Reckoning Night

Spoilers:
HP - Huge spoilers for all books except HBP
SG - Huge spoilers for most episodes from season 1 and 2, specifically Children of the Gods, The Enemy Within, In the Line of Duty, Thor's Chariot, Secrets, Touchstone, The Fifth Race. Smaller spoilers for later episodes dealing with the "elder races" (Asgard, Ancients, Nox, Furlings) and the Goa'uld, and the general backstory involving those, including "Stargate Atlantis", but no important plot points from those eps are given away or required to know.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author.
Author's Notes: This story was written well before I ever read any other SG/HP crossovers, so in case there happen to be any similarities to other stories, they are purely coincidental.
It is also my 2004 NaNo novel. I did not reach the goal in time, but it was the longest thing I had ever written at that time.
I would like to thank RepliCarter and Settican for alpha-reading this story, and Katie MacAlpine, Morgyn Merlin and Myth for beta-reading. English is not my native language, but I hope they helped me cover it up well enough.
Feedback of any kind (positive, negative, constructive) is appreciated. Flames will be met with a flame-freezing spell, so don't bother.

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Setting:
-close to the end of Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts
-during season 2 of Stargate SG-1, shortly after "The Fifth Race"

Things that happened up to that date:
-Sirius is alive (because I say so) -- if you have a problem with that, don't read. Or consider it as an AU.
-Sirius is no longer viewed as a criminal in the Wizarding World.
-This story was written before "Half-Blood Prince" was published, therefore *all* HBP canon is ignored.

Other notes:
- The Higgins Museum is not a real place, I made it up. I'm just mentioning that because it caused some confusion.
- The spelling in this story is British English. Strangely enough, Dark magic is spelled with a capital letter in the books, while light magic, old magic and ancient magic are not. So, if you're wondering, it's not an error.

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Prologue

"My husband has been missing for three weeks and you are telling me you don't care?!" The woman looked like she was ready to jump at the officer's throat.

"Ma'am, I did not say--"

"You said 'he's a Muggle' which as good as means you don't care!"

The officer sighed, closed his eyes, counted silently to ten, and opened his eyes again. "The magical government does not interfere with business like this. Please go to the Muggle police, they are very capable of finding missing persons."

The woman glared at him as if she wanted to stab him with her look. "I have already been there!" she said, still sounding very annoyed, but at least she wasn't shouting anymore, for which the officer was thankful. "They can't find him. They have no traces whatsoever. Something isn't right," she added after pausing for a beat. "People don't disappear just like that."

The officer folded his hands on this desk, trying to think of the best way to say this. "If magic played no role in the disappearance of your husband, we are not allowed to interfere, and we won't. So far it doesn't look like any magic is involved at all."

"And what if it does have something to do with magic? What if this ... this 'Dark Lord' from overseas starts spreading his terror here, too? I heard he doesn't like Muggles very much, and I wouldn't be surprised if he started attacking the marriages of Muggles and wizards, too."

"Mrs Blake, we have no information about your husband at all, besides his outward appearance. You couldn't even tell us what he does for a living! If you don't give us any details, we can't even begin to make a connection to the Wizarding World."

The woman thought for a few seconds, then she said, "I just know that he works for the Muggle government, and that his work with the NID is classified. He has told me repeatedly that he is not allowed to tell me anything, and would probably not survive if he did."

"That still doesn't give him any connection to the Wizarding World," the officer pointed out, getting a little impatient now.

"He married a witch, isn't that a connection? He *knows* about the Wizarding World, he is involved in it with all of his life, wouldn't that make him a target for the Dark Lord?"

The officer thought she was a little paranoid, but didn't voice that thought. Sure, they said the Dark Lord had an unnatural hatred for anything Muggle, and especially for Muggles interfering with the Wizarding World, but he had not yet shown himself or his influence in the United States, and the officer hoped it would stay that way.

"Why exactly did your husband need to know about the Wizarding World at all?" the officer asked. "Many Muggles who have married a witch or wizard don't even know--"

"We have a daughter who is magical," the woman interrupted him.

"I see," said the officer, nodding.

"I'm sure there is something wrong. Can't you at least *try* to do something?"

The officer sighed, feeling sorry for the woman. "I'll see if I can arrange something, but I can't promise you anything. If you find any hint of magic being involved, let us know, and we might be able to look into the case more thoroughly."

"Thank you," the woman said, turning around and leaving the room, closing the door behind her surprisingly gently.

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"General, you have to see this. Sam found it."

Daniel Jackson was standing in front of General Hammond's desk, waving an issue of *Science News* in front of his face. General Hammond took the magazine and looked at the article the archaeologist was pointing at.

"*Mysterious artefact found on a dig in Peru*" said the headline, and the picture showed a dark grey object that had a short cylindrical shape with strange symbols covering the curved rim. On the one side of the cylinder, a second, smaller circle was embedded into the big one.

"What is this, Dr Jackson?" Hammond asked, puzzled.

"Don't the symbols look familiar?" Dr Jackson asked, clearly seeing something the general didn't. Hammond shook his head, waiting for an explanation.

"The writing of the Ancients!" Dr Jackson said, enthusiasm carrying through his voice. "The writing samples we got from Ernest's planet and the *Place of Our Legacy* strongly resemble the ones on this artefact. It's impossible to try and decipher anything from the photograph, but the symbols look very similar."

Now General Hammond understood what Dr Jackson was so excited about. "You mean we could be dealing with alien technology here?"

"Yes, possibly something that was created by the same race that built the Stargates thousands of years ago. It could be a weapon, a defence mechanism, another repository of knowledge ... Whatever it is, it could at least help us to learn more about the Ancients. The archaeologists who found this artefact brought it to the Higgins Museum in London. I suggest we check it out, sir."

"Agreed, Dr Jackson. If it's really an alien object, I'd like to know what its purpose is. For all we know, it might be a weapon of unknown power. I don't want to see this fall into the wrong hands, at least not until we make sure it's harmless. If in any way possible, I'd like you to bring it back to the SGC."

"I doubt they will let me take it, but I can try. At least I can have a look at it."

"We don't know who else has found out about this, and I suspect the likes of the NID would be very interested in it. The rest of SG-1 is going to accompany you, just in case there is any trouble. Officially, you are going to be on 'vacation', I don't want you to attract too much unwanted attention." Hammond picked up his phone. "I will talk this over with my superiors and would like to see you and the rest of your team in the briefing room at 1600. Dismissed."

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