Disclaimer: All recognizable Harry Potter characters, places, etc. belong to JK Rowling. The recognizable Stargate characters, place, etc. belong to MGM, Scifi and the creators Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright. Dialogue borrowed from the episode "The Curse."

A/N: This story is cannon compliant through most of DH, but has slight differences which will become clear over the course of the story. I would also like to thank my beta Periculum for all her help with this story.

Bum Bump, Bum Bump

Bum Bump, Bum Bump

Just breathe, in and out there is nothing to it. In and out. In and out. In and- 'Oh Merlin, I hope I don't throw-up.'

Bum Bump

She had to get herself together. She was Hermione Granger the 'brightest witch of her age,' member of the Order of the Phoenix, a war hero, and that was the problem.

She was a threat.

A threat to those who wanted to sweep everything under the rug, all those who turned a blind eye to Voldemort's activities and who were now clamoring into the spotlight with tales of fighting on the front line. If everyone who claimed to be at the Final Battle had actually been there, she didn't think everyone would have fit into the building, even one as large as Hogwarts. But she didn't want to think about that. It was a night she wished to forget, but knew would haunt her til the day she died.

So many gone-

Without the support of more survivors it was open season for the Ministry to go after her. Old adversaries were coming out of hiding spreading untruths or twisting facts to paint her as a potential threat to the Ministry.

Hermione sat with her hands shackled trying not to let her nerves overtake her. She just needed to calm herself, but her heart refused to listen and continued to race in her chest. The clamor outside her cell once again swelled as the end of another trial brought the Aurors trudging into the holding area. Another Death Eater had been sentenced to Azkaban. The trials themselves were almost jokes, a mere formality, a warm-up for the main event of the day, since those being tried were open supporters of the former Dark Lord.

Feeling claustrophobic, she began to fidget in the chains securing her. Trying to stretch she wished she could at least pace before her legs lost all feeling. After being trapped in the confined space for the better part of a week her whole body was suffering from inactivity and lack of food.

She had to get out of here. The walls were closing in.

Bum Bump, Bum Bump

Bum Bump, Bum-

With a bang the door opened down the hall causing ice to shoot through her veins. The racket was increased tenfold with shouts of jeering as the guilty party was dragged off. Her resolve was wearing as the minutes continued to tick by and the noise of the courtroom keep increasing as seats filled. She could feel the bloodlust of the mob transmitted through the very floor boards themselves into her bones as time ticked on.

Bum Bump, Bum Bump,

Tick,

Bum Bump, Bum Bump, Bum Bump,

Tick, Bum Bump-

Gasping she choked back what could have been called a laugh she tried to concentrate on breathing again and not thinking about why she was here. It didn't work and the maniacal laughter rung out ending in a sob which left her panting for air. It shouldn't be funny, but it was.

Hermione Granger was being bought up on charges of war crimes, a decidedly Muggle concept that the Ministry normally would not give the time of day, except that they were trying to discredit her by any means. Which included sullying their pureblood morals with a muggle idea.

With most of the Order either dead or incapacitated, she had no one left to defend her against these outrageous charges. With the Boy-Who-Lived in a coma at the hospital the Ministry was taking advantage of his inability to contradict any of their press statements, and why would he? According to The Ministry, Harry Potter regularly called upon them for help in his quest to defeat Voldemort. In fact the newly reinstated Minister Cornelius Fudge himself was rumored to personally have assisted the hero in finding the spell used to defeat the Dark Lord.

The two-faced-secretly-supporting-Voldemort-while-screwing-over-the-Ministry Officials were now trying to save their own hides. Leading the charge was Senior Undersecutary to the Minister Dolores Umbridge and best-selling author of the newly released "The Rise and Fall of The Dark Lord: The Strategy for Victory Hatched by Harry Potter and the Ministry" was Rita Skeeter. Their propaganda campaign was fueled with one goal in mind. Keeping the public from turning their retaliatory minds against the Ministry. Their one obstacle, Hermione Granger. Both women had encountered her before and lost. As long as she was in the public's esteem, she would be a threat. It was just a matter of time before she would begin to push for the Ministry to be held accountable for their actions in the war.

What then began was a systematic plan to disparage her role in the war. While they couldn't deny she fought alongside Harry, they had begun to portray her as someone tainted by Dark Magic. Who in the course of assisting in the defeat of the Dark Lord harnessed a massive amount of destructive power she could barely control. Did they really want someone of questionable ethics who possessed a history of believing themselves above the law walking among the populace? A girl who was known

to manipulate even her friends with potions and spells? One with the potential she had already displayed by almost leveling Hogwarts with the backlash of one spell? Surely it was the duty of the Ministry to prevent any chance of another Dark Lord coming to power.

The door was again opened and several Aurors marched down the hall to her cell and stopped.

"It is time."

Taking a deep breath, she stood on shaking legs indicating that she was ready. Being ushered down the hall to the courtroom she could hear the excited mummers swell as she stepped into view. The guards made sure to secure her to a waiting chair before falling back.

The banging of a gavel quieted the crowd and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge began to read the charges "Hermione Granger is hereby charged with the use of an Unforgivable, aiding and abetting a criminal, two counts of kidnapping, three counts child endangerment, five counts murder, six counts assault, two counts coercion, seven counts breaking and entering, and damaging private property in excess of 85,000 galleons. How do you plead?"

For a moment complete silence enveloped the room as Percy Weasley stood and in his most self important tone said "Not guilty." She felt like she was trying to swim up river against the current. They had no chance. Despite Percy's best efforts it was clear the prosecution had used its overwhelming resources to build up a case that was hard to refute.

"It was to your understanding that you had no other choice, but to sneak Miss Granger into the place of your former employment Mr. Griphook?"

"I have here the report on file in your office that says the defendant attacked a former teacher and assisted in the escape of a known criminal from-"

As the trail progressed character witness after character witness was rolled out to rip apart any shred of doubt the jury had that Hermione was straying from all that was good.

"Miss Edgecomb, could you please tell the court what happened to your face?"

"-and Mr. Lovegood you were still inside your residence when Miss Granger proceeded to bring it down around you?"

"Are you asserting that the defendant kept you imprisoned in a jar and then proceeded to blackmail you for over a year which directly impeded your livelihood, Miss Skitter?"

"Has your imprisonment by the centaurs affected your health in any other way, Miss. Umbridge?"

"It is your testimony that you saw the defendant strike a fellow student across the face-"

"-and you are sure that it was Miss Granger who broke into the vault, escaping on the back of a dragon causing damages estimated in excess of-"

Every little incident no matter how small or what mitigating circumstances involved was brought forward to show that Hermione thought herself above the law. From her slapping Malfoy in third year, to her recent rampage of crime thru the country. Most charges were unsubstantiated and would no doubt be thrown out, but that was not the point.

Public support was against her and the Ministry wanted her out of the way. Percy gave a valiant attempt, but it was too much.

"The fact that Miss Granger helped in the defeat of the Dark Lord V-Voldemort and therefore had mitigating circumstances as to the justification for her actions has been taken into consideration by this court. The charges of murder, aiding and abetting, one count kidnapping, three counts child endangerment, one count assault, and three counts breaking and entering are dropped. On the remaining charges the defense has not offered conclusive evidence to refute the charges. It is therefore the findings of this court that the defendant Hermione Granger is guilty of the kidnap and coercion of one Rita Skeeter; assault of Draco Malfoy, Marietta Edgecombe, Severus Snape and two counts assault against Dolores Umbridge; the coercion of Mr. Griphook; the break in of the Lovegood residence, Gringotts and two counts break in of the Ministry; damage to private property and the use of an unforgivable... It must be noted though that Azkaban holds many who wish ill toward the defendant and therefore has been deemed as unable to accommodate her for a prolonged prison sentence. It is the ruling of this court that Hermione Granger is henceforth exiled from the territory of Great Britain for life, her wand to be snapped and use of a magical inhibitor be administered to combat any wandless magic. Aurors will escort her as she has 24 hours to depart or be executed."

7 Years Later

Looking out of the window as the plane began to propel down the runway of Cairo International Airport, Hermione thought about how much her life had changed.

Never when she walked the halls of Hogwarts on her way back to the dormitory after studying in the library did she think that it would all be for nothing. All those hours spent studying, perfecting her spell work, memorizing Goblin wars, trying to prove that she deserved to be there. It had all turned out to be a complete waste.

It was a thought that had constantly haunted her throughout her first year of exile. It had taken a tremendous effort on her and her parents part to be able to get her back into the Muggle education system. She was already eighteen and should have been starting university, but subjects of transfiguration, charms and potions had to first be substituted for math, science and literature classes.

In hindsight, it had probably helped that she did not have the distraction of Harry or Ron. She was able to let her full bookworm nature take over and not fill guilty over ignoring her friends, not that she was grateful at the time. Added to that where the explanations over her odd test results and how the promising young student she had once been had not taken the opportunities to already be enrolled in the top schools.

It was no wonder that her parents had forbidden any discussion over the topic of the magical community again. She had been screwed over in a big way, and consequently so had her parents. When Dumbledore was openly killed on school grounds the Order had personally helped to relocate her parents and convince them to leave her behind to fight. They had already begun to resettle back into her childhood home and piece together the remains of their dental practice when she had been arrested. The news of her exile had been devastating to them.

She was left in a position of having to start over with her education, move out of the country and leave her parents behind, who were in no economic position to be able to follow her. Their once close relationship begun to crumble with the pressure to reform their lives and they had slowly began to resent her for even being born a witch.

The plane bounced as they hit some turbulence and forced her to snap out of her memories. Noticing that the flight attendant was coming with the drink cart she placed her serving tray in the down position to rest a coffee on. Grimacing took a sip of the bitter brew. At heart she still English enough to prefer tea, but she needed the caffeine.

Grabbing her carry-on she retrieved the enhanced photos of the temple walls from the dig site. Frowning she once again tried to decipher the obscure hieroglyphs. A few symbols she recognized or were close enough that she could hazard a guess. Reliable translations from the first two dynasties were tricky at the best of times and few even in the academic community took the time to learn the precursor system of traditional hieroglyphics.

Osiris...Isis...trapped...the heavens...war...Seth...betrayed...Ra...hidden...escape...

The pictures were of a previously unexplored section of a site last explored in 1931. She had become interested in the area when she had come across reports of a supposed curse that had killed everyone from the expedition within a year of the excavation. It had been attributed to mold spores, but being a witch she remained skeptical.

Hermione had jumped into her Muggle education using her anger as fuel and in the process finished her studies in a year staying with an old college friend of her parents in Australia. The rapid pace she had set allowed Hermione to be accepted into the prestigious University of Rome. Finishing a double major in two years in Egyptology and Occult Studies with a minor in Ancient Languages had catapulted her into obtaining a master at the Sorbonne in Paris followed by a PhD. From there she had attended the University of Cairo to receive another PhD. It was a great opportunity at a premier school where she got to work with some of the top experts in the field and be allowed access to the governments closely guarded artifacts.

Despite all those connections, she had still been unable to gain access to the site until recently. It was agreed she would be allowed limited access only after accepting a faculty position at the school. In spite of her past desire to teach she no longer wished to be encumbered to a desk job, but there was no other way to gain access to the site unless she was tied to the school. Being exiled had made her far too restless to remain in one place too long, but the mystery of the Stevart Expedition had her bite the bullet. Something was driving her to find out more about the site, a deep seated instinct telling her it was very import to discover its secrets.

It was the same feeling which had led her to pursue a study of Ancient Egypt at university. Her passion for history combined with a natural curiosity had made her a diligent researcher. Ancient Egypt was a mystery waiting to be unraveled, its history both Muggle and Magical remaining mostly unknown.

At the moment, she was flying half way around the world to Northwestern University to examine the newly recovered artifacts from the expedition. They had been recovered from the ship which had sunk off the coast of New Jersey transporting the cargo back to the states. She was hoping to find more samples of the writing with the collection. While she had already concluded that no magical curse had been set on the site it had proved fruitful in other ways.

Hermione continued to study the photos hoping to get some hint of their meaning. It was there she just had to think. Leaning back she tried to let her mind work out the puzzle. The writing was unlike any she had previously encountered. Why had it been used in that location? Where did it come from?

The pilot announcing the decent into Charles de Gaulle in Paris distracted her from any further ruminating on the subject. After landing Hermione made her way thru customs and onto the next flight to New York JFK airport followed by another connection before hitting Chicago.