THE ONE WHO SAID NO
"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"
"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."
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Chapter I: The Distant Future
The Scottish countryside flew by in a green blur that was no less beautiful for how quickly it passed by. The hovercraft's energy canopy allowed the tour group an unobstructed view of the countryside while protecting them from the chill of the wind. Thirty men and women sat in the rows of benches while a tour guide stood up front next to the pilot.
"And if you'll look out to your right, you'll see our destination coming right up," the too-friendly tour guide said in his best PR voice. Tom Davis did not grow up wanting to be a tour guide, but it paid the bills for now. "Coming up, you can see the ruins of what was once an entire town of Arcanum. Excavations over the past couple of decades tell us that this settlement was called 'Hogsmeade,' and that it was something of an anomaly in the Days of the Arcane. Most of them lived hidden in plain sight in human towns, but Hogsmeade had no human residents at all."
"Why did they choose to live here?" one of the tourists asked. He was a man dressed in a suit with a digital pad on his lap and a stylus in his hand.
"A very good question. Hogsmeade was founded due to its proximity to what we believe may well have been the most powerful Arcane fortress ever built. It was called 'Hogwarts,' and from what we can tell, it was a training center for Arcane soldiers. At the academy, they would learn how to turn people into animals, or how to paralyze someone with naught but a whispered word. Certain texts even speak of Arcane weapons that simply kill the target, and not even the strongest Arcane shield could stop it, let alone any human invention."
There was a wave of nervous whispers, and Tom was glad to have gotten their attention. Now I just have to hold onto it and hope the pilot here doesn't crash us. "And speaking of which, coming up on our left is all that's left of the Hogwarts Academy," he said as the hovercraft came to settle above what had once been a proud castle. There were holes in the walls, and its towers had fallen down ages ago. Moss grew over the stone, giving the whole thing a strange green tint.
Looking out front to see for himself, the tour guide couldn't help getting chills at he thought about what had once been taught at that horrible place. He'd heard that they called their technology 'magic,' but that word meant something wonderful to Tom. It equated to beauty and amazement. Whatever the Arcane were, they were certainly not anything he would call magical. Demonic is more like it.
"I have a question," a woman asked from the back row, a microphone in her chair projecting her voice clearly.
There was a faint buzzing in Tom's ear, and he noticed the woman had a different shade of skin than he did. My translation implant must be acting up again. I guess that's what I get for going with a bargain deal. "Ask away, madam," he said politely.
"I've been reading about the Arcane, and they keep cropping up in small settlements all over the world, but never in any large numbers. It just seems strange that such a definite threat would spread its forces so thin."
"Ah, but this was before the War of Unity, you see. Centuries ago, before the War, humanity was divided into separate nation-states. That is to say that we were not a single government that held all humans equal under one set of laws. Instead of a single Human world, the land and waters of the world were divided up with arbitrary boundaries into almost two hundred areas that were governed under their own laws. You would have to get special documentation if you were even to move from one place to another, unless it was within the confines of your home nation," Tom explained to the group.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," another woman said, and the tour guide noticed the ringing in his ear again. "What purpose would such a system serve?"
Hm. Maybe I can vent a bit about this damned implant acting up. "Well, let me first answer your question with a question. How many of you have functioning translator implants? All of you? Of course you do. It's optional, but why wouldn't you want to understand what your fellow humans are saying? But before we had these devices, each of us would sound totally different to each other. We spoke in our own languages that were unintelligible from each other.
"You see, before the War of Unity, we weren't divided because the system back then made sense, but because we hadn't yet taken the steps forward to where we are today. Languages, customs, traditions, religions, and even such petty things as land ownership were the cause of war between opposing human nations."
Tom expected the tour group to collectively gasp at the prospect of humans warring with each other like savages, and he was not disappointed. It's no wonder they react that way. I know I did when I first learned of it. It's amazing how far we have come.
"I don't mean to be rude, and I certainly don't want to disrespect our misguided ancestors," the first woman put forth, breaking the tension, "but what does this have to do with the Arcane not consolidating their power?"
"Ah. I am sorry, madam, I was just getting to that," Tom said in his best PR voice. "We believe that the Arcane were also divided along these arbitrary borders, and they hid amongst human societies rather than intermingle and form their own nation. The leading theory is that consolidating their power too closely would have the unwanted consequence of revealing their existence to us. Of course, we did learn of them eventually, but they had stayed hidden for not just hundreds, but thousands of years. And artifacts and texts speak of the ability to 'apparate' from one place to another in an instant."
"Are you talking about teleporter technology?" a man with ocular implants asked from the front row. "I thought that only non-living matter could be moved that way."
"Well, you see," Tom said, "the Arcane used very different technology than ours. They had access to powerful weapons and devices that could do any number of things long before humans were capable of the same. Some of their ancient technology is still more advanced than ours, I am sad to say."
"But we are still trying to unravel these secrets, aren't we?" a young man asked. "I mean, isn't that the only reason we don't execute any Arcane that are born today?"
"Those laws are a disgrace!" a young woman shot back. "They may be Arcane, but they didn't do the things their ancestors did. And they didn't ask to be that way! I had a friend as a child who was taken away when she was found to be Arcane, and she never did anything evil to me!"
"Well, why are you here, then?" the young man shot back.
"I'm trying to learn more about them, you idiot," she said fiercely. "Why else would I be here? I want to know that my friend was taken for good reason."
"Ladies, gentlemen, please," Tom implored the tour group. "There is a seminar on Arcane Rights back at the center. There are many legitimate points of view, but let's save them for the proper forum." A bit of grumbling greeted his words, but the crowd did fall silent again eventually.
"Do we even know what makes an Arcane? Where do they come from?" the young woman asked more calmly.
"We do not," Tom said sadly. "But we do know that like your friend, many Arcane were born to human parents as well as Arcane parents. There is some debate over whether or not humans and Arcane could breed, and if they did, what their child would be. I know! I know," he said as voices began to rise. "The prospect is quite unappealing, I know. But it may have once been true, even if it isn't today."
"So, if an Arcane was born to human parents, then he or she would just be taken away? They would be raised away from their parents to grow up and become monsters?" the man in the front with the ocular implants asked.
Tom smiled. Now comes the fun part of my day. "The Arcane would send a message to such children when they were of a certain age. About ten or eleven, we think. This message would come on a piece of parchment – that is to say a very thin slice of animal skin – and would inform the child of his or her Arcane status and would invite them to an academy, much like this one we just passed, to hone their skills and prepare them for the world.
"But there was one such child who got a message just like so many others. There was a boy, born to two perfectly normal human parents, who got a message telling him that he was Arcane. They promised him wonders and power beyond his imagination, just as they had with so many others. But he was so very different from all those who had come before him, and it was all thanks to him that we have come as far as we have over the past few hundred years. The exposure of the Arcane, the War of Unity, our enlightenment as a species: all of it can be traced back to this one boy.
"Let me tell you his story. This is the story of the one who said 'no.'"
I don't own anything from Harry Potter. The characters and settings from the books all belong to JK Rowling, without whom this story would not be possible.
Comments, criticisms, suggestions, ideas, reviews, etc. are always welcome and very much appreciated.
This story will take place after the books, and will likely involve only a few, if any, characters from the novels. Given my lack of familiarity with most things British, I will probably change the setting to the United States. While we may not be traveling to the exact same places that we know from the novels, I do intend to create a Wizarding community on this side of the Atlantic that I can only hope will prove worthy of your time and interest.
Also of note: this story will likely take a critical eye of certain parts of the world that JKR created. I do not mean to disparage her work in any way, but this story will be taking a very different path. Our hero will go through very different experiences than any wizard or witch from the novels. This is meant sort of as a disclaimer to say that I don't mean any offense to anyone who may take issue with this story. It will be a darker take on certain tenets of Harry Potter lore that are often taken for granted.
With all of that being said, I do have definite plans for this story, and it is my hope that you will be able to relate to the protagonist and follow him on his journey into this strange new world. Thank you for reading, and welcome to the story of The One Who Said No.
