Into the MACUSA
Harry had been inside two magical ministries in his life, the British, and now MACUSA, and already he knew which of the two he happened to prefer, even if the place gave the American wizards the chance to show off their grandeur for all to see. The MACUSA HQ was long, airy, and he had a feeling that the American Wizards had put a dimensional shift into the muggle-No Maj building, and walled it off, and expanded it as time passed by.
As he walked inside with Jasper, Isaac, Miranda, and the American Aurors (a part of him made a mental note to speak to them, and find out why they'd gone to get him with an Auror escort later), Harry's attention was caught by a series of portraits.
There were two dominating one of the walls, which had likely been expanded lengthwise just to make room for them. One of them was a portrait showing an Underground station - Harry had spent a lot of his time back in London, Paris, and Madrid, visiting and exploring the underground railways of all cities before coming here not to recognise one - which looked like it had been shattered, with part of the room exposed and crumbling brickwork and concrete supports littering the place, with twisted steel girders bent backwards.
In the scene were several witches and wizards, dressed in suits and trench coats, with three very attractive women taking centre stage; one of the women was a regal-looking tanned woman with her head wrapped in some kind of headdress, and the other two being dark haired and blonde, and there was a gawky looking man wearing a more rough looking navy trench coat and a bow tie.
But Harry's attention was taken by the shifting appearance of a kneeling man wearing a dark suit; he had a head full of dark hair, but it changed and shifted under the power of the gawky man's wand, until it became platinum blond, transforming into a face Harry had seen before.
"Grindelwald," he whispered before his eye caught sight of the wall plaque.
Curiously, Harry bent down to read it. "'Here, the foiling of the Dark Wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, revealed to have been disguised as Head Auror, Percival Graves, his plan to unleash an obscurial on the No-Maj world stopped before an unstoppable war could destroy all wizardkind. We were lucky. Commissioned by MACUSA President, Seraphina Picquery, 1930."'
Harry stood up and turned his attention to the next painting. It was clear to him both of these paintings had been pulled from the memories of witnesses; there was a sort of…shimmer between them that showed that quality. The next portrait was taken of a magnificent Thunderbird in flight, its powers and its aura transforming the weather around it, twisting the clouds until they darkened in a rainstorm, and since the Thunderbird was so large, and flew around, it took him a moment to realise it was flying over the whole of New York.
Harry read the plaque. "'Thanks to Newt Scamander, famed magi-zoologist, the breach of the Statute of Secrecy was reversed when he released a Thunderbird he was transporting back to its home country into the skies, bearing a vial of Swooping Evil venom, to obliviate the No-Maj population to forget all that had happened. We were lucky. Many of us haven't been."'
"That was a turbulent time for the MACUSA," a quiet voice said from behind, and Harry turned and saw Miranda standing there. The older witch's eyes were flickering between him and the paintings. "Are there portraits like this in the British Ministry?" She asked.
"No. There are portraits of former Ministry employees, but the British like nothing more than brushing things under carpets," Harry's eyes caught sight of a bizarre statue, showing four figures. "What's that?" He pointed.
Miranda sagged. "That's to commemorate the lives lost in the Salem witch trials, Harry."
"I thought No-Maj's weren't that good at recognising magic unless they saw it close up."
"I think it was a mix of that and just random accusations," Miranda said as she tried to keep him away from it, and it worked. "Do you want to know what's truly sick about all of that?"
"What?"
"They had something in common with you, Harry. They were innocent. They were caught up in it, and they couldn't get out of it," Miranda pointed upwards, "It's because of the history in this country, we have that," she said, pointing towards an instrument with multiple clock faces, but as he studied it, Harry saw it was less of a clock, and more of a sophisticated barometer.
Harry moved closer, intrigued; he could see it was a magical instrument that was highly sophisticated, but he had never seen anything like it before.
"What is it?" He asked.
"That is the Magical Exposure Level Threat Measurer, Harry. Look at the hands."
"They're between Yellow and Orange. What does that mean?"
"The measurer is colour-coded; zero threat, low threat, and moderate threat come in varying shades of green. Blue means high alert, and that's when things become more dangerous, and our investigators and Aurors and obliviators are on alert to find and repair the damage and prevent our exposure to the No-Majs. Danger is Yellow. Severe and or unexplained activity is in orange. Red is an emergency," Miranda explained.
Harry nodded in understanding as he took in the colour codes. None of Voldemort's followers had come from the MACUSA, although many of them came from Britain, with only a few from other countries in Europe, so he'd never known about this. "And right now it's between yellow and orange. But why? What's going on?" Harry didn't know why he was asking, as it wasn't his problem, and he knew that the MACUSA had procedures and experience dealing with this sort of thing, but he was just curious.
Miranda sighed. "I'll talk to Isaac about it, he's one of the Head Aurors, and since you're visiting you would be better off hearing it from him."
Harry frowned, "Does it have anything to do with the Aurors who went with you to pick me up?"
A troubled look spread across Miranda's face. "Yes, it does," she said before she sighed and lowered her voice, even after absently flicking her wand and creating a privacy bubble. "People are being kidnapped, Harry. The kidnapper is sneaking past warded places, and stealing children. This has been going on for months now, and nobody knows where the children have gone."
"Children?" Harry repeated, troubled. While he felt contempt for so many people, children were another matter. They didn't deserve this. "How did the kidnappers get in?"
Miranda's nose wrinkled as she smiled. "I'm not supposed to know, but the investigators have guessed it was a House Elf."
Harry frowned. He knew from experience that House Elf-type magic was extremely powerful and radically different from the type of magic used by wizards. "Why would a House Elf kidnap children? But the Aurors have a guess, don't they?"
"To be honest, we don't know, but what I do know is I don't want you or any of my children to go out of the manor without an escort because I want you all to be safe, regardless of your personal feelings," Miranda looked at him appraisingly. "I'm surprised you care, though," she commented.
"I'm just surprised by what I'm hearing, but I guess that MACUSA has ideas about what's going on?" Harry probed.
Miranda snorted. "You really are a nosey and curious one, aren't you?" All humour fled from her voice. "There's a belief the Scourer's descendants are responsible for this."
"The scourers?" Harry had done some research into the MACUSA's foundations and history, focusing on Ilvermorny's rise and the story behind Isolt Sayre and her husband and adoptive family, but he wasn't ignorant. "They were that bunch of witches and wizards from other countries who became vigilantes and bounty hunters, weren't they?"
"Yeah. But over time they became more corrupt. They started bringing in No-Majs in and showing them their magic, manipulating them so they had a foot in both worlds. They abused their powers, and they used that power to kill anyone they simply disliked. By the late 17th century, the Scourer's ranks had grown so high, that many witches and wizards feared for their lives, and I can't say I blame them. They even trafficked their fellow witches and wizards, and any unfortunate magical animal they came across, and when they couldn't, they captured innocent No-Majs, and passed them off as wizards, and they didn't bat an eyelash when they were put to death," Miranda said darkly.
Harry looked down. Muggle supremacism was the opposite of magical supremacism, but both of them he knew and understood, and hated.
"By the end of the 17th Century, the MACUSA was founded, and many scourers were caught and executed. But some survived, renouncing the magical world and marrying into the No-Maj world. They instilled a belief that magic existed and we should be wiped out, and they came close to doing it; in the 18th century, a No Maj of scourer descent manipulated a really stupid witch, Dorcas Twelvetrees who came from a prestigious family, on a picnic. He stole her wand, showing it to newspaper reporters, and he raised a huge mess. Dorcas, for reasons that make no sense, gave him so many addresses and locations of where wizards resided, including the HQ for the MACUSA."
"I've heard this story," Harry said, mentally thinking it was fortunate for Twelvetrees he hadn't been there; if he had, then he would have tortured the woman before tearing her mind to bits before leaving her alive, as a living vegetable. How could she have been so stupid?
"Good, then I don't need to tell you how it was dealt with, and how many repercussions are felt to this day; even now, there's a strong divide between us and them, Harry. Ever since the Rappaport laws were drafted, young witches and wizards attending school aren't allowed to take a wand off the grounds of Ilvermorny and have to buy a new one when they leave, and permits have to be passed around," Miranda said. "No Maj-magical marriages are rare, and frowned upon."
To Harry's relief, Issac and Jasper returned, and he popped the bubble with his wand.
"You'd better register that wand quickly, kiddo," Jasper said quickly when he saw Harry holding his wand.
Harry didn't like the idea of others touching his wands. The memory of his phoenix feather wand's last moments was one he could have done without, but he had to cooperate with MACUSA, if he didn't then things would get nasty.
-8-
Miranda looked at Harry's face over an hour later, as he waved his wand over himself to banish any of the dust as the whole party stepped out into their Floo room. Harry looked around the small room, seeing the cloak hooks. A House Elf appeared and took his things to his room, but for now, they had a house to see.