This mostly represents my own hair-pulling at the American state of affairs JK set up in Fantastic Beasts. Speaking of, the High Lady of Darkness JK herself owns everything so please direct all complaints to her twitter. Mostly canon compliant, set between the end and epilogue of 7.
Harry Potter and the Department of Magical Affairs
"You're asking me to go to America." There was a tone of stunned disbelief in Harry's voice. For more than five years he'd been a senior Auror at the Ministry of Magic, and not once had he interacted with the Yanks. Aussies and Kiwis yes. The French, absolutely. He had a smashing working relationship with several members of the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic. But in all his years Harry had never even heard of cooperation between the Ministry and their American counterparts.
"No, I'm ordering you to go to America," replied Kingsley cheerfully. Shacklebolt was the Minister of Magic, and an all-around pain in Harry's arse.
"You've got to be joking. Why in the name of Merlin's saggy bollocks-"
"Language Mr. Potter."
"In the name of Merlin's saggy bollocks" Harry continued, unperturbed.
"Would I go to America? They didn't help us during the war."
Kinglsey sighed. It was exactly this kind of attitude he'd been fighting for years. Ever since the fall of Voldemort reforming the ministry and forming relationships with other magical powers had been his twin mandates. Aid from France or one of the other continental powers could have been an incredible relief for the beleaguered defenders of Britain.
"As a matter of fact Mr. Potter they offered an entire expeditionary force and substantial non-combatant aid twice. Once to Minister Fudge, who declined on the advice of Lucius Malfoy, and again to Minister Scrimgeour, who declined for fear of being seen as weak."
Harry looked askance at Kinglsey. To learn that the Americans had offered help and been rebuffed twice was a startling introduction of facts.
"The Americans were always strong allies of the Ministry, and Britain as a whole," Kinglsey continued. "But after being rather rudely informed their help was not required by two Ministers in a row, the foundations of that alliance have been shaken. Arranging your visit to the Department of Magical Affairs is the cumulation of several years of intense diplomatic efforts. Efforts I will not see wasted."
Harry had the grace to look abashed. If the Americans had truly tried to help and been told off, he could see why relations had cooled.
"So. With that in mind, there's an international portkey leaving here at nine sharp Monday morning. You'll be met by a representative of the Department on the other side, who will provide you with your itinerary. Don't be surprised if there's more than a few photo ops, apparently, their new Secretary of Magic is very keen on showing a strengthened bond between us. Don't cock it up."
Ginny was less than enthused about the suddenness of the trip, but couldn't deny she was pleased that Harry wouldn't be thrust into hunting down some would-be Dark Lord in the middle of nowhere Wales, or Scotland, or god forbid the continent.
Harry left just under a week later.
The Boy-Who-Lived's arrival to Magical America was, much to his surprise, not punctuated by flashing bulbs and a torrent of questions. Instead, after an uncomfortable tugging sensation just behind the navel, Harry was deposited into a well-lit and modestly decorated sitting room that looked suspiciously like a miniaturized terminal at Heathrow. Waiting in front of him was a cheerful looking man dressed in muggle formal wear. He waited a polite moment to allow Harry to throw off the disorientation long distance portkey travel tended towards.
"Ah hello Auror Potter! I'm Special Agent Charles McGill, I'll be your liaison with the DoM while you're here" he said, pronouncing it with a southern drawl as "dee owh ehm".
Harry offered a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you Special Agent McGill."
McGill smiled back. "If you'll follow me, we'll be bypassing customs and heading to the hotel you'll be staying at."
While the two walked, McGill casually flicked his wrist and a piece of paper snapped into his hand, which he then offered to Harry, whose sharp eyes hadn't missed that display of wandless magic.
"Here's your itinerary. You left at nine o'clock your time which is four in the morning here, so there's a few hours for you to get settled before anything really kicks off."
Harry perused his schedule as the two descended a flight of stairs before coming out into the pre-dawn light of Washington D.C. It seemed fairly straight forward. His morning was clear until 10:00 am, at which point he had the Secretary of Magic for a meet and greet, followed by a lunch meeting at noon with the Chief of Magical Investigations for lunch, and a conference from two to six on the differences between the DMLE and the Magical Investigations Bureau, which would pick up again at nine the next morning.
McGill directed them to a muggle car, by which another man in a suit was standing patiently.
"Harry this is Special Agent Brooks, he'll be our driver."
Brooks nodded affably but stayed silent.
Harry shot a questioning look at his liaison.
"A muggle vehicle?"
McGill looked confused by the question for a moment, before his face cleared up.
"Oh right! You call people without magic muggles. We've got a couple different terms for them here, mostly people call them Regulars or Ordinaries or Normals or something of the like. There's been some truly horrendous attempts at funny slang names for them, for a while there we even tried calling them 'no-maj's'." McGill shuddered in mock horror.
"Can you imagine? God what an ugly phrase." He said with a barking laugh.
"To answer your question though yes, we'll be taking the car. I was hoping to point out some famous DC landmarks on the way to your hotel."
Harry blinked. He'd never really considered that the Americans would have chosen a different name for their muggles, or that they'd choose something as casual as 'regulars'.
As they drove down the broad streets of downtown DC, Harry began to wonder what else might be different about the Americans, who after all were very different from the British both culturally and sociologically. Actually as Harry gave it some more thought he began to suspect there would be more than a few small differences between the American system and the British.
"Yes, Mister Thomas I believe this is just the beginning of a step towards a much stronger relationship with our cousins across the Atlantic, next question please."
The American Secretary of Magic was nothing like Harry had expected. Assuming he would be visiting someone along the lines of those ministers he'd known had been a mistake. Secretary Dent was a short man with a towering presence, a natural politician with a core of steel behind every smile and disarming chuckle. As a matter of fact, he reminded Harry of a much younger Dumbledore.
"Tommy Blake, New York Magical Daily with a question for Mister Potter, the exact purpose of your visit hasn't been made clear, what do you hope to accomplish while here and is there a reason Minister Shacklebolt sent you specifically?"
That was another thing that had surprised Harry about America. Their journalists were a far cry from the hounds that he'd become used to during his days at Hogwarts. Instead of asking questions intending to ambush the person they were interviewing, they honestly seemed like they were trying to dig for information their readers needed to know. Harry of course had no way of knowing that the American reporters were carefully vetted and gossip rags like the Prophet wouldn't be allowed within a mile of a real press conference in America.
"My visit is intended to further cooperation between our two governments of course, but specifically it is to encourage understanding between the DMLE and DoM. As a Senior Auror at the DMLE Minister Shacklebolt felt my presence would further that understanding."
Blake looked satisfied, and another reporter stepped up.
"Mister Potter I'm Francis Hardiman from the 3W, Washington Wizard Weekly, how have you been enjoying your time in Washington?"
Harry had been briefed on the papers and magazines that would be present at the photo op. 3W was a periodical that dealt with the Wizarding portions of Washington DC.
"I've been enjoying my time here immensely thank you, I had some time to visit the memorials both ordinary and magical and I was very impressed." There, that was a safe answer, right? Apparently so, as the reporter jotted down his answer and smiled.
The Secretary smiled and drew Harry in for another handshake as some of the Aurors- 'Special Agents' Harry corrected himself, drew the press conference to a close.
"Really Mr. Potter an absolute pleasure to meet you. Pass on my warmest to your father-in-law, would you?"
Harry started, and his confusion must have become easily visible for the Secretary smiled that broad smile again.
"I see nobody told you! During the mid-80s I was the Assistant Secretary for Magical Abuses of Power, very much like your own Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. I collaborated with Arthur on a few projects and we had an excellent working relationship."
His gaze faltered for a moment.
"Lost touch during the second war you understand. The Secretary then, he frowned upon relationships between our governments after your Minister Fudge rebuffed us the first time-, well you know the rest.
"It never, well it never quite sat right with me what Secretary Ivanowitz did, closing all those collaborations down. I've been working my hardest to fix a decade of broken relationships between what should be the two closest magical governments anywhere. This is a big step Mr. Potter."
The Secretary looked a little nervous at the end of his impromptu speech, and it truly began to sink in for Harry that the Americans were horrified both by what had happened in Britain and their own inaction. After all, their Ordinary Government had a long and proud (sometimes overly so) history of bringing war to Europe in support of the selfsame freedoms they held so dearly. He took the Secretary's hand and gave it a firm shake.
After a brief and uninformative lunch with the Chief of Magical Investigations Harry was spirited, again via muggle car, to his afternoon meeting. As he entered the conference room it quickly became apparent that he was interrupting a very spirited debate.
"I'm telling you Larry it's not Constitutional! The Supreme Court clearly stated in Kyllo that since the device was not generally available to the public that it constituted a warrant-less search." The speaker was a petite blonde woman dressed in a conservative pantsuit that looked about a decade out of style.
"And for what has got to be the fifth-time Christine, our public is different from the Regular public and so searches have to be considered differently. A wand is generally available to the public, as is the homenum revelio spell."
"Which I would agree with if it were being used on a solely magical residence but it was used on a mixed residence and resulted in the apprehension of a wizard hiding in a regular's closet! A wand is not generally, or even minimally available to the general population and so it constitutes a protected search."
"Oh, don't tell me you're taking that scumbag lawyer's side."
"Larry, I want this bastard behind bars as much as anyone but this search was unconstitutional and the judge is going to laugh it out of court!"
From Harry's side, Special Agent McGill coughed in a small lull, startling the arguers and gathering the attention of the multitude of otherwise silent men and women sitting at the table.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce Senior Auror Harry Potter."
Harry waved awkwardly.
"Don't let me interrupt, please this seems to be a very interesting debate."
The woman, Christine, waved her hand.
"It's no trouble, Mr. Summers and I were just arguing over the constitutionality of the apprehension of a suspect a few weeks ago, please, sit down and I believe we should all introduce ourselves?"
What followed was a blitz of names, most of which Harry forgot almost immediately. Thankfully each member of the conference had a name placard in front of their seat.
The blonde woman was Christine Angelino, the Special Agent in Charge for Los Angeles. The man she had been arguing with was Larry Summers, the Special Agent in Charge for Chicago.
In addition to those two there were SAICs from New York, Austin, Boston, Miami, and Salem. The SAIC from Salem was, surprisingly, a goblin by the name of Gringit.
As Harry poured himself a glass of water the conference began.
"Mr. Potter I first want to ask, how familiar are you with the American legal system and how the Magical-American community fits therein?" Larry Summers asked in a cheerful counterpart to his earlier scowl.
"Well, uh, I'm afraid not much." Harry grimaced. "My primary schooling didn't touch on it at all, and the Hogwarts curriculum doesn't cover it."
Larry shrugged as though to say it didn't matter.
"Well we're a part of the Federal Government, which means we have authority over crimes committed across state lines, anything that violates federal law, that sort of thing. Our cases are decided in District Courts, can be appealed to the Circuit Courts, which from there can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
"Of course, by necessity the magical court system is separate from the Regular courts. That said the magical courts are bound by the same laws as govern the rest of society. The wizarding legislative body, MACUSA, can only pass laws specifically pertaining to magic, and are disallowed from directly contravening Regular Law, both criminal and civil. With me so far?"
Harry was struggling to keep his mouth closed. The concept of a magical government totally subordinate to the muggle government was so alien that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around it.
"I'm sorry, so you're saying that magical citizens have to follow the same laws as ordinary citizens, and in many cases, are more restricted?"
Larry smiled broadly.
"Yes, that's exactly it! Separation of Powers and all that. It's all spelled out in the Constitution. Jefferson insisted it all be the same document. We can dig up a copy for you if you'd like."
It was culture shock on an all new level. The American system of government was so different from the British system, even though on the surface their cultures were so similar. On reflection, though, Harry supposed he shouldn't be quite so surprised. After all, the Americans had established their nation after violently throwing off the British government.
After yet another moment of introspection, it became obvious to Harry that the two would have wildly different systems of government, especially considering the general sluggishness of the progress of magical society when compared to muggle society. After all the American system was founded on a fundamental mistrust of the powers of government, and the principles of equal treatment under the law. It was hardly any wonder then that any other national branches of government would be subordinate to the elected legislature and leadership.
"What was it you were arguing before, something about Kyllo?"
Christine was the one to answer Harry's question this time.
"Yes, Kyllo v. United States. It was a Supreme Court decision from…" here she hesitated for a moment.
"Two thousand one." Gringit supplied, with a slightly superior tone that Harry suspected was endemic to goblins.
"Yes, thank you. Anyway, the Supreme Court decided that any use of technology not publicly and widely available constituted a search under the fourth amendment, and therefore requires a warrant. I'm fairly sure the judge is going to toss out our evidence and apprehension of a wizard we're fairly sure used the Imperius Curse on a muggle."
"And I'm telling you that the attenuation rule will protect our evidence!" Larry shot back, eager to resume their argument.
Harry spoke up before they could butt heads again.
"What's the attenuation rule?"
Larry looked at him oddly.
"I would've thought for sure you Brits had it. If an illegal method is used and evidence is collected, if there is sufficient attenuation between the method and the evidence it can be admitted anyway. It's an exception to the poisonous tree doctrine."
That at least Harry was familiar with. Evidence resulting from an illegal search was tainted and could not be admitted into court.
"What's the attenuation here then?"
"Well the suspect in question was pinged by the trace we have on the Imperius"
"You put a trace on the Imperius Curse?" Harry blurted.
Another odd look from Larry.
"Well yes of course. I know the magic was only developed about a century ago but I thought it'd made its way across the Atlantic. Didn't some of the Death Eaters put a trace on Voldemort's name towards the last third of the Second Wizarding War? We just put it on the incantation for the Imperius, the Cruciatus, the Killing Curse, Legilimency, both normal and false Memory Hexes… well there's no need to go through the list. All the various illegal curses and hexes and such. Gives the Hospitals around us and in the assisted suicide states no end of trouble but such a time saver.
"Anyways, the suspect was pinged by the trace on the Imperius. One way or another we would have found him; the human presence spell just sped up the process. We'll argue attenuation and I think it'll pass muster."
It was culture shock all over again. Why had the British Ministry never put the trace on banned magics? It was clearly possible and if there were Aurors waiting to apparate to the traced location, it would be an incredibly effective crime deterrent. Though it took a moment, eventually Harry frowned as he worked through a bit more of Larry's speech.
"What do you mean the assisted suicide states?"
"Well DC, California, Colorado, Vermont and… what was it?"
"Washington." The SAIC from Boston supplied.
"Ah right. They've legalized euthanasia for terminal patients. Anyone in unbearable pain, constant suffering with no possibility of a cure, that sort of thing. The Union of Magical Medical Providers lobbied for being allowed to use the Killing Curse to provide euthanasia."
Harry's exclamation of shock was met with yet more odd looks, the third he'd received from Larry, who was beginning to look as though Harry came from some kind of ass-backwards country stuck in the dark ages.
"Well it kills instantly and painlessly. What were we going to do, open them up with a cutting curse? Only humane way to do it without all those chemicals." From the other end of the table Gringit snorted. Apparently, this was a point of some contention.
"Their petition caused no end of debate, which I'm sure comes as no surprise. The evangelicals were pissed that the states had even allowed assisted suicide to begin with, but eventually it got passed. Of course, it still sets off the trace so we require Hospitals to provide us with at least 12 hours' notice."
Harry's head was spinning. The crash course in Wizarding-American Criminal Justice was one thing, but being forcibly shown that the British system was clearly overlooking some seemingly basic concepts was enough to rock his foundations.
The rest of the meeting passed in a similar blur of startling information revelations.
No, the head of the DoM was not equal to the President of the United States. The Secretary served at the pleasure of the President, and could be fired if the President so chose.
No, the Magical Legislature was not on the same level as Congress. It was more analogous to a state body.
Yes, members of the Magical Legislature were publicly elected officials.
No, of course the Department of Magical Affairs was not under the control of the Legislature. That would violate the separation of powers clause.
Yes, for a short time intermarriage between Normals and Wizards had been banned. The Americans seemed rather embarrassed by this fact, and hastened to liken it to an ugly remnant of pure-blood sentiment they'd since stamped out.
No, Special Agents did not run around performing obliviations and false memory charms willy nilly every time there was a breach of secrecy. Most breaches could be safely ignored if only one or two people observed. After all, who would believe in magic?
Yes, the Division of Magical Corrections operated prisons.
No, the prisons did not have Dementors. Gringit, the Goblin, laughed at the thought. The use of Dementors to guard prisoners had been ruled unconstitutional in the early 19th century.
Yes, the worst offenders were executed. Harry was briefly unsettled by that, and the seeming normalcy of it.
Yes, Special Agents used firearms. Charles produced his Glock 20 for Harry to see, and eagerly offered to take Harry shooting with the rest of his collection if the Auror so desired.
"Harry I was hoping you could tell us a bit about the process by which wizarding criminals in the UK are taken through the system?" Christine asked, breaking the monotony of another barrage from the Americans.
Happy to finally be on a topic that he had a solid grounding in, Harry was quick to respond.
"Well after we capture a suspected criminal we interrogate them, hold them in Azkaban before their trial by the Wizengamot-"
"Trial by the Wizengamot?" Christine interjected. "You try your criminals by the same body that legislates the crimes?"
It was another of those moments that threw Harry off kilter.
"Well, yes we do."
The American contingent looked vaguely ill.