Epilogue

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Harry?" asked Sam.

Harry scoffed. "No," he said, "but I'm tired of being haunted by the memories." He sighed. "I don't know if this will make things better, but maybe it'll give me some kind of closure."

"Alright," said Sam, stepping onto the ring platform. "I'll radio up when it's safe."

"Okay," said Harry. "And Sam, thanks."

Sam smiled at him. "No problem, Harry." She shrugged, "Besides, one of us needed to come along."

Harry nodded. He didn't want to think of what could happen if he tried to do this alone. When Sam disappeared into the rings, Harry walked to the bridge of the al'kesh he had commandeered after the battle. He didn't know yet if he would keep it or not. Somehow it didn't feel right that it was nearly identical to the Tar'Chell. Harry was toying with the idea of designing his own ship.

Sitting alone in the pel'tak, Harry reflected on the events since Anubis's capture. True to his promise to Sirius, Harry had taken a step back from the goings on of the galaxy. Sirius wasn't the only one to applaud the decision. Indeed, no one had said anything against it, not that Harry wasn't having second thoughts himself.

Still, the goa'uld, while still having a presence in the galaxy, had lost their stranglehold. The Jaffa rebellion had grown exponentially, and was taking its first steps towards being one people. There wasn't galactic peace, but Harry was beginning to see that he wasn't needed to personally take care of everything.

The thing that really made him want to reconsider his decision was that the Tollans were reverting to their isolationist policy. It wasn't that Narim didn't want to deal with the goa'uld, but his people were tired of war. Although, maybe it was a good thing that the Tollans were lying low for a while: the Jaffa were still furious that they had confiscated all of the phase shifting suits captured from the battle.

Finally, Sam's voice came in over the radio. "Harry, they're ready."

"Alright," said Harry, feeling a little nervous. He was going to jump down, but then thought better of it. Walking over to the ring room, Harry went down to the planet the old fashioned way. Sam greeted him on the surface.

"Welcome back to Calaissis," she said.

"Thanks," said Harry miserably.

"I've explained everything to them already," said Sam. "Well, not the part where you actually do have god-like powers." Harry rolled his eyes. "But they do know that you can still use goa'uld technology."

Harry nodded.

"Don't worry, Harry. They understand that a host has no control over its body. They don't hold anything against you."

Harry would believe that when he saw it.

They walked into the village, where a large crowd waited, looking more curious than angry. Harry and Sam stopped before them. Harry cleared his throat, reminding himself that he had faced Anubis more than once and survived.

"Er, hi. I'm Harry, and I was a host to Isis. And when he was in me, he came here and invaded your village and he killed one of you." Harry cleared his throat again. "Becoming free of him was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, and I would like to share that with you, because I am very sorry for what happened." Harry was pretty sure that that had sounded awkward, but he pushed on. Anyway, I have a healing device, and I thought that maybe some of you could be ill, or have injuries that haven't completely healed. And also, that I could heal them," he finished lamely.

One man, who looked important, said, "You can work in our town square."

Harry nodded, and Sam guided him to the square. Business was slow at first, but as word got out about what Harry could do, more and more people came. Some came with injuries or chronic illnesses, but many came just to watch. Finally, someone came who Harry had been dreading, though he didn't know it yet.

"What can I do for you?" Harry asked her.

"My boy's name was Jeorg."

"Oh," said Harry faintly, knowing instantly who Jeorg had been.

"He was such a sweet boy, and happy. I miss him so much," the woman said sadly. "You do not look like a very happy boy."

Harry shook his head mutely.

"You must be hungry," the woman continued. "Working so hard. Little boys are always hungry. I will bring you some sweet bread; you will like that. Jeorg did. I think that he would have liked you, Harry."

"O-okay," said Harry, at a complete loss as to how to deal with the situation.

"I will be right back," said the woman.

Harry had imagined such a conversation before, more than once. Never had he imagined anything other than hate. Offers of food had been completely off his radar. How could she not despise him? Why?

"I think the universe is a better place than you think," said Sam.

Instead of replying, Harry chose to turn his attention to a fellow with a limp.

"How long have you had that," he asked, swallowing his worries.

"For over two years now. I broke it working in the fields."

Harry nodded. "Here, lie down on the table."

He had been provided a rough wooden table to work on. "I'll have you running around in no time, but you'll probably think that it feels weird."

"I would drink the foulest potion for relief from this wound," the man exclaimed.

To his surprise, Harry felt the corners of his mouth turn up. "No potions," he said, "just healing energy."

Harry activated his healing device and let his consciousness fade into the information the healing device was giving him. As far as the man's shinbone was concerned it had been set well enough, but a nerve had been pinched, causing the man's problems. Harry set to work correcting the damage.

Pulling back, his job done, Harry was surprised by a sweet aroma. The man on the table was experimentally bending and flexing his leg with a wondrous look on his face. Harry followed his nose and saw Jeorg's mother, holding a loaf of bread.

"Is that fresh baked?" Harry startled himself by speaking the first coherent thought in his head.

"L'anna is always baking," said the man with two good legs.

"That's because everyone is always eating," said L'anna. "Now, you have been working too hard, it is time to take a brake."

Harry didn't dare argue with her, and he soon found himself sitting down at the table, with the bread and a pitcher of what he was fairly certain wasn't cow's milk.

"So," said L'anna, "how do you like my bread? I used dried ganna berries."

To tell the truth, taste had taken second place to the general feeling of anxiety that Harry was feeling.

"Why don't you hate me?" he blurted out.

L'anna looked sad again, and Harry wished he could take the question back.

"The goa'uld did not just make us work," she said, "they used to take some of us. We only ever saw one of them again, and she was not Karenna anymore." She breathed deeply, fighting tears. "If things had been different, it could have been Jeorg that was taken by a demon. Know that I do hate, Harry Potter. But it is the goa'uld that I hate, not the little boys that they hurt." Then she did cry, and Harry realized that she wasn't the only one as he wiped tears away from his own face.

"Eat, eat," she said. "You must grow big and strong." She looked at him very seriously now. "You carry inside of you now a piece of the life that was to be Jeorg's, so you must make sure that you live well, and honorably."

Harry looked at her uncertainly. "I can do that," he said, knowing that it was a promise he would have to work hard to keep.

There was a feast that night, a modest one, of course, for a modest people. Harry was exhausted from a long day's work, but as the guest of honor, he managed to stay awake through most of it. He woke up the next morning and found himself in L'anna's home. He took a moment to ponder who had gotten him down to his small clothes, but decided he didn't care. He hated sleeping in his clothes anyway.

Once he was dressed, Harry walked out to the kitchen, where L'anna was cooking.

"Fair day, Harry," she greeted him.

"Good morning," Harry replied, smothering a yawn.

"Did you have a good night's rest?" she asked, and Harry nodded. "Good," she said. "I am making breakfast. Sit down and have a roll while you wait."

Harry dutifully sat down and began munching on a crusty roll.

"Where's Sam?" he asked L'anna.

"Jaime, you remember Jaime, right?" Harry nodded, though no firm picture of the man formed in his head. "Jaime offered her a spare bed, after she had seen that you had one."

Harry nodded, glad to hear that she'd found accommodations.

An hour later, Harry had been stuffed full, and had only been allowed to leave the kitchen table when he had assured L'anna both that he had eaten as much as he possibly could, and that he would take care of himself. He found Sam in the town center.

"Morning, Sam," he greeted her.

"Morning, Harry," she answered with a smile.

"You ready to get out of here?" he asked.

"Well yeah," said Sam, "but I'm pretty sure the townspeople wanted to send you off properly, to thank you one last time."

"Not going to happen, Sam," said Harry, "between this and defeating Anubis, I am literally all thanked out. Seriously, I might implode if someone else hugs me."

Sam looked skyward and shook her head. "Well, it's good to see you joking again," she said. "Alright, let's go."

Harry touched her shoulder, and the two of them jumped up to his al'kesh.

"So Harry," said Sam, "what's next for you?"

"You mean aside from a long vacation at a paradise planet?" he asked.

"Paradise planet," said Sam with a smile, "we may have to drop by while you're there. On purely job related business, of course."

"Of course," said Harry.

"But I meant more long term," said Sam.

"In the long term?" said Harry, "I guess I'll be going back to school," he said. No sense in turning down the best education in the galaxy.

"School's good," said Sam.

"Some exploring," said Harry, referring to the as yet unexplored planets with gates. "Maybe a little scientific pioneering while I'm at it." Harry shrugged. "I've got a galaxy and a lifetime ahead of me," he said.

"Yeah," said Sam with a smile, "you do."

Fin

A/N: Sorry everyone for such a long wait for such a short chapter. I haven't had a lot of time for writing. Good news is, the epilogue for A New Home should be up soon.

Now, most of you are probably wondering about a sequel. I have one planned. However, I don't know when I'll start writing it. It could be tomorrow, and it could be a few months from now. I'll let you know that it'll be fairly HP universe centered.