American Magic Cubed

Prolog

Every Minister of Magic for the past 4 terms had been forced to deal with major problems that either made, or broke their careers. Cornelius Fudge had his fair share of problems, from the breakout of Sirius Black, The Cup Disaster and the Reappearance of Lord Voldemort, and the Second Wizarding War. His successor, Rufus Scrimegour, hadn't had much luck convincing the people that it would be okay. If he hadn't been killed, he probably would have been voted out of office. His replacement, Pius Thicknesse had been under the control of Voldemort through the Imperious Curse, and that had been a problem in and of itself. Kingsley Shacklebolt had to deal with the aftermath of the war. And now looking at the papers on the desk in front of her Shelia Jones, the current Minister of Magic, supposed it was her turn. She had thought her big troubles had already passed, when she made an enemy of some of the more powerful pureblood families by making an effort to assimilate the Wizards to Muggle society. It wasn't as if she had asked them all to live with the muggles, she had just wanted to make sure that the muggles wouldn't notice anything wrong when wizards were forced to interact with them.

She paused for a moment then amended her last statement, as it was not completely true. She had asked various people in the departments, the ones who were the best at blending in, if they would be willing to work with various muggle agencies in Britain to make sure the magical world stayed hidden. Thankfully many of them had agreed and her plans were working. And this, she thought glaring at the papers in front of her, could destroy that secrecy.

Shelia scanned the first paper in front of her, a report from the Department of Mysteries. It stated that America's magical grid had been spiking more than normal for the better part of the year, then turned her attention to the letter Kam Ryo had sent her. It was always nice to hear from Kam even when they were talking about work, Shelia thought. The two of them had met on a Military base in California when Kam's father and her mother were assigned to the same unit, and the two girls had been inseparable. From then on, their families had been on the same base and the two had gotten their Letters of Acceptance to the Mojave School of Magic and then transferring to Salem Wizarding Institute together. They had stayed in contact when Shelia's mother had died, and her father, a British serviceman, had been called back to England in the middle of their fourth year or the third year by the British standing. They still visited and laughed at how they had both ended up in positions of power within their respective nations, although Shelia was a little less clear on how exactly the American magical government worked, much to the amusement of her friend. And Kam's news was troubling. The Americans had discovered something that seemed to be magical and a secret agency by the name of SHEILD was running tests on this object on an island off the coast of Maine. And for whatever reasons, Kam could not deal with it and was now asking for help.

Shelia would help her too, not just out of friendship, but also out of obligation to magical people. If the muggles were really playing around with Magic, there would be some serious consequences. Ones that the British Magical community would not be prepared for. She thought for a moment, then grabbed one of the interdepartmental memos and quickly wrote down a note asking for an Auror who was skilled at blending in with the muggles to see her immediately. Sending it off to the resource manager in the new Liaison wing, Shelia grabbed another sheet of parchment to write Kam a quick reply, promising that she would do what she could and she might be able to get some people over there. Finishing it quickly and ending it with a promise to fire call soon Shelia sent the letter off. That done Shelia began a third letter. This one was to another friend, one who was much stranger than Kam and just as important.

Chapter 1. Meddling Muggles

It was an hour before anyone walked through the door to her office, and as such when someone did walk in Shelia didn't even bother to glance up at them as she finished the letter before saying "You're late."

The person who had walked in winced and in a very sheepish yet apologetic tone said, "Sorry Minister" She stopped in shock and looked up at Harry Potter. She hadn't expected him to be back from the MI6 training yet. Forgetting the letter on her desk, Shelia leapt up with a cry of "Harry!" and rushed around her desk, talking a mile a minute. "When did you get back? How was training? How was India for that matter? Did you pass? Are you now officially an agent? Do you have a license to kill? Did you finally figure out how to get your magic to work with tech or at least stop breaking it every time you use it? Have you seen Ginny yet, because if you didn't do that first you are going to be in serious trouble. You should never keep your Fiancé waiting like that, especially for work." She scolded teasingly as she attempted to hug him.

Harry let out a deep laugh as he fended off his boss by the simple expedient of grabbing her forearms before she could get him into a hug. "Let's see, I got back midafternoon yesterday, so yes I've already seen Ginny. She sends her regards. India was very hot and strange. Hermione fell in love with the culture and myths both muggle and magical. If she had her way she would have stayed for another week to learn more about Indian magic. The training was tough, especially because of the magic/technology issues, but yes I did pass. And you should know that I'm not James Bond, nor am I really a secret agent seeing as you created this section of the Ministry."

Shelia just shrugged and smiled as she stepped back and waved her friend over to one of the comfortable chairs in the room. "Sit, sit, sit." She said as plopped herself in one of the chairs sitting in a manner that one would be more likely to find in an American teenager rather than the leader of the British magical population. "And one more question. Where's Hermione?"

"I'm not quite sure exactly." Harry said as he sat in the chair across from her. "She learned and passed everything within a week, while teaching me how to make technology not break simply by touching it and extensively researching the Indian magical culture. Because she passed so quickly, she got sent back early and then on a deep cover mission about-." He paused, thinking things over in his head really fast, "Five days ago, I think."

Shelia's mind raced with the new information, then smiled slightly as a new thought occurred to her. "Bet Ron's not too happy about that."

Harry shook his head. "He wasn't happy at first. But it would have been worse, if they hadn't let him go with her."

"They let him go with her?"

"Yeah, apparently they think that Ron doesn't know what Hermione really does and the undercover thing requires her to be a newly-wed who's moving into an area with her husband. Hermione refused to let any other agent play the part, especially because she and Ron were recently married. The agency consented, after giving Ron a quick rundown and he fixed a couple of strategies that had them stumped. It also probably helps that MI6 is kind of scared of Hermione."

Shelia stared. "Wow. MI6 is scared enough of Hermione to the point that they cave and let Ron go with her. Wow." She blinked, "Just, wow."

Harry tried to stifle laugher. "You think that's weird? Try knowing them throughout our school years and all the bickering that they went through. They're my best mates and I was best man at the wedding last year, but it's still strange seeing them happily married."

"You mean, when you guys were in school, they were worse?" Shelia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Harry said nodding. "Anyways," he pulled out a piece of purple paper from a pocket and brandished it at her, "I know that you didn't call for an Auror who could blend in with Muggles just to chat though, so what's up?"

Shelia sighed. "Are you sure that we can't get Hermione?" she asked.

"As sure as I can be," Harry said.

"Well, damn it then," Shelia said as Harry looked at her in shock. Looking up to meet his eyes, Shelia continued, "I guess you'll have to do it then. Ginny's going to kill me."

Harry looked back at her warily. "Do what? Why is Ginny going to kill you Shel? Please tell me that I do not have to defeat another dark lord." His tone almost pleading.

Shelia stopped and stared at him. "Dark lord?" she asked aloud, mostly to herself and then the information clicked. "No, it's not another Voldemort. Man, I keep forgetting that you are "The Boy Who Lived", and all of that."

Harry smiled and remarked jokingly. "I wish everyone else would. But seriously Shel, what's this about?"

She turned away and walked over to the largest window in the room, looking outside. "What do you think of the muggles?"

Harry stared at Shelia, confused. What did this have to do with anything? "Well," he said, "I think that they are pretty interesting. I mean the most of them don't have any magic and look at the stuff they can do. Electricity, cell phones, computers, and so on. Wizards don't have most of that stuff."

"Eh, we're working on it." Shelia said absentmindedly. "Suppose they found out magic was real? Suppose the muggle military found out that magic was real? What would happen?"

"Well, for the general public it would depend. There would be some that would worship us, there would be some that would be scared of us, some of them would be jealous that they don't have magic either. But most of them would expect us to fix everything. The military would see us as one of two things. A threat that they must destroy or as weapons of mass destruction." He trailed off at the end of the sentence as it dawned on him. "That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

Shelia nodded, her face grim. "Yes. That is what this is all about." She walked back over to her desk and held out several pieces of paper to Harry. "The first of these documents is a report from the Department of Mysteries. It basically says that the American Magic spectrum has been spiking more than normal for the past year and a half."

"The American magical grid normally spikes? And we don't know about it?"

"No, we know about it. It just doesn't affect us, but yes. The American magical grid normally spikes. According to Kam, it has something to do with all the different types of people who immigrated to the States, and brought their magic with them. Its not a problem but certain days of the year get more people using magic on those days because of rituals and other things causing a spike or a wave in their magical grid."

"Oh. That makes sense I suppose." Harry said

"Don't worry about it too much," Shelia said. "I'm from America and I don't understand it myself. But anyways the department of mysteries has traced the most recent set of spikes and waves to coming from an Island off the coast of Maine. The logistics and layout of the island are in there along with some scrying images of the area. Look at those later. Take a look at the next document. It's a letter to me from a friend who is high up in the chain of command of the AMC. They have received Intel that the Strategic Hazard Invention Espionage Logistics Directorate."

Harry, who had just gotten back on track with following the conversation, held up a hand. "The what?" he asked, confused again.

Shelia smiled, although it was thin. "The Strategic Hazard Invention Espionage Logistics Directorate. It's a mouthful. Everyone really calls them SHIELD. It's a branch of the American Muggle Government that is classified as military, and it deals with the weird things that pop up in America that the AMC doesn't get to fast enough, along with spies. Anyways my friend at the AMC has Intel that SHIELD has possibly picked up an ancient magical artifact. For whatever reasons, she is not allowed to find out what it is, or anything related to it. All she knows is that they have it, and they are running tests on it at a top-secret facility on an island off the coast of Maine. She asked me to look into it and I said I would. So what I need you do is to go in there, find out what it is, and let me know. Because if that is what I think it is, we are all in trouble."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "There is no way that this is a one person job. Who would I be going with, now that you know Hermione isn't available to do it?"

Shelia grinned for real this time. "If everything goes to plan, you'll be going with Luna, who has a degree in a muggle science that should get their attention. If Luna decides that she doesn't want to go, then you'll have to sneak in by yourself under the guise of several spells. But that's only if the first plan doesn't work. I have to ask Luna."

Harry nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. How long will it take to set up? How long will I be gone?"

Shelia shrugged. "I'm not sure. The benefit of doing it the first way is we find out more, but it takes a while longer. I'll have to let you know, once we find out if Luna is interested."

Harry nodded again then looked slightly glum. "How am I going to tell this to Ginny?" he asked, "I just got back."

Shelia shook her head "No idea. You'll be able to talk to her though, because I know that you or Hermione have already taught her how to use magic with muggle technology. We aren't banning you from communications of any sort, although muggle tech might be easier."

"Thanks," Harry said dryly. "I'm not sure if that helps or makes it worse. She's still going to be mad.

"I know, and I'm sorry." Shelia said. "You know, you should probably leave now to tell her sooner so that she has more time to get over it."

"Yeah I suppose." Harry said and stood up. "I'll see you later Shelia."

"Good luck."

"Thank you." And with that Harry left her office.

Poor man, Shelia though as she picked up the now finished letter. She sealed into an envelope and walked over to a smaller open window where a mahogany brown owl was sitting. "Here Sova" she said offering him the letter. Sova cliked his beak and took it and Shelia reached behind him and the owl promptly took off. She stayed there, staring after the owl as her mind thrust forward how many different ways that this could go wrong. Sighing, Shelia turned around and headed back to her desk plans already forming, just in case.

A/N:

Hello hello.

This is Kneoria, speaking. I am the author of this first chapter that you have before you here.

Just a couple of things to say here before you go on with your day:

This story is written by two people. Myself and Tamatoe, so updates will be when we have time.

The characters Shelia Jones, Kam Ryo and the owl Sova are all property of me, so please don't use them.

If you wish to talk to me, I am more likely to respond to PMs sent to the account of Kneoria.

Thank you for your time. Please leave reviews. I would like to hear what you think.