Beings, Beasts & Freaks
No one seemed to know quite what to do with themselves after Mother Magic left and the silencing charms on the Dursley family finally fell. It was like all hell broke loose and they were all just present to witness the explosion. Young Harry was eyeing the exit to the chamber, like he desperately wanted to make a runner for it.
"Where the hell has that FREAK brought us now?" the elder Vernon demanded.
They were all horrified. Did he just call Mother Magic a freak?
Both Petunias were clinging to their sons as if they feared what the other people in the chamber might do to him, screeching loudly. The younger Dudley was complaining about not getting to watch his favourite television show. He wanted to know when they would finally be going home from this strange place, where there was nothing fun to do. With the freakish woman who insisted that he actually read a handful of books about his annoying cousin. He'd actually quite enjoyed the stories, so long as he ignored the fact that they were written about his cousin but he wasn't about to tell his parents that. It would have been better to watch a film of the whole thing but seeing as how he had nothing better to do in the strange place that the freaky lady had left them in, he'd actually read the things.
This place wasn't that different. Except there were more people here. He wondered if the food magically appeared here too. Although, that freakish lady never gave him enough food in his opinion and he'd had to steal food off his parents' plates at practically every meal. Not that they seemed to care, neither one of them wanting to eat the freakish food. Dudley wasn't sure why they thought the food was freaky. It tasted normal enough.
Young Harry hid behind his older self, shaking violently. Why had Mother Magic brought them here? His older self wasn't fairing much better. He was standing stock still, unable to move.
"YOU!" Petunia screamed when she spotted Harry. "This is all your fault!"
Sirius, Remus and Arcturus were the first to move, blocking the two Harrys in, away from the Dursleys. Everyone seemed to move on mass after that, coming to stand between the Dursleys and the two Harrys.
No one seemed to know quite what to do. Or what they should say to this particular set of new arrivals. No one felt particularly inclined to explain what was happening or why they were here. Or to help them find a suite of rooms for the night. There wasn't a single soul in the chamber that wanted to talk to them at all. What's more they couldn't just sit them down and continue reading as they had finished for the day. Professor McGonagall sighed. It was time for the children's lessons but honestly, she didn't feel particularly inclined to force them into the classroom chamber, not when young Harry was looking so...
"Children, lessons are cancelled for this evening," she announced. "Why don't you all go and spend an hour or so..."
She was at a loss for what to suggest they do. The goblins in the chamber stepped forward and suggested that the younglings come and explore the other side of Mother Magic's realm. There was a secretive grin on the Goblin King's face. "You'll find all sorts of interesting things through our door."
The adults looked a little hesitant to let their children out of their sights but they had to admit that they would be safer through the door. Especially seeing as how most of the adults in the chamber were having to actively remind themselves of the No Violence rule. Young Theo took Harry's hand and guided him through the door. "Come along, Harry."
The others were quick to follow, only glancing back once or twice. Young Harry grinned once he entered the other chamber, all thoughts of the Dursleys pushed from his mind, as he saw what was waiting for them. The chamber through the door was nothing like he'd ever seen before. The ground was a rich earthy soil and trees seemed to be growing out of the walls. All around the room, different magical beings were sitting and standing around, discussing the most recent events in the other chamber. Harry noticed a strange lake to one side of the room where he could hear the screeches of the merpeople. Harry noticed that there seemed to more than one type of merperson present and he had questions about that. Lots of questions. A herd of centaurs were sitting in one corner and Harry saw one that he suspected might be Firenze. The centaur waved and smiled towards him. It really was him. He had about a thousand questions he'd like to ask the centaur.
His eyes moved away to where a group of tiny house elves were playing some strange game he'd never seen before. These house elves were even smaller than the ones he'd seen so far and Harry thought they must be children. Further into the chamber, there was a couple of hags drinking butterbeer. Although Harry noticed they were eyeing the centaurs and merpeople with distaste. There was a sphinx lounging on a rock as if sunning herself. Harry's eyes widened as he noticed there was even a giant in attendance, although he looked like he was on the verge of losing his temper because the story had ended for the time being.
"Thedius wants to listen!" he shouted loudly, stomping one foot, creating a mild earthquake.
A handful of banshees seemed to be trying to reason with him, which Harry noticed didn't seem to be going the way they wanted it to. Harry found himself feeling relieved that he'd taken the time to read several books on magical creatures, beasts and beings in Mother Magic's library so he could hopefully try and avoid offending any of those present.
"Come in, come in, younglings," the Goblin king said, encouraging them all to sit down in the centre of the chamber, in what seemed to be a large clearing.
Once everyone was seated, the Goblin king settled himself on a rock. "I know the adults in the other chamber have been giving you lessons about beings and beasts, but we thought it was time for you to learn about us from ourselves."
Harry grinned. This was guaranteed to be interesting.
"I suppose we can start with us goblins," the king said, showing his teeth. "Wix have made a bit of a muddle of defining magical beings. First they said, you could only be a being if you walked on two legs. We goblins proved the foolishness of that idea when we brought every creature that walks on two legs to the wizards council. Everything from Diricawls to trolls. It was deliciously violent. Ghosts were offended too as they glided rather than walked. The trolls caused absolute havoc. Then they said we had to speak the human tongue. This was just as foolish. Humans have many tongues, just live we have many languages. The goblins could learn to speak any human tongue we saw fit, but we prefer gobbledegook, our own tongue. The merpeople cannot speak human tongues but that does not limit their comprehension of language and communication. There are many dialects of mermish. I speak five of them including Merrow and Selkie. Technically, acromantula and manticores could be considered beings by this standard. Even Jarveys could attend a council of beings if that was the standard we kept to. The ghosts were further offended as they were perceived to be non-living."
There was a round of laughter from the beings and beasts around the chamber. Harry was surprised to realise they were all listening closely too.
"We goblins, refused to participate under that definition, because it excluded merpeople," the Goblin king said with a nod to the merpeople in the lake. "So in 1811, the wizard council tried again. Grogan Stump defined a being as 'any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws.'" A perfectly adequate definition, if we were all considered equal. We do not all play a part in shaping the magical community and so the definition falls short."
The children were all listening closely, some more than others. Theo was still holding Harry's hand and he was grateful for it. He was hyper aware of the door back to the other chamber, fully aware that his relatives were on the other side of it. Even so, with Theo's hand in his and the beasts and beings all around him, Harry was surprised how safe he felt.
Harry had a question but he wasn't sure if he could ask it. The goblin king seemed to notice his hesitance and asked, "What is it youngling?"
"Would you change the definition or just change how the system works?" he asked quietly after a reassuring squeeze to his hand from Theo.
"The system certainly needs to change, youngling," Ragnok said. "But I imagine the definition could use some work too."
Harry nodded. He desperately wanted to know what the goblin would change. He didn't know much about how wixen people interacted with other beings but from what he'd heard in the books it didn't seem like they all lived in harmony, working together. If anything, wix seemed to be very prejudiced against all beings and beasts.
"Back to us goblins," Ragnok said, "we are known for many things. Mostly, banking and metalwork. But our healers are second to none and our curse breakers are the best in the world. We're restricted from wanded magic by the wixen community, not that we need a wand to perform magic. For our particular brand of magic, a wand would prove more of a hindrance than a help. So, we've never really seen reason to challenge that. Goblin culture is nothing like Wixen culture, and our laws are not the same either."
The king went on to describe the values and views of the goblin nation, telling the children stories of goblin rebellions in a way that was so different to what they would come to hear in their History of Magic lessons that none of them were likely to forget this particular lesson in a hurry.
Meanwhile, just through the door, chaos reigned. The Dursleys had been silenced once more and more than one person was sorely tempted to stun them for good measure. Everyone seemed to have something they wanted to say to the six muggles and were not willing to wait their turn, leading to something of a free-for-all shouting match. Harry was beginning to get a headache from all the shouting.
"YOU VILE..." Minerva was shouting loudly as Pomona threatened to unleash her plants on them. Filius had taken to shouting expletives at them in gobbledegook and the death eaters were describing in perfect detail exactly which curses they would use on them. Ron was egging them on quite violently as Neville Longbottom actually spat at Harry's uncle.
"SHUT UP!" he shouted eventually, losing his temper. "Would you all just shut up."
They all turned to him in shock.
"Shouting at them isn't going to help anyone," Harry said with a sigh. "Can we just get them settled in and call quits for the night. If we're lucky we can finish this book tomorrow."
"But Harry," Sirius started.
"I don't want to deal with them tonight," Harry said.
"You surely don't expect us to eat dinner with THEM?" Ron said, folding his arms.
Albus sighed. "Mr Potter is not the one who brought them here. Mother Magic has brought them here, so I suggest we do our best to get along as best we can."
"But Albus," Minerva began.
"Minerva, why don't you show them to a suite of rooms," Albus said softly, leaving no room for argument.
Once the professor had led a resistant Dursley family out of the main chamber, Albus turned to everyone else. "I cannot force you to be polite to them," he said eventually. "And to be completely honest, I'm not overly inclined to do so. But, I will ask you to do your best to keep them away from Harry and his younger self."
There was a murmur of agreement from the others in the chamber. They could do that, even if they couldn't promise to keep the no violence rule. Protecting Potter was the least any of the could do.
After that, everyone seemed to disperse. Harry made his way over to Madam Bones, asking for a second of her time. The older woman led him to the room that the DMLE had claimed as their mini headquarters.
"What can I do for you, Prince Myrrddin?" she asked once they were both sitting.
"I need to talk to you about Barty," he said.
Amelia didn't look surprised, but that wasn't because she wasn't. That had been the last thing she thought he might want to talk to her about. She had expected this conversation to revolve around the Dursleys.
"Barty?" she asked.
"When we leave this place," he said, "he's going to need rescuing."