"When Jack then mentioned we were there to talk about 'a young man named Harry Potter' it was easy to see they did not..."
Jack cut in and said, "It shocked the Hell out of them, Sir."
Sam said, "The parents, Marcade and Sandra Granger, reacted with open shock, like you'd expect. However, the daughter... Hermione Granger... it was as if someone had pulled down the shutters on her emotions. Her expression just went flat and cold; as if someone had thrown a switch.
"Then she demanded right back at us, 'Why are you asking about Harry?'"
"You'll notice she referred to him as 'Harry', not Mister Potter or similar," added Jack. "Her right hand also 'combat twitched' when I mentioned Mister Potter's name, Sir. As if she had to smother an instinctive reaction to reach for a side arm." When the general nodded, Sam continued, "They closed up on us, Sir. And the parents looked a little frightened. Not the daughter, though. That expression remained on her face for the entire remaining time we there except for when we said something that shocked her significantly enough we got to peek behind that... that..."
"Façade," said Daniel.
"Yes, façade," she nodded.
Hammond just cocked an eyebrow.
"For example," she continued, "When Jack said we knew about her and her friends going under the Old War Office building in Whitehall, London, she tensed right up; but that expression did not leave her face.
"Usually, this is the point at where someone will try to explain themselves. However, none of them did. They remained firmly silent." "I then lied and said we knew all about it and were just wanting to know about what had hit Mister Potter," said Jack. "What happened to him at that point."
Sam added, "There was still no obvious response from her orher parents other than a heightened sense of fear... worry.
"I then said all four of us had a security clearance that was so high you needed to have a high security clearance to even know what ours was. And that we were only there to clarify things.
"Miss Granger simply returned, 'Your security clearance would only be American. You're referring to matters relating to Britishsecurity.'"
Hammond gave a light snort. "She'd be right."
"Yes, Sir," said Sam. "What I did get out of her, though, is that Mister Potter was a school friend... her best friend, that they both attended a very exclusive and private school in Scotland and that they shouldn't have been where they were when, according to her, Mister Potter 'went missing'.
"She also admitted she was not in the same room as Mister Potter when whatever happened, happened. She only found out about it later."
"Other than that," said Jack. "We found out from her parents that it was apparently Harry's godfather who paid for the Grangers to relocate from England to Massachusetts. And, get this... it took a bit to get the man's name out the parents... but Potter's godfather's name is Lord Black... Lord Sirius Orion Black."
That, of course, surprised the general. "That can't be a coincidence," he said.
"Our thoughts, too, Sir," said Jack. Sam and Daniel nodded in agreement.
Hammond gave his own nod and slid a file across his desk to Jack. "That's the latest news we have. "We now have a fair idea what Mister Potter did to escape. At the same time as our monitors picked up the EMP burst, Petersen picked up something on base airspace radar.
"They logged it as an 'electronic aberration'. However, the timing is exact, plus four seconds, to the burst. The location, however, is directly above where Mister Potter was standing in his suite at the time the monitoring equipment was blown from the burst; and almost exactly... almost to the foot... six thousand feet above that spot.
"Immediately after appearing, the object began falling at the gravitational constant for about seven seconds before it disappeared again."
"And the camera Petersen has trained on the airspace above here?" asked Jack.
Hammond slid a photograph over. "If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd have never believed it." Looking at the photo, though it was a photo taken from extreme range and the object on the photo was not that large, it was easy to make out that the falling object looked like a man. However, the resolution was too low to make out any details other than that.
"He teleported!" exclaimed Sam, seeing the image. "It's what he also must have done when we saw him on the MALP camera."
Hammond nodded and said, "That's what our people tell me is the most likely scenario. He teleported straight up six thousand feet, putting him approximately two and half thousand feet above the mountain. He's then taken a quick look around while falling, picked a spot on the ground somewhere and then teleported to that spot."
"Depending on how many times and how far he can do that, he could be anywhere on the planet by now," sighed Sam. "Which is why I've scaled right back the search for him around the base," said the general. "I'm assured we'd be wasting our time."
"He'd head for 'Dear Ol' Blighty'," said Daniel. "It's what I'd do."
"The poor man doesn't even know his aunt, uncle and cousin are dead," sighed Sam.
"We've moved to put a watch on where the house stood," said Hammond. "Just in case that's one of the places he'd head for."
"If he was abused, as the med-techs claim, he probably won't," said Jack.
"I've still moved a watcher in place, just in case," said Hammond.
"Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters?" asked Sam, who was reading the file.
"Yes," replied Hammond. "Intelligence has found that the school actually exists. However, the only way to contact them is, apparently, by letter sent to a Post Office address in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"Intelligence has tried to get more than that, but all they've managed to glean is that the school teaches to some high risk students and its location is concealed to all who don't need to know where it is."
Jack gave a falling whistle. "That explains why Potter was so reticent to provide information."
"It could also explain young Miss Granger's reaction, too," said Sam.
"That's too many 'maybe's for me," said Hammond. "You four are headed for Jolly Ol' England, stashed away on a 'milk run' from Petersen. Your flight leaves this afternoon."
Jack and Sam winced slightly.
.
.
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