Board of Magical Creatures
Today was the day they headed to MACUSA, which was located inside the Woolworth Building on Broadway in the borough of Manhattan in the city of New York. It was a skyscraper that was located west of Broadway and City Hall Park, south of Park Place, and north of Barclay Street. It stood at a combined height of 60 stories a total of 793 feet, the base of which consists of 30 stories made entirely of limestone and features thousands of glass windows.
It came to no surprise that the Woolworth Building was extravagant, even on the no-maj (muggle) side of things which beyond the revolving doors stood a gold painted wall with a model of the woolworth building standing before it, and two paintings on either side depicting the grotesque construction of the building and the laborers who built it. Beyond the wall, on either side stood an ornate lobby covered in veined marble, patterned blue, green, and gold mosaic glass with red accents decorated the ceilings, and gothic-style cornice with bronze fittings.
The building was excessively busy. Many people come and go at any given time, yet both no-maj and magicals use the same revolving door entrance. The trick was the magicals schedule their entry around the work schedule of the no-majs, as their store fronts have long closed down they don't have regular traffic throughout the day, just at certain hours of the day when the different shifts of no-majs arrive at their offices.
A long sleek black stretch limo arrived at the revolving door entrance of the Woolworth building exactly on time for Hermione's scheduled entry at 9: 20 am. Inside the limo, Scott sat in the driver's seat with both of his leather gloved hands on the wheel, dressed in a private driver's uniform that consisted of a plain gray suit, a leather driver's cap and sunglasses that protected the world from his powers. Ororo sat beside him with her legs crossed at her ankles, wearing a black pantsuit that hugged her hourglass curves and had white embroidered lightning like embellishments that amplified her assets and staring at the computer that was mounted to the dashboard, typing away without a care.
Scott peered into his rearview mirror over the shoulder of Xavier who was wearing his tailed gray suit and black tie and saw Hermione who sat across from him, ringing her hands around a handkerchief in the lap of her dark gray pencil skirt suit, that consisted of a jacket, a vest that had two rows of golden "G" decorative buttons, a tie that tucked into her vest over a white collared top.
"It's time to get moving," Xavier leaned over and placed his hand on top of Hermione's to stop her from fidgeting. "It's 9:20 am, and your scheduled entry is now, you only have a ten minute window to enter the building, lil miss."
Hermione took a deep breath, and opened the car door. Seeing the revolving door she grimaced and ducked her head back into the limo. "You are coming with me, aren't you?"
"Of course I am, Scott is getting my chair now." Xavier smiled up to her, as Scott laid a hand on her shoulder.
"It's ok, Granger. I got the Professor." Scott said directly into her ear as he helped her over to the revolving door. "I'm sure we will find the handicap entrance around here somewhere."
Hermione took a step back, tripped on the wheel of Xavier's wheelchair, and before her face could hit the pavement, she felt herself stop mid fall and felt an invisible force helping her right herself. Thanks Professor . She thought, as brushed out the wrinkles that formed between her jacket and skirt.
Scott helped Xavier into his wheelchair. "Don't suppose, you know where the handicap entrance is, do you Hermione?"
Hermione swallowed, as she locked eyes with Xavier. Is he coming with us Professor?
"He is, Ororo is going to stay with the car." Xavier adjusted himself in his seat in an effort to get comfortable.
Hermione nodded as she flicked her wrist out, and her wand came to be in her hand. "The letter said, I had to wave my wand before the owl. Do you see it anywhere?"
"Ah, I see it. Just there to the left of the revolving door entrance." Xavier pointed to the owl carved in the limestone.
Hermione waved her wand before the craved owl's eyes, and the revolving door spun ultra fast, opening the secret portal to MACUSA. "I think I found the handicap entrance, Scott." Hermione turned her head to see Scott with his jaw hanging open and just shook her head and laughed. "Come on, Scott. It won't hurt you." To prove her point, she walked through the golden portal and then stuck her head back out. "Are you coming or not?"
"I've never seen such technology before," Scott whispered in awe.
"That's because it's not technology, it's magic," Hermione's head vanished into the portal and she stuck out her hand and beckoned him to come through the portal with the crook of her finger.
"Magic?" Scott looked perplexed as if questioning her sanity and Xavier looked back to him, arching a brow as if he would question his sanity as much as hers. "Is this why you needed your manual wheelchair professor?"
"That's right Scott, my other chair wouldn't be able to function in the Magical Congress of the United States of America's portion of the Woolworth Building," Xavier pointed to the portal opening. "Now let's head inside. We only have a precious few minutes to get inside without anyone noticing."
Scott shook his head before pushing Xavier in his wheelchair through the golden portal entering MACUSA. The lobby was more grand than the no-maj's side as the cathedral-like ceiling extended 700 feet and a large golden monument graced the entryway that paid homage to those that died during the Salem Witch Trials.
Hermione stood before the monument reading the plaque beneath it. Scott rolled Xavier to stand next to her. "I never expected there to be a secret world, beyond the one I've known."
Hermione nodded as she looked up to Scott, "I hadn't either, until I turned 11 and got my letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"Ah Miss Granger, I see you have arrived with…your….guardians." The exuberant man wearing purple robes with golden ruins embroidered along its lapels said as he approached them. "I have your visitor passes here." He handed three passes directly to Hermione as his scrutinized gaze was locked on Xavier and Scott.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the man as she took the passes, "They are no different from you or I," she growled out as she pinned her pass on her chest.
"Their no-maj's and have no place in MACUSA," the man replied scathingly.
"They're mutants and they should be protected by the Statute of Secrecy," Hermione handed Scott and Xavier their passes, before she rushed past the racist asshole of a man and headed towards the two women who sat at the circular operations desk that had many bank tubes coming from every direction in the center of it. "Can you tell me where I can find the Creatures department?"
One of the ladies looked up from her paperwork and smiled, "Sure, honey." She stood up and walked further to the right side of the desk, and raised her arm to point her entire hand towards a small elevator in the back of the lobby next to a statue of what looked like Newt Scamander holding a bowtruckle in his hand. "You see that elevator there, you are going to use that and press the Creature button, it has a picture of a niffler on it. From there… a person from the department will greet you."
"Thanks, miss." Hermione stated as she walked to the elevator the woman had indicated, and pressed the button. Scott and Xavier soon followed behind her at a leisurely pace, as they examined everything they walked past and were stopped a few times to have a small chat by a couple of Aurors who made sure they wore their passes on their chests, a strange looking witch in ethereal white robes that had something she wanted to tell Scott and a few office workers that were curious about Xavier's wheelchair.
"Have you found the girl, Mystique?" Magneto's voice came through the com as she walked towards the revolving door in the lobby. Mystique was disguised as an ordinary looking woman with ginger hair wrapped up in a ponytail and plain office clothes.
"No, I saw Professor Xavier's limo at the entrance to the Woolworth Building over an hour ago, my team has yet to see them leave, and the guys who followed Miss Monroe in the limo are still waiting for her outside the grocery store," she banged her fist against the marble wall near the revolving door entrance. "I don't know how they managed to give me the slip."
"They must still be there," Magneto's tone was nowhere near demurred. "I should be in Manhattan within the next hour, I'll come help you if you haven't got her by then."
"Yes, sir." Mystique's eyes flashed gold and her disguise changed into another inconspicuous, this time, male office worker with short black hair and round glasses. She shook her head, as she walked back down the hallway towards the stairwell known as the arcade. Perhaps they went to the old store fronts no one uses anymore. It's the only place I haven't thought to check.
Hermione stood on the podium before the Board of Magical Creatures, which consisted of three men in forest green robes that sat at the high desk in the back of the room. It almost appeared to be a courtroom, without a witness stand or jury section. The entire walls depicted moving mosaics of magical creatures, everything from unicorns to dragons playing in the wilderness, surrounded by trees, and a beautiful lake that had its very own giant squid that was playing in the water.
Scott stood behind Xavier with his arms crossed over his chest, and Xavier sat with his hands clasped in his lap, his head turned to watch Hermione as she presented her case. Both gave Hermione their silent support as she spoke for all mutants, as well as her own predicament.
"I'm here today to request permission to perform magic in front of mutants. These people are magical, just like us and they are in need of the Statue of Secrecy's protection. Currently, the Mug–I mean, No-Maj United States Congress is attempting to force them to register themselves so they can be tracked and that will lead to persecution, which will lead to Mutant Hunts. We cannot allow this to continue. The mutant's world bleeds into ours, as they have mistaken our kind for theirs before. I was once mistaken for a mutant when I was a child, Professor Xavier came to recruit me for his school of the gifted youngsters when I was 6 years old, but when he discovered I didn't carry the mutant gene he rejected my admittance. Who's to say more no-maj borns won't be mistaken for mutants, when your magical school's do not present themselves as soon as the child manifests their magical abilities? Who's to say the Mutant Registration Act won't lead to a detrimental breach in the Statute of Secrecy that will lead to an all out war between the No-majs and Magical people?"
To prove her point Xavier lifted his hand, pressed his fingers into his temple and all the empty chairs in the room behind them floated and spun slowly in a dance around Hermione. Then Scott removed his glasses briefly to blast one of the chairs to pieces. The rest of the chairs returned to their proper places.
The man in the center spoke softly, "You and your guardians have made quite a few valid points, Miss Granger. As of today, you have permission to use your magic in front of mutants. If you are caught by no-majs by chance, you will present yourself as one of them until we come to a resolution for the Mutant Registration Act. As this is an entire world problem and we cannot work against the no-majs on our own. We will hold an emergency hearing with the International Confederation of Wizards this weekend and we will send notice of the Verdict once that has finished. As this issue will likely lead to an overall breach of the Statute of Secrecy, it will likely take up to two weeks to decide and another two weeks to form a plan of action. Please have patience in the meantime."
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your candor and I look forward to hearing from you, hopefully within the next two weeks with a valid solution." Hermione smiled as she hopped off the podium, and hugged Scott, and shook Xavier's hand with a smile that reached her eyes plastered on her face. She then turned and found the chair and cast a silent repairo , causing it to fix, except it still had scorch marks from Scott's lasers.
"The limo has returned to the entrance of the Woolworth, Mystique." She heard the lower level mutant she forgot the name of across the com.
"I'm coming down, don't allow them to leave." Mystique quickly exited the abandoned store she was in and ran down the stairs towards the lobby.
"If they come out, I'll be sure to stop them," his voice sounded enthused.
Mystique looked around searching for the girl from the video Magneto wanted her to retrieve. She has to be in here, Miss Monroe wouldn't be at the entrance, if she wasn't. So, where are they?
"Whoa…did you know that the front door is…I don't know how to explain this, but the revolving door spun so fast, and a golden bubble appeared around the entrance…I see the girl, Professor Xavier and Cyclops. I'll go shake things up."
Mystique's eyes flashed gold and she morphed into her natural blue self, as she bolted to the revolving door. "I don't see what you see, I'll be out in a minute, hold them off."
"Will do boss. Blob sat on top of Cyclops, Toad has his tongue wrapped around Storm's neck and Professor Xavier is incapacitated, the weapon we stole from Striker worked like a charm."
"Good, I'll be right out." Mystique exited the Woolworth building, admiring the scene before her eyes. Storm was struggling against Toad's tongue that was wrapped around her head, Professor Xavier was passed out in his chair and Cyclops looked like a crushed pancake laying on the ground. "Where are you?"
"She ran down the alleyway past Barclay street, can you try to cut her off?" his voice seemed agitated.
"No need, Avalanche." Magneto's voice came over the com, "I've got her. Gather your teams and head to the Flatiron Building, now."
"Yes, sir." Mystique and Avalanche responded.
Hermione ran full force straight into something soft and solid. She fell down hard on her ass and her wand flew out of her hand when she landed on the pavement. She rolled herself over onto her knees and went to reach for her wand, and the next thing she knew was something cold and metal slide around her neck and squeezed against her jugular causing her to lose her breath.
"If it isn't, lil miss," spoke a strong baritone voice from above her. The metal squeezed tighter around her neck as it lifted her off the ground, and twirled her around to face him. The man was all in black, with the exception of his cape and helmet that were dark red smirked as his eyes met hers. "I thought Charles rejected you from his school."
He did.
The metal ring that held Hermione by her neck loosened to allow her to breathe and she choked on air as it burned going back into her lungs. She locked eyes with Magneto's, forcing dilation as she turned the dial of her irises to try to match the frequency of his brain to try to reach his mind.
"You can do nothing to stop me," Magneto raised his hand to caress Hermione's cheek and she attempted to kick him. Which caused him to smirk as several more scraps of metal flew at her from every direction. The scraps melted into solid metal rings that he used to encase her wrists, ankles, upper thighs and biceps, in order to enforce his will on her like a marionette. "There's no need to resist. You will be coming with me and I will take very good care of you, I promise, lil miss."
Why are you doing this? Hermione pushed her thoughts at Magneto, and his eyes widened when he heard her voice. I thought you were a teacher.
"Over. My. Dead. Body. Ass. Hole." Logan's voice over his com.
"That could easily be arranged," Magneto closed his eyes briefly, feeling the metal around him to see if he could sense Logan's whereabouts. "It's quite pointless for you to try and come stop me, Wolverine. You know I have the ability to tear that beautiful adamantium from your body, do you think that would kill you?"
Please don't, Hermione pleaded, as she was unable to do much else.
Magneto smirked as he looked into Hermione's eyes as Logan's body floated into the alleyway, his claws dug deep into his own shoulders, and his mouth was sealed shut with a scrap piece of metal. "You could never pose a threat to me, could you, Wolverine? Yet you always make this futile effort to try to antagonize me, why?"
Let him go, please. Let him go
"Not to worry,..The only one I came for…is you, lil miss." Magneto walked over towards Logan, and dropped him to the ground, forcing him to his knees. "Do give Charles my regards, won't you?" He patted Logan's shoulder before turning back to Hermione.
You don't have to do this.
"Oh but, I do." Magneto smiled as he picked up the carved wooden stick she dropped and placed it in his pocket. "It's time to go somewhere more comfortable. If you stop struggling, I'll allow you to walk there, lil miss."
I'll come willingly.
"That's a good girl." Magneto smiled as he gently set her back down on her feet. "Let's go for a walk."