Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Stargate, I make no money off of either and am simply writing this for my own enjoyment.

Author's Note: I have tried to keep as close to canon of both franchises as possible, there may however be a few things here or there that I've switched about somewhat to fit the story. Other than the obvious AU stuff, of course. In Stargate I have used not only SG-1/SGA/SGU and the movies but also the RPG rulebooks, especially for information regarding the background of the Goa'uld.

On another note, don't expect updates to be too frequent. This story came about for two reasons, one was that I needed to take a break every so often from my primary work (Harry Potter and the Eccentricities of Death) and because the premier of SGU put me back in the Stargate mood. Also having read several interesting SG/HP stories recently (Isis' Bane by althor42, Space Haven by esama & Harry Potter the Next Great Adventure by shwilly) helped rekindle the desire to see this old plot bunny.

Lastly, thank you to my beta Vishal and the guys at DLP for all their help.

The Gateway of Mysteries

758 B.C.

Hyperspace – Asgard Transport Vessel

Archelaos of Medea was named Grand Mage by his people almost exactly three decades ago, he wasn't sure that it was quite the honour it should have been. It meant that he was the one who would oversee the death of his people, of his culture, of a once great civilization. The Furling Federation had once sprawled over many worlds, it had helped to nurture life in the galaxy and then it had helped to protect that life.

That was before the Plague came, the Great Death.

The Furlings, with all their mystical powers, were unable to stop it from ravaging their worlds. Their old brethren, the Nox, were just as powerless.

The two races had once been a single race called Arcanian, many many millennia ago, but their original homeworld, Magigea, became uninhabitable. There were many theories as to why this happened, the only thing the two could agree on was that science was their downfall. Therefore, it was that the Nox turned to nature and the Furlings turned to the mystical for answers. Their arcane powers that had once been the same began to differ, reflecting their new philosophy.

However neither could find the power to stop this plague, it seemed beyond all power. Their allies, the Asgard and Ancients worked feverishly to save them, and in the end, it was through the science of the Ancients that they were saved.

The revelation was cause for both races to rethink their prior positions on science. Eventually both accepted the return of science but within their philosophy of mysticism and nature, for both still believed that science for merely the sake of science would again lead to their downfall.

The Nox would retreat back to their new homeworld, Gaia, and immersed themselves in nature. They live now as only a myth, hidden away in their invisible flying cities. Their belief that nature will preserve their race has led them to shy away from anything that could harm nature, most especially war. They would not fight even to save themselves, though admittedly, their vast powers of healing make that somewhat less deadly than it may otherwise be.

The Furlings likewise retreated back to their homeworld, Hecataeus, to regroup and rebuild their civilization. Hecataeus was a vibrant and beautiful world full of life and full of the mystical, a world where the extraordinary was ordinary. The Ancients called it 'The World of Wonders' for the many amazing things that lived there, not the least of which were the Furlings themselves.

The Furlings would have been content to stay there and rebuild, but it was not meant to be as a new plague arose, but this one was not a disease of the body or mind. This one was a race of beings intent on destroying or enslaving all life in the galaxy. They were called the Goa'uld, a parasitic race that took over the bodies of other beings and forced them to do their bidding.

Originally, the Goa'uld made hosts out of a rather ugly and primitive beasts, which eventually were named Unas. They made tough and powerful hosts, but lacked in many other areas that prevented the Goa'uld from realizing their true potential.

As the Ancients slowly faded away, many of them succeeding in their quest to ascend, the task of defending the innocents fell to the Asgard and Furlings. However, a major war was just what the Furling civilization did not need. The two sides fought each other off and on over the course of many thousands of years, but the Asgard and Furlings could never press their advantage against the less advanced and less clever Goa'uld. The Asgard resided in a separate galaxy and was forced to come to terms with their own problems while the Furlings were too few.

Soon however, a change came, the Goa'uld found a new host: humans. Their human hosts proved to be far superior and all too soon they were back to conquering the galaxy, only this time they were far more dangerous.

Soon the Furlings were looking to alternative means of saving their race. Some suggested that they reunite with their long lost brothers, the Nox, but it was not meant to be. Ultimately, it was he, Archelaos of Medea, who came up with the idea to follow the example of the Ancients and integrate with the humans of Terra. The two races were compatible; it was even found that humans were capable of a limited form of the Furlings powerful magic. It was a way for their race to survive in some form, even if not exactly what they wanted.

Luckily, the two races looked remarkably similar, which was probably one of the reasons they could procreate. The differences would be hard to notice upon first sight by humans; they were taller and more agile than humans with rather angular features and long oval shaped ears, not to mention that they had a much greater lifespan. Other than that, they were very similar races, aside from the great magical powers possessed by Furlings.

They were not simply bringing themselves however, they brought thousands of specimens of the various species of animal that inhabited Hecataeus and the Nox even provided them some various plant species from Gaia. It would be a blend of Ancient and Arcane that would inhabit this world.

Archelaos's thoughts turned from the past to the present as the Asgard transport ship dropped out of hyperspace before what was to be his people's new home. He vaguely felt an alien presence walk up beside him, but he did not acknowledge it, he was staring instead at their final destination.

"Terra Atlantus." The name of the planet that had once been capital to the greatest race in the galaxy, the Ancient Ones, the saviours of his own race.

"Yes. Are your people ready, Grand Mage?" Archelaos looked down on the naked grey figure and nodded. They had been preparing for many years now so they had better be ready; there would be no turning back.

"With Ra's Stargate buried the Goa'uld are unlikely to visit this planet any time soon, they have enough slaves to have no need to return here." The Asgard commander nodded, Terra had no resources of any use to the Goa'uld aside from humans, and they already had plenty of those. "We'll cast some wards around the gate to keep anybody unpleasant away from it."

Archelaos looked over at his companion and smiled sadly, "we've cast wards upon the gate at Hecataeus, any who are not of our race will find a most unpleasant welcome should they attempt to travel there via the Stargate, especially if they are Goa'uld. If they come by ship they will find nothing, all has been destroyed. The last vestiges of our society are hidden away deep underground, we hope that our descendants will one day return."

Vili, the Asgard commander, nodded and informed him that they were ready to begin beaming the groups down.

Archelaos lifted his hand and with the slightest gesture summoned a small lightly glowing ball shaped object to him. Once it was in his hands, or more accurately hovering just above them, a very detailed representation of Terra showed up and he began going over where each group of Furlings would be sent.

They were to be sent to areas where they would arouse the least suspicion because of their looks. The humans of Terra, like their Ancient ancestors and like the Furlings, were diverse in their appearance.

"Goodbye my friend, perhaps our descendants shall meet you again one day and aid the Asgard as you have aided us." Vili merely nodded before beaming Archelaos and several others down to the surface of the planet on an island that would one day be known as Britain.

"Well Archelaos, we're here, shall we find some cute native girls and procreate in the name of the Furling Federation?" grinned his long time friend Euthymios, who despite over a three centuries of life remained a child at heart. Archelaos rather thought that was why he enjoyed his company so much; it was youthful.

"Yeah, I suppose we should get to business soon, eh?" he smiled, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Don't forget to learn the local language, Euthymios, I doubt they speak the Ancient tongue." Archelaos ran a hand through his unruly jet black hair, a nervous habit of his, before setting off towards the local village with the small group.

"Oh, and we'll need to change our names to something more native." He received several nods in reply.

"Did you hear about Remus and Romulus?" Archelaos hadn't heard anything about the two, who he didn't really care for all that much. "They're planning to start themselves an entirely new civilization, in honour of the Ancients. Bizarre, eh? They'll speak the Ancient language and everything. I doubt it will catch on though; they're idiots. They'll probably kill each other, you know how they fight over everything."

Archelaos merely shrugged, everybody knew how those two got along, it was part of the reason he didn't like them. The idiots were destined to fail though, so he was unconcerned about their venture, they failed at everything. Then they fought over whose fault it was. Idiots.

1879 A.D. – July 21

Planet: Earth – Giza Plateau, Egypt

Being a goblin was never easy, you had to do your job and do it well or face the unpleasant consequences of failure. Ripfang was good though, he found the best treasures because he took the biggest risks and thankfully had a talent for knowing just which ones to take. Take, for example, his current project.

He found an anomaly in Giza, it was magic but it was magic like he'd never seen before, and boy was it powerful. Whatever it was hiding must be of great value to have been sealed away by some ancient wizards like this.

Or perhaps something other than wizards? Surely not wizards, no. Unfortunately, it wasn't goblin magic either. Ripfang didn't know if the Elves had resided here long ago, perhaps it could be their old magic? They were a powerful race when they chose to be; unfortunately, they had long ago lowered themselves to be the servants of wizards.

Ripfang found that to be rather disgusting.

His musings however were cut short by one of those lowly human types rushing into his tent, "Sir, we think we've got it sir!" He seemed delighted.

"It?" asked the old goblin who had no desire to begin guessing what 'it' was.

"We know how to break the wards sir!" Ripfang nodded and walked out to the site, the other goblins and wizards came as well.

Quite remarkably, it was a very simple procedure, the wizards simply needed to cast a relatively simple spell together at the same time to compensate for the power of the wards.

All things considered, it was a bit of a let down.

"Well, dig!" he ordered once the enchantments had been broken.

Spells were fired quickly to do just that until they ran into a set of heavy coverstones with a cartouche in the middle. The hieroglyphs on the coverstones were fairly simple even if the story they told was odd, but the ones on the cartouche and on the outer ring of the coverstones, they were no form of writing that he knew. Somehow though, Ripfang had a feeling he'd seen them somewhere, but he couldn't place it.

It was after they lifted the coverstones that they found something truly remarkable, a large ring made out of a metal that none of them had ever seen or heard of before. There was most definitely something very strange going on here; he just hoped that the goblins back at Gringotts would be as intrigued as he was.

Further digging located some sort of device, which seemed to be related to the ring, almost as if it controlled the large ring. Or gate, as he was starting to think of it. There was not much else around the ring, except some rather odd old fossils.

Ripfang wasn't sure what to think of his latest discovery, but he was certain that it was going to be one of his most important discoveries ever.

1999 A.D. – August 14

Throne Room – Great Temple of Bast

Planet: Bubastis – Homeworld of the Goa'uld Bastet

Bastet sat contentedly upon her throne, surrounded by her beloved kittens and many precious children, she was practically purring in contentment as she stretched about lazily in her throne. She had called off the manservants who had been fanning her as it was becoming chilly. Undoubtedly, a sandstorm was approaching, but Bastet was unconcerned, she had long ago procured technology to guard her people against that.

After all, sandstorms were the wrath of a God, thus it stood to reason that only a God could protect the people from them. Bastet was very protective, and her people loved her very much for that protection.

Aside from herself and the many children and manservants, the Bast Guard were to be found about the room, the elite force of Jaffa warriors that was composed completely of females was one of the most feared units in the galaxy. Rightly so, their extensive training in combat along with their deadly claws and ferocious war cries were enough to scare anybody, even other Goa'uld. The fact that they were all exceedingly beautiful was an added bonus; of course men were easily distracted.

It was as she lazed petting one of her favourite cats, a grumpy old ginger coloured cat that seemed in a perpetual bad mood, that she had a sudden thought. It was about time that she preformed one of her odd rituals that even she didn't understand why she did it.

Roughly every few hundred years she would have a couple of her more useless male servants dial the address for Tau'ri. She didn't expect that any of her minions would ever live after going through the gate, but it amused her greatly to see that they seemed to think it a great honour of some sort.

"Relana!" Her loyal and obedient First Prime immediately appeared before her. "It is time, I think, to select a few worthy individuals to visit the Tau'ri, don't you think?" Her stress of the word worthy was enough to tell Relana that she needed to find two individuals with no family and no particular use. Many of the manservants about her temple were in fact husbands of her Bast Guard, and it would not do to be sending two of them to their doom.

"As you wish." The Jaffa bowed in pleasure and was off to instruct two particularly daft looking brutes to dial the address of the Tau'ri. They were thrilled beyond compare.

She did regret the loss of yet another communication sphere, but they were the only thing that would work in the event that they actually managed to make it to the other side.

It then came as something of a surprise when her First Prime Relana alerted her that they were receiving communication from the two men.

"My Lady Bastet! We have reached the Tau'ri!" He seemed inordinately proud of his ability to step through a Stargate.

"Za'dek! Describe the current environment," demanded Relana.

"We're in a room." Za'dek replied smartly. "A dark room," he then clarified.

Unfortunately they didn't get much more than that as several bright red flashes lit up the screen and the Jaffa disappeared.

Bastet was now curious, insanely curious, she had sent many servants to their death going to the Tau'ri, but now it seems that two have succeeded. Though they likely died at the hands of the Tau'ri whom she could only assume have advanced by leaps and bounds since defying Ra, the fact that they made it through the Stargate was significant. The Tau'ri must have finally unburied their gate, but why?

Did they perhaps think that they had progressed enough that they could further defy their Gods? Bright flashes of scarlet, some sort of energy weapon perhaps? Bastet knew that the Gatebuilders once resided on that planet, could the Tau'ri have possibly found some of their technology and figured it out? If so then it was a very troubling development.

Or did they simply progress on their own to a fairly advanced level? If so they were likely still not as advanced as the Goa'uld, and taking out two pathetic and surprised humans was certainly no way to gauge their current abilities.

"Miuty!" she called to her underling. Bastet, as a powerful and influential System Lord, had an impressive number of Underlords to do her bidding. She generally kept one of them near her at all times so that they may do anything that she deems beneath her, or too dangerous.

Miuty, Mafdet and Asthartet helped her govern her personal worlds of Bubastis, Tell Basta and Per-Bast respectively, as none of them had a domain of their own. Thus by virtue of administrating Bastet's seat of power Miuty was often tasked to do things such as what he was going to be asked to do now.

When the cat headed Goa'uld bowed before her she instructed him on the task she wanted complete, "Assemble a team of Jaffa, I want to know how much of a threat the Tau'ri have become. I am most curious as to why they do not feel the need to protect themselves as they once did. You are to secure the Stargate and observe their tactical and technology status and, if possible, capture a few and bring them back for me to speak with."

"As you wish, my Lady." As Bastet watched him stalk off to organize the expedition, she motioned for Relana to join her.

"Go to Taremu, I wish for Maahes presence immediately. Also, send somebody to Hatet to inform Hert-Ketit-s that her assistance will be required should Miuty bring back any prisoners." Relana bowed in acknowledgement, but did not immediately go off to do her tasks. Bastet raised a curious brow.

"My Lady," she breathed reverently, "it is only that I wish to remind you that Ptah is to do, as you requested, he should be here within the day."

"Ah, yes, very well. But it is imperative that Ptah know nothing of the developments with the Tau'ri, instruct the Jaffa that nobody is to speak of it while he is here." Ptah was a very old Goa'uld who has created nearly every Goa'uld ship that exists. It was not terribly often that he came up with any clever new ideas, but recently he had been hinting at something. He knew very well that she was far too curious and would eventually cave to his demands, but she couldn't help herself. She idly wondered if Ra already knew.

Ptah also happened to have been the consort of Sekhmet, Bastet's most hated rival. Of course, it wasn't so much a rivalry anymore seeing as Bastet had seen to her rival's banishment for treachery. Ptah had been greatly distressed when he learned of Sekhmet's villainy and Bastet had quickly been there to comfort him, having experienced the treachery of Anubis. Ever since then the two had formed a very cordial if not close relationship, with Ptah using her natural curiosity to test his creations and her using his creative brilliance to strengthen her own position.

If only Nefertum and Menhit, two of Sekhmet's old Underlords, could be so easily controlled.

"Hmm, while you are at it, send a messenger to Pakhet, he should have a report on Hak'tyl by now." The Jaffa quickly and gracefully made her way to do her Goddess' bidding, leaving Bastet to gently pet her favourite cat as she pondered this new development.

Bastet thought that perhaps now was the time to do some scheming. One thing Bastet could always use more of were good female Jaffa to join the Bast Guard, and Moloc may very well have given her a ready supply of them if the rumours she heard were true. She never cared much for Moloc and seeing as he had no strong allies that would stand against the Claws of Bast, her fleet, or the Bast Guard then it shouldn't be too hard to 'convince' him to agree to her demands.

Yawning widely the Goddess stretched like the feline she was before retiring to her personal chambers. Hopefully, Miuty would be ready to check in on the Tau'ri tomorrow.

1999 A.D. – August 15

Gate Room – Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic

Planet: Earth – London, England

Working as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries one sees quite a few odd thing, but what happened yesterday morning had to be one of the oddest that Edgar Chichester had ever seen.

It was all centred around a strange circular artefact that the DoM had acquired from the goblins. They had heard about it over a century ago from some of the wizards who were there when it was founded, and the Department had been interested in looking at it ever since. Unfortunately, the goblins were not so keen to be parted with it, until two years ago when they finally relented.

For a large sack of galleons, of course.

Now Edgar thought perhaps he understood why the goblins suddenly were willing to be parted with the strange and mysterious object.

They had been debating how to interpret the hieroglyphs on the coverstones when the ring, or Stargate as he now knew it to be, suddenly came to life. The Unspeakables rushed to the room that the Stargate was being kept in and found two oddly dressed men talking into a sphere of some sort.

They didn't waste time asking them what they were doing there or how the Stargate had activated, they just stupefied them before they could do anything.

Upon closer inspection the two men were humans and when awoken and under the influence of Veritaserum they admitted that they were from another planet and in the service of the Goddess Bastet. Of course, the Unspeakables had needed to find a person familiar with very very ancient Egyptian to talk with them, but luckily, they had one such person.

Damien Knowles happened to be the department's chief researcher in ancient cultures and was, after some work, able to communicate with the two men.

They didn't seem to be the cleverest blokes, but were able to tell them a good bit regarding the Stargate and the other device found near it, which was, as they guessed, a sort of dialling device. The two also provided some answers as to just what was out there in the galaxy. Apparently, there were various Gods, that dominated the galaxy with their vast fleets of starships. It seemed most of them took the form of Egyptian deities.

They managed to find out that one named Ra was apparently the leader; the two of them were servants of the Goddess known as Bastet. There were others, but neither really knew too much about them.

From the alien's descriptions, the God folk apparently had amazing divine powers and that left many Unspeakables wondering if they were wizards.

There were some cults, especially in Egypt but also in India, that worshipped the 'Old Gods' as the ones who brought magic. Bastet, according to Damien, was particularly worshipped because of the belief that she could control the Nundus, a large and deadly feline that terrorises the Sahara.

Perhaps there was something to it after all?

Regardless, Director Croaker had ordered them to keep guard in what was being called the 'Gate Room' in the event that any of the alien's friends decided to come for a visit. The two did admit that they came on the orders of Bastet and that they communicated with her before losing consciousness.

This, it turned out, was a wise move as Edgar's internal musings were cut short by the Stargate activating of its own accord. It was actually a rather beautiful thing, when the Stargate connected, until the strange cat-like beings began coming through. They were all quite obviously female except for one that had the face of a cat, the others being silvery and had a face eerily similar to a Nundus.

Their eyes all glowed a ferocious emerald that complemented the cloth parts of their armour and their exceptionally dangerous looking claws. Aside from the claws, each of the aliens carried a long staff like object, which they quickly pointed towards the wizards in the room who had been momentarily shocked into a stupor.

"Jaffa! Tal shak!" Whatever that meant, it was apparently their signal to attack as the silvery ones immediately leapt into action. The alien enemies unleashed an unearthly howl as they started firing some sort of explosive energy from the long staffs they carried. Edgar saw two wizards go down before the others began shielding in earnest.

Some of the attackers began closing in on the wizards in quick fluid motions, howling in otherworldly delight as they brought their vicious claws to bear upon the wizards or used their staffs as melee weapons. Edgar was able to get a reductor curse off at the gold headed one that seemed to be their leader, however he simply brought up some sort of shield that stopped the curse cold.

Edgar's efforts were rewarded by the painful sensation of having a set of deadly claws tearing across his face and chest before a blast from the staff of the leader impacted painfully in his gut. As he fell to the floor in agony, he saw and just barely heard the leader call out to his minions.

"Jaffa, kree! Shal tek!" The silvery ones, the Jaffa he supposed, immediately converged on their leader as one of them dialled an address into the gate. The wizards, who had been on the defensive from the beginning, seemed to finally have a chance to go on the offensive when the leader raised his left hand and an odd ripple of energy flew through the air and violently sent them all flying across the room.

As the world began to turn into darkness Edgar saw the Stargate connect and their enemies retreating through it with what appeared to be hostages. Edgar would never know anything more however.

1999 A.D. – August 19

Interrogation Chambers – Great Temple of Bast

Planet: Bubastis – Homeworld of the Goa'uld Bastet

Bastet looked down at the whimpering figure in distaste after having yet again used her kara kesh, or hand device, to torture the human.

"If you tell me what I want to know, human, I will make the pain go away. You can end it, all you must do is tell me about your kind, tell me why you unburied the Stargate." The tortured human only whimpered pathetically at her feet while the other glared at her in defiance.

"Your insolence will only earn your companion more pain, human." It did indeed, as she once again used the immense power of the ancient device to torture the wizard.

Miuty's attack on the Tau'ri had been a success as far as she was concerned; they brought back two humans, one of which spoke Goa'uld. A bit broken and old fashioned, but it was good enough for her to understand. He also reported that at least three of the Tau'ri are likely to have died, and several others were gravely injured. Apparently they technology prowess of the Tau'ri was not so great as she feared it could be.

Of the Jaffa, only two sustained any injuries with one of them receiving a very nasty cut along her thigh and the other a deadly blast to her chest. Both were healed by Bastet as a reward for their success.

Despite that, the interrogation was not going anywhere near as well as she had hoped it would. Bastet was now more curious than ever to learn what had become of the Tau'ri as the reports were peculiar at best and extremely disturbing at worst. They had no technology of any note except what seemed to be ordinary wooden sticks that they used to shoot some form of high powered energy or shield against staff blasts.

Bastet had examined the stick of the human she was now torturing and could not find any sort of noticeable technology, though it seemed to possess a subtle power of some sort.

Furthermore, Miuty and the Jaffa's description of their energy was reminiscent of enemies from the past.

Bastet had been around for some time, she had been there at Anubis' betrayal and the rise of Ra, she had been there during the wars against the Asgard, and she had been there in the battles against the other race, the Furlings. Something about the description of these humans reminded her of them and it was unsettling, as they had been a terrifying and tricky enemy before their previously unexplained disappearance. Perhaps now she had an explanation?

Returning her attention to the present, she ceased her torture, not wanting the human to go insane or die just yet.

"Perhaps you do not care for your friend? It seems that if I am to get results I may need to start inflicting pain on you. Tell me what I want to know, now, or the consequences will be most unpleasant." She smiled cruelly at that, certain that with the proper application of pain she could get what she wanted from him.

"You think torturing me to insanity will help you? I won't tell you anything!"

The Goa'uld's eyes flashed at the human's insolence, but she merely smiled a terrifying smile. "Oh, do not worry; I have something special planned for you. Something far more painful. I'm going to kill you in as painful a way as I can think of, and then when you are dead, I shall heal you, and we may begin again. I'm going to do this day after day after day until you tell me what I want to know."

Oddly, however, the human smiled and proclaimed, "Nobody can bring a person back from the dead. So kill me and be done with it, I'm never going to tell you anything."

Bastet smiled wickedly as she pulled out a dagger and asked, "Can't I?" and in a flash, she brought the dagger down on his neck in a fatal blow.

Bastet was standing over the sarcophagus when the human awoke with a look of shock mingled with a dawning horror.

"Now that you have witnessed the power of your God, do you wish to perhaps reconsider your position?" As she spoke, she pulled out a vile of some murky brown liquid and seemed to be considering it as the human tried to work out what was going on.

"What's that?" the man demanded.

"This? It's an acid called Hatetium that is, so far as I am aware, only to be found on one of the neighbouring moons of Hatet. The acid very slowly burns its way through human skin tissue, I am told it is exceptionally painful. It is, however, a much more elegant a way to flay a person alive than with mundane tools, they make it so messy." Her sadistic grin stretched further as his eyes widened and his breathing picked up, she was fairly certain that she'd be getting what she wanted now.

"Are you willing to answer my questions now, human?" He nodded, his horror filled eyes never leaving the small vile of acid.

"Very good!" she responded cheerfully.

"Why did your people not keep the Stargate buried, what were you planning to use it for?"

"We, we didn't know what it was, it was found by the goblins over a hundred years ago in, uh, Egypt. Giza, near the Great Pyramids. We had just acquired it from the goblins and were trying to decipher what it was meant to do."

Bastet frowned at his answer before asking, "What are these 'goblins' that you speak of?"

"Er, uh, they're small sort of, uh, ugly creatures that run the wizarding bank Gringotts. They dig up lots of old tombs and such looking for gold, that's how they found the gate."

"They're another race then?" she asked and he nodded. "What other races of intelligent species are there on your planet?"

"Er, well, there are centaurs, they're like a cross of man and horse. Then there are house-elves, they're smaller and uglier than goblins and are servants of wizards. And the merfolk live under water. And then there are muggles."

"Interesting, what are muggles and wizards?"

"Muggles are just normal non-magical humans, wizards are magical humans."

"Like you?"

"Yes."

"Magical? That is what that energy you use in combat is, magic?"

"Yes."

"And how many magical beings are there on, ah, Earth. How many non-magical."

"Er, I don't know exact figures, like over six billion muggles I think. Wizards, maybe a few million at most." Bastet smiled a genuine smile at that; it was good news that the entire planet didn't possess these magical powers.

"You spoke before as if magical and non-magical, wizard and muggle, were the same species just that some didn't possess magic?"

"Yes, that's correct. Sometimes a witch or wizard can be born from a muggle family."

"Intriguing." And it was, Bastet was beginning to think that she now had an answer for what happened to the Furlings. They had likely gone to Earth and integrated with the humans there sometime after the rebellion. The good news was that the human blood likely diluted the 'magical' powers of the Furlings, weakening them to the point that it seemed wizards needed a 'wand' to use their magic.

The interrogation continued on for hours before Bastet eventually had the human sent off to a cell, she had much to ponder. The biggest issue being the potential for a new and vastly improved host.

Ra had once tried to take an Asgard named Famrir as a host, but it had ultimately rejected him. Another old Goa'uld, Xiuhcoatl, had once tried to make a Furling a host, that had ended in his quick death.

But now perhaps the 'wizards' would be weak enough for a strong Goa'uld to take them as a host. It would certainly be something worth looking into, if for no reason than to settle her feline curiosity.

1999 A.D. – September 28

Bastet's Personal Chambers – Great Temple of Bast

Planet: Bubastis – Homeworld of the Goa'uld Bastet

Bastet, like most Goa'uld, had a preference for taking only the most beautiful humans as a host. Part of this was the belief that all powerful God's such as they, themselves proposed to be, would not be ugly. They are divine; after all, they are perfection.

Bastet, being a Goa'uld Queen and known as a Goddess of sensuality and fertility to some was particularly interested in the beauty of her host. Human males were easy to control when presented by such beauty, and other Goa'uld were prone to grow jealous. Not only that, but she had grown fond of human reproductive activities.

However, in the interest of power Bastet was willing to suffer through a lesser host, at least for the time being.

Once she had exhausted the human of all his useful information, she began testing him in all manner of ways. She studied his physiology and did a few rudimentary tests on his 'magic' while monitoring his brain activities. She was quite curious in exactly how these wizards worked.

The best news she discovered was that wizards were compatible hosts, the only unknown was how the magic of the host would react to the attempt of possessing them. That was of great concern to the Goa'uld who had no desire to die any time soon, but she was likewise wary of allowing one of her underlings to test in the fear that should they succeed, they may prove a powerful enemy.

Not that Bastet thought her underlings were anything but loyal, but with her fellow Goa'uld it is often best to not allow them even the hint of temptation.

Still, there was a reason for the saying that 'curiosity killed the cat', and Bastet was nothing if not cat-like. Her curiosity often led her to forgo caution in the quest for answers to whatever question was swirling about in her mind.

That is what led her here to her soft and silky bed in which was tied up the human wizard as she had her way with him. It was not merely her enjoyment of the act that she did this, she also desired a genetic sample from the wizard as she had a theory and was eager to test it.

The human, much to Bastet's amusement, quickly went from terror to lust when Bastet joined him in her private chambers and her servants divested her of clothing. As always, men were easy to control.

Once the deed was done and she had her genetic sample Bastet wasted no time in pulling the wizard into a deeply passionate kiss. Before he even knew what was happening Bastet had made her way into the wizard and started taking control.

Knowing the risk of rejection Bastet worked feverishly not only to take control of the host before he could retaliate but also to learn everything she could about the mechanics of magic. She had thought herself successful as she quickly reigned in control of the host body but he was a talented wizard and fought back with his mind.

Once she gained complete control of the host's body the host had only their mind to fight back with. The difference between a normal host and a magical host is that the magical ones need only their mind to fight back. The wizard's internal magic started fighting back once he began attempting to expel her, but Bastet was an old and powerful Goa'uld and fought back viciously. Even once she realized this body was lost to her she fought on, determined to find its weakness so that it could be exploited in the future.

Though it may have felt significantly longer to both symbiote and host, it was over in a matter of minutes with Bastet retreating hastily from the wizard. Relana, her loyal First Prime, moved in such a precise and fluid movement that she was a blur even to a Goa'uld. The wizard's head was severed from his body by one of her twin blades and Bastet entered and quickly took control of the body of one of her human servants.

"My Lady, are you well?"

"Yes Relana, more than well." Leaving Relana to deal with her former host and the dead wizard she made her way to see one of her minions, Beset. It was time for Bastet to visit Egypt.

2000 A.D. – February 5

Throne Room – Pyramid of Bast (Cheop Class Mothership)

Hidden behind the Moon

"What have you learned?" she asked, staring down at her Underlord imperiously.

"We have learned much, My Lady," reported Beset as her golden mask, that of a rather demonic looking cat, faded away to reveal a surprisingly kind faced woman. "The Tau'ri have advanced a great deal since their rebellion, they have harnessed the power of the atom and begun flight into space, however it is all very much still primitive." Bastet frowned, with such a large population they could still be dangerous with such technology, if they chose.

"Did you foresee any possibility that they may become more dangerous in the immediate future?" It would of course be a very long time before they'd be capable of competing with the Goa'uld, no matter what. However, if they advance swiftly enough in the coming years they could make a potential invasion of earth a costly affair.

"My Lady, in my investigations I found one group of scientists that seem to be advancing quite rapidly, for their technology level, in space flight. A scientist by the name of Irène de Condorcet has developed some technology that could vastly improve their interplanetary space travel. However they are some ways away from being able to leave their own system."

"Good." It was not ideal, if they could manage to produce suitable interplanetary starships to defend Earth it would make controlling them much more difficult. On the other side, they wouldn't be able to challenge the rest of the galaxy any time soon. "Continue Beset."

"My research leads me to believe that most of the Tau'ri, the ones who are called 'muggles', do not believe in the 'Old Gods', they have since moved on to various other faiths. In most cases, as I say. The 'magical' Tau'ri however are different. Most seem to labour under the assumption that the Gods were simply powerful wizards or muggle myths. However there are some cults, primarily in Egypt, India, and America, that still worship the Goa'uld."

Thankfully one of the things Bastet had gone over with her former wizard prisoner was modern geography and politics. It paid to know who kill first, after all. It was with said knowledge that she actually knew where these places were located.

"Indeed? Why?" Not that she was complaining, of course, but knowing the why could go a long way in manipulating the Tau'ri into doing her bidding.

"It seems that some of them have come across records of before the rebellion and believe that we are in fact the ones who gifted wizards and witches with magic." Beset's eyes sparkled with mischief at that little fact.

"Really?" Bastet's smiled in devilish delight at this, it could certainly help her in efforts to gain some magical followers. If they already believed such things then Bastet would need only display her power and she would already be well on her way to making followers out of them. "Carry on."

"The cults are small in number, as I said, one of the largest however is the Cult of Bastet, they meet to worship at your old temple in Bubastis. It is, from what I have found, their belief that you may be able to protect them from a creature known as a Nundus." The Goa'uld frowned thoughtfully at that, making Bastet more curious than she already was.

"A Nundus?" she asked bewildered, she'd never heard of such a creature in her life. Why ever would they think she'd protect them from one? Of course, she would, if it meant gaining their obedience.

"Yes, they are so far as I can tell a large leopard that breathes disease and inhabits the eastern part of the continent."

"Hmmm," Bastet thought for a moment, this beast reminded her of something. "It is very much like an Ammit, yes? They were leopard-like and breathed disease; I was led to believe that they were all destroyed, no?" It had been thousands of years since anybody had seen one of those foul creatures.

"Yes, it was believed that they had all been destroyed, as ordered by Ra, however it is possible they were not. From the research, I undertook they do share many similar characteristics, as you said, leopard-like and breath disease. Their hind quarters are more feline than the Ammit's, from what I remember, and they lack the long dog-like snout in favour of a more feline one."

"Intriguing. Very intriguing." Not to mention disconcerting, but she decided not to mention that. "What of your other task?" Bastet knew that there were a handful of Goa'uld that had been trapped on Earth either in a canopic jar or in their sarcophagus.

"I believe that Setesh is still active on Earth, that is where he has been hiding," smirked the deceptively kind faced Goa'uld. The dark bronze skinned Beset was likely thinking of one of the many jokes concerning Setesh and his Jaffa. "There have been several cults dedicated to him that have sprung up throughout the ages, I believe it has been his doing."

"How did you come across this information?" Bastet didn't have much use for Setesh, she had never liked him much, but she also did not wish to allow him to ruin her plans.

"I did some research on cults that are not connected to the Goa'uld, and have come across several over many centuries that have a similar leader using various names derived from Setesh. His current name is Seth, he has a cult of followers in a city called Seattle. I cannot of course be certain, but I am confident it is him."

As an afterthought she added, "I found no evidence of his ever being involved with wizarding society."

"Indeed? Good, hopefully he is thus far ignorant of magic. Nevertheless we shall have to pay the droopy one a visit eventually; I will not risk his causing me problems." After glaring off in the distance for a moment Bastet returned her attention to Beset. "The others?"

"I've found nothing to suggest that any other Goa'uld are active, however there was some sort of incident at the site that I believe Hathor had been entombed."

"Hathor? Perhaps we should assemble a team of humans to search for her, I do not wish for another Queen to be running amok on Earth, especially not with a sarcophagus, she could pose too great a danger. You've heard nothing on Isis and Osiris? Or Sekhmet, for that matter."

"No my Lady."

"Very well. You said that the magical cult met in my former temple, yes? Do the rings still work?" If they did, perhaps she could make a dramatic entrance and allow the humans to worship their Goddess in person.

"I do not know."

"No? Then do what you must to find out, however nobody is to use the rings until I give the command to do so. I shall leave you in charge for the time being as I must experiment with my new host." With that she rose and quickly stalked off to her personal quarters with a handful of servants following closely behind her.

Bastet had pondered how to take a magical host for some time before the answer came to her. The wizard that she had tried to possess had consciously fought against her, he had willed his magic to expel her. So then what other option was there than to remove the witches will?

Or, more accurate, make it so that she has none. One talented enough with the hand device can do all sorts of things, especially to the brain. They can shut down a person's body, anything from simple motor function to shutting down the whole thing, resulting in death. A particularly talented user can target specific aspects of the brain and attack them in multiple ways.

For this Bastet, who had done extensive research into this area, chose to use her hand device and attack specific parts of the brain that dealt with memory and behaviour. Inducing amnesia would allow Bastet to implant false memories once she had overtaken the host, modifying her behaviour, specifically lowering her inhibitions, would make her mind less likely to rebel later.

After that, Bastet hoped that the girl would prove to be a most excellent host. She had already run several tests with her hand device as well as taking a peek in her Goa'uld form to see if it seemed compatible, and it did.

Bastet hadn't been this excited since Sekhmet was banished.

The prospective host was Egyptians, apparently from a long line of Egyptian wizards, but they didn't believe in the God's. She was also very beautiful, perhaps even slightly more beautiful than her previous host. She didn't really count her current host as one, it was merely a means to an end, this end. Best of all is that the prospective host had alluring dark green eyes, Bastet always preferred green eyed hosts when they could be found.

Green, after all, was her favourite colour. And the colour of her formal attire.

Upon entering her rooms she found the host tied down as she had been left, looking rather out of it, likely from the drugs she had been given by the servant girl. Meddling about in ones brain could be painful, after all, and Bastet didn't want anything damaged.

At least, not too badly.

"Do not worry my love, you are to be honoured above all others."

Raising her left hand she went to work before ejecting herself from her current host, dumping some poison as she did so, and quickly making her way to the new host. The mixture of brain damage and drugs made it quite easy to take the host and Bastet wasted little time in feeding her host a few vague false memories to help ensure loyalty.

The biggest issue was the magic, which didn't attack her thankfully. She picked up the wand that had once belong to the girl and waved it around a little, causing sparks to fly from it's end. That was a good sign.

Deciding that things were all in working order, physically at least, Bastet began looking through memories of her host. Some types of memory remained even after her manipulations, her primary target having been episodic memory. Her knowledge of magic remain for the most part, though somewhat fuzzy perhaps.

With her semantic memories still mostly intact, along with most of her procedural memory, it took little time for Bastet to learn how to use the basics of magic.

What excited the Goddess the most was when she realized that Naquadah and magic worked and played well together, better than she ever could have expected. Naquadah can be used to enhance many forms of energy, and it seems that magical energy is no exception to this. The Goa'uld's superior control of the human body and the Naquadah in the blood enhanced magic to the point where she did not need a silly wand to perform many spells.

That was a thought that pleased her to no end.

2000 A.D. – February 12

Main Chamber – Temple of Bast

Planet: Earth – Per-Bast, Egypt

There were a great many worshippers today, praying for the return of the Goddess Bastet. The reason for that was a recent attack by a Nundus that resulted in the death of two unfortunate witches that happened to be in the area. They had brought the two bodies here immediately and prayed that Bastet would restore them.

It was, then, quite a surprise when something amazing happened.

A set of several rings came down from the ceiling and in a flash materialized several figures. Five of them wore large silver masks that resembled a Nundus, which drew the ire of more than a few of the worshippers present. The last figure wore a golden mask of a lioness.

The confused and slightly irritated worshippers quickly drew their wands, not understanding how these people had appeared in the middle of the temple despite the old anti-apparition wards.

However before any of them could fire a spell the gold headed figure waved its right hand, which glowed red. The wizards and witches could only look on dumbstruck as the figure, which bore a strong resemblance to the great statue decorating the wall behind her, disarmed them all without need of a wand.

"Bow before your God." Her deep and booming voice commanded, the green eyes upon the golden mask seemed to glow with some inner fire as she did so. The members of the Cult of Bast wasted no time in following her command; this was what they had always dreamed about after all.

At last their Goddess had heard them, at last Bastet had returned.