it, or we shan’t make it to Egypt,” I warn blithely. Privately, though, I agree with him: Some magical travelling means may be near-instantaneous, but they make it up with horrible sensations in transit.
I offer him a bottle of water after he has taken a few deep breaths, after doing the same to Sai’yo.
“Why are you not affected by that?” he points out after gulping several deep swallows of water, still sulking. “Is that ‘cause of your ‘thing’?”
“Nope,” I shake my head, while uncapping my own bottle of water. “Just got used to it, whether I like it or not, after years using that.”
“Ha!” he crows. “You don’t like it too, do you? Now, why didn’t we take a carpet ride or something? I assume it’s not a myth and easier on the stomach than this? And… we don’t need to go too high?”
I shrug. “Never tried it,” I admit. “It’s banned, where I came from. Maybe we’ll get to try it, once we’re in Egypt. But for now… well, I want to surprise a friend with a visit. Feel free to come with us or wait somewhere. We mightn’t be long. She’s not expecting us, after all.”
He raises a suggestive eyebrow. “A friend? Or a friend?” he grins, looking like seeking some payback via teasing.
So I maturely stick my tongue out at him, before confirming that we’re meeting a friend, not a girlfriend.
While looking round for a secluded spot to cancel the Disillusionment Charm I put on the three of us before taking the Portkey, I explain further that the friend is Janet Fraiser, someone that we met near the start of our trip, a doctor for the US Air Force, hence our presence here: near the entrance gate to the US Air Force Academy and the hospital inside the complex.
“Well, you got me curious.” His grin turns eviler. “Now I want to see that special friend of yours for myself. You came this far just to surprise her for a bit, after all.”
I give him a mild Stinging Hex on the tip of his nose, just for that.
O-O-O-O
“Harry! You didn’t tell me you’d come!” Janet squawks when her next appointment turns out to be me and Sai’yo and Daniel, instead of yet another patient.
I grin sheepishly at her. “Surprise!” I offer weakly.
She rushes round her desk and punches my shoulder, before enveloping me in a tight embrace. “You brat,” she murmurs into my ever-messy hair. “Now you’re spoiling my own surprise. We’re not ready yet!”
“We?” I inquire, as she moves over to give Sai’yo the same hug.
“No mind about that.” She waves a hand dismissively. “Now, who do we have here? A new friend? Or a new somebody in the group?” She releases Sai’yo and moves over to Daniel, thrusting out a hand for a handshake. “Janet Fraiser. You?”
“Uh, ah, I, well, Jackson, Daniel Jackson,” Daniel stutters, while automatically reaching out a hand. He looks taken aback in the face of Janet’s brusque manner.
I grin evilly at him behind her back. He rolls his eyes at me.
“A friend,” I tell her, but with my eyes still on Daniel, who again rolls his eyes at me.
“There’s a story behind that,” Janet laughs, but doesn’t pursue the matter further. “Sit, sit, the lot of you, I’ve got maybe five minutes for you, but there’ll be more time next week.”
“You wound me. After I came this far,” I moan theatrically, completing the act with plonking myself into the chair before her desk with a huff.
She raises her eyebrows, unimpressed. “Do that again and I’ll tell Hermione where you are,” she threatens. “She’s been asking after you, you know.”
I wince. “Oh, no, please. All right, all right, I’ll be good, Doctor Fraiser!”
She harrumphs, but drags her swivel chair out from behind her desk to sit among us, anyway.
“Now, tell me what you’ve been up to since Dover.”
Kairo, 20th May 2004
“Why all the secrecy, Harry? Your folk a cult or what? Not that I like you less because of that. I’m just… curious.”
I give a now-robed Daniel an apologetic look, as we continue our way past the house that Bill, George and seven other Gringotts employees use as base camp for their down time. “Sorry, Daniel,” I tell him, most sincerely. “That one’s not on the contract, and I can’t tweak the contract to include that. There’s… rules, and I was already skating on the line when I directed the Portkey to the house. I just don’t know other places safe enough for a Portkey. We must take sandstorms into consideration, after all, so it can’t be outside like the last one. And the folk staying in the house would be much more on guard if we’re Disillusioned when we dropped by. Can’t chance some friendly fire after an international Portkey, you know.”
He shrugs and sighs. “You sound awefully like the military and their ‘classified’ thing,” he remarks, then falls silent, looking round avidly at the magical enclave we’re still in.
I take the chance to usher him along the street to the entrance, which is simply a doorway hard-illusioned as a sturdy brick wall, with other defensive and distractive wards in place, keyed to melt away only to the touch of a magical person. Sai’yo, also clad in one of my spare robes with liberal use of Engorgement Charm, pads along silently behind us as is his wont, and I keep half my attention on him, as he is not equipped to defend himself by magic, just like Daniel.
I can only hope that we’ll reach the first destination without any hassle from the locals, whether magical or mundane. Being here alone is already hard. I didn’t know that Daniel would reveal that our first destination would be a museum in Kairo – where I and my friends farewelled Teal’c! All this only reminds me that Teal’c is far away out there, risking his life not only for his fellow Jaffa but also for an uncaring, power-hungry, blood-thirsty so-called god.
Valley of the Kings, 21st May 2004
“Huh. Well, I guess I’m taking up the offer,” I mutter unhappily as my eyes roam the pyramids squatting on the valley down below. The Muggle Repellent ward round this section of the valley is still active, but the Magic Repellent one is not, and the goblins did send a map of the location alongside their offer of a joint venture, yesterday….
“Uh, what, Harry?” Daniel, who has been looking at another section, inquires absent-mindedly.
“I got a job to do round here,” I inform him reluctantly. “I thought I still had time, though. I didn’t want to work much while on holiday. Wish I knew you were going to bring us here. The employer would be mad if I went away without even trying to see what I could do, now that I’m here.” It’s a second out of two destinations that makes me uncomfortable…. I can only hope that his third destination is better on my mental wellbeing.
But for now…, “Let’s see what you got, then I got to visit my workplace, after sending a message to my friend.” Gringotts wants me to work with Bill, after all. And, in any case, Bill would be mad if I tried to even analyse the warding round the pyramid Gringotts wants me to crack without his supervision and protection.
“But you said you’re not an archeologist.” Daniel narrows his eyes at me accusingly, with a sliver of real hurt lurking deep in his eyes.
I shake my head. “Not an archeological job,” I correct him. More like the precursor to tomb-raiding, but he’d flay me alive if he knew about that, I bet, so I just say, “I just need to… open up a specific pyramid, and other people will explore it. They need my special ability to open it successfully and safely. Hence the job.”
The older man looks round pointedly, sarcastically. “Those are even just rocks, Harry. The pyramids are there.” He motions at the section that he scrutinised earlier.
“It needs my ability to open, so, naturally, my ability to see, too,” I remind him. “Now, if you behave, you can see what I see as well. Otherwise, I’ll just give this to Sai’yo.” I grin, fishing out and dangling a rune leather necklace I’ve prepared in front of me.
As predicted, the necklace got snatched up in a second.
But, not as predicted, though I ought to have predicted it given to whom I am speaking, Daniel doesn’t immediately put it on. He scrutinises and marvels at the series of small runes encircling the circumference of the palm-sized stone pendant, instead.
And then he chatters about it, noting the mixture of various languages that make up the said runes, also how new the pendant feels.
Go figure….
I just roll my eyes at him, and use the chance to turn round, intending to give a second necklace to Sai’yo.
…Who is already staring intently, interestedly, at the spot I was staring at.
The spot that Daniel didn’t see.
And when I clear my throat – the only thing I can do, other than gaping in so much shock! – he murmurs somewhat absent-mindedly without looking at me, “This is not a landing site, I think. I think…. I believe it is merely an illusion. There are several layers of protection, here, and I do not have the key to bypass them.”
Now my eyes join the fray, blowing wide open, completing the ridiculous face I must be pulling.
I don’t know what he means with “landing site,” but… but… but… he can see the magic! I didn’t even know for sure that there are several layers of protection round this thing, though it wouldn’t surprise me with how paranoid the Ancient Egyptians were.
But Sai’yo, now, he is unexpected, to say the very least!
But, if I really think about the similarities that we have been finding in each other – the same lullaby sung by our absent mothers, for one – our not-human mothers….
`Damn. What a finding!`
To realise that one’s holiday companion has been an extended-family member in the least, all along, though from one’s previously unknown alien side, is… is….
I shake my head. No. Now’s not the time to find words to what really can’t be described in words.
Suffice to say, though, Sai’yo won’t lack for anything from now on, especially my attention.
He’s family, after all, and I’ve been longing for one for my whole life.