Chapter Two: Broken Justice
By the time Roy and Giles arrived at the barn, the excitement of the morning/early afternoon had settled down. Wordy called Shelley to tell her where Lance was and that he'd regained his usual age; the constable then handed the phone to Lance so he could listen to Shelley scold him for running away and endangering himself. The teen meekly submitted to the rant and even managed to sound contrite, despite the fact that every last member of Team One knew he didn't regret his actions in the slightest. Once the scolding was over, Sam took the teenager aside to get his statement about the car accident and as much as he could remember of the kidnapping.
In the meantime, Greg, at Commander Holleran's insistence, changed out of his dusty, blood streaked uniform, socks, and boots; while the commander suspected the two witches would be charged under wizarding law, he was too good of a cop to hide the evidence of a crime against his subordinate. The briefing room was catalogued as best it could be with the evidence of the attack and explosion already gone; Parker's clothing was bagged and tagged.
Greg changed into his older, all gray uniform and found a pair of boots he'd missed in his last spring cleaning of his locker; Spike lent his Sergeant a pair of clean socks when Greg couldn't find his own spare pair. Once he was done changing, Greg returned to the main part of the station to find Team Three in a spirited debate over how they could use magic for their day-to-day activities; Parker was grateful that it looked like Commander Holleran was already moving in to explain why that wouldn't work…it meant he didn't have to do it.
Then two familiar detectives entered the barn, both men looking as if they'd just been ordered to kick a helpless, injured animal, and Greg stiffened, his sixth sense screaming that whatever they had to say, he wasn't going to like it – at all.
Ed spied the new arrivals next and, judging by his wary tone, he spotted the same thing Greg had. "Roy?"
"Hi, Ed," Roy called, forcing a smile on his face.
Commander Holleran looked up from his debate with Team Three and glanced over at the two men. "Detectives, is there something you need?"
Giles didn't even try for a smile as he met Holleran's eyes. "Roy and I need to talk to Team One, sir," he informed the commander.
Holleran studied Giles' expression for a moment, a frown appearing on his face. "Use the briefing room," he decided. Turning back to Team Three, he added, "Let's continue this in my office."
Lance, a bit adrift since Sam had finished up their interview, moved towards Winnie's desk, but Giles shook his head. "You, too, Heir Calvin."
Greg's bad feeling about the entire scenario grew at the regret in Giles' eyes. The Sergeant moved to his nephew's side, tugging the teenager into the briefing room and keeping him close as the rest of Team One assembled and gave the two detectives curious looks.
Giles waited until Team One was seated at the briefing table to begin. "Let me start with Madame Locksley's message," he began, ignoring the confused looks between Team One's members. "She said to tell you, Sergeant Parker, that, 'if, after this, you and your people wish to end your association with our world, there will be no repercussions.' "
"If after what?" Greg inquired, his dread growing.
The look on Giles' face was that of a man who did not want to do what he was about to do and the Auror was trembling, ever so slightly. He turned towards Lance and said, "The Auror Division will be informing the public that you and your sister are Wild Mages."
An instant later, every light bulb in the briefing room shattered.
Greg's focus swung to his nephew as Lance started shaking, his magic rippling and lighting up the room, even without the now broken lights. The Sergeant pulled Lance's chin around, starting at the raw terror in the teen's face and the blank look in his eyes; Greg pulled his nipote into a fierce hug, rubbing the young man's back and murmuring reassurances in his ear. When Lance kept shaking and started to hyperventilate, Greg made a snap decision and hauled him out of the briefing room and down the ramp to the locker room where the first aid kit and a few blankets were stored, just in case.
Once inside, Greg thrust Lance down on one of the benches and retrieved a blanket to drape around the teen's shoulders. "Breathe, Lance, breathe," Greg ordered softly, pushing his nephew's head down to keep the young man's reaction from overwhelming him. Lance gasped, pulling in air and coughing. "That's it, that's it," Greg whispered. "Just keep breathing, you're okay. We're going to get through this."
Wet sapphire eyes rose and Lance managed to look like the little boy he'd been that morning, afraid and desperate for comfort. Greg pulled his nephew close as the teen started to cry, great gasping cries that were a mix of sorrow, shame, and fear. The Sergeant rubbed Lance's back as he cried, wondering what in the world was wrong…
Ed glanced up at the broken light bulbs, then looked around at his teammates, both brows arching. "Anyone get hit by glass?"
"I think his magic vaporized it all," Sam breathed, a hint of shock in his eyes.
The team leader nodded once, then pushed himself up and stalked around the table to Giles. Without a qualm, Ed leaned in, letting just a bit of the fear and fury he hadn't been able to express yet out. "You want to explain what just happened?"
Giles swallowed hard, flinching from Ed's angry stare. The Auror looked down, unable to meet Ed's gaze for long. Haltingly, hesitatingly, he started to explain. "You've seen how the wizarding world treats anyone not considered human."
The constables traded startled looks, but settled back to listen attentively, though Ed made a point to stay where he was, all but looming over Onasi.
"Veela, house-elves, goblins, heck, even centaurs; they're all considered second-class citizens at best. Non-human, dangerous; beasts to be controlled instead of respected as beings. Werewolves are treated even worse than that; they're actively shunned and some wizarding communities will even attempt to murder any suspected werewolves in their midst."
Giles paused, pacing back and forth for a few moments. "But none of that comes close to how Wild Mages are treated, if they're discovered." Shame gleamed in his eyes. "I don't know the history," he admitted, "So I can't tell you why, but I'll tell you what I do know."
Again, he paused, though this time it looked as if he was bracing himself. "The last time a Wild Mage was identified was during Grindelwald's War…what you call World War II…"
The couple hurried through the night, fleeing the mysterious figures who'd destroyed their village, calling on the survivors to submit 'for the Greater Good'. All the other villagers had been captured by the attackers and the couple knew that if they, too, were captured, all their striving against the Fuhrer's regime would have been for nothing.
But for all of their determination to get away, they could not outrun the odd flying craft their attackers were using. In short order, they were surrounded and cut off by the jeering figures dressed in old-fashioned robes. The man pushed his precious wife behind him, defiant to the last even as the lead attacker laughed at him, aiming a carved stick at his chest. "Do it," the man spat, "We will not submit to your kind."
"Then you will die," the figure announced, before uttering two words the man could not understand. A jet of green light leapt from the stick and the man flinched from his end.
Suddenly, the beam struck a barrier that had not been there before; a shimmering pale pink barrier that emitted a sense of protection and defiance of the mystery attackers. "Enough," a female voice declared and, with a swirl of wind, a tall woman with her long hair pulled back from her face was in front of the couple. "You have caused enough death for one night, Seidel. Leave these people alone."
"Fuchs," the one she had named Seidel growled. "You defy the orders of our leader?"
"Grindelwald may be your leader, but he is not mine," Fuchs declared, tossing her head. Without turning, she pulled a disc from her pocket and held it out to the couple. "That will take you to safety, I promise. And if you should find yourself in England, seek out my cousin Percival in Derbyshire and tell him I died with honor."
"We will, mein dame beschützer (3)," the man promised. Then he and his wife reached out, taking the disc.
Once they had a hold of it, the woman whispered, "Narnia bringt mich nach hause (4)." The disc glowed softly and the couple were pulled away to safety. They never saw their rescuer again.
"When the couple she saved reached England, they told their story to a British Squib and that Squib reported what he'd discovered to the Aurors. England's Department of Mysteries demanded that the Aurors locate the Wild Mage, dead or alive."
"Did they?" Roy asked, dread lurking within his curiosity.
Giles nodded once. "Yeah, they found her. She'd been locked up like an animal, fed a few scraps a day, and Grindelwald's people almost tortured her to death, trying to get her to use her magic for them. The Aurors brought her back to England and the Department of Mysteries took her for themselves. No one ever found out what happened to her after that, but the stories are…legendary."
No elaboration was needed; Giles' expression said it all. The Auror drew a deep, shuddering breath and sat down hard in one of the briefing room chairs. After a minute of silence, he spoke again. "Every Wild Mage ever tested has had a small amount of non-human blood – usually nymph or dryad."
"So they're treated like they aren't human," Jules concluded when Giles hesitated.
A heavy nod came from Onasi; Wordy spoke up from the other side of the table. "That's why you wanted that Healer to keep quiet, isn't it?"
"Yes," Giles confirmed in a whisper. "Only the old pureblood families know why Wild Mages are so feared. Honestly, until that Healer did the magical nature test, I wouldn't have believed it. Wild Mages are supposed to be extinct; the Wild Mage back in the 1940s wasn't even a full Wild Mage or so I heard when I was growing up."
The Auror's gaze switched to Roy. "Sorry, by the way, for getting you into trouble. I'm still used to making all the decisions on my own and come what may."
"Trouble?" Ed demanded before Roy could speak; the team leader glanced between the partners, his expression expectant.
Roy ran a hand through his hair. "We got in trouble for not reporting Lance and Alanna to Madame Locksley. Three week suspension."
"So what do we do?" Lou inquired, leaning forward in his chair and ignoring the brief sidetrack. "How do we help the kids?"
"Keep them on this side," Sam muttered. When his teammates looked over at him, he shrugged. "If I'm hearing Giles right, their status as 'human' just got yanked magic-side, but it hasn't been yanked on our side of the fence." The sniper stood, pacing back and forth as he elaborated. "Between the loss of their family's political power in the stunt Lance had Potter pull in the Wizengamot and today's bombshell, it's going to be open season on them magic-side."
Wordy uttered a low hiss of dismay, feeling a sting of guilt, though Sam never even glanced in his direction as he spoke. After all, it had been in protecting him that Lance had sacrificed that political power. But Sam's second statement caught the brunet's attention and he sat up with a disagreeing frown. "Open season? Isn't that a little harsh?"
"No." Jules shook her head. "Wordy, think about it this way: back in high school, if the popular kids fell off their pedestal, what happened to them?"
"Open season," Spike muttered before Wordy could reply. "We're talking worse than what the geeks usually get; I saw it happen once." He shuddered at the memory.
Giles spoke up once more, his expression full of anticipatory dread; whatever he was about to say was something he knew none of his coworkers would like. "There's also the fact that they now have almost no rights. The only crime that can be committed against a Wild Mage is suppressing their magic. Beyond that," the Auror half-choked, "Just about anything goes."
The constables traded utterly dismayed looks. "What if they fight back? Defend themselves?" Ed questioned, his gaze serious and intent.
A helpless shrug. "I don't know," Onasi admitted, slumping down further in his seat, "But if it came down to a 'he said, she said' sort of thing…they'd lose."
The Auror's gaze slipped to the floor and he shuddered. "They're going to be hated for what they are, for the magic they were born with, and there's no way to fix it." Sorrowful brown eyes came up, meeting Ed's for the merest instant before Giles looked down again. "If Parker wants to pull them out of school and the wizarding world, it wouldn't be a half-bad idea." The wizard bit his lip and added, softly, "And if you lot decide this is the last straw and you don't want to be involved in our world anymore, I-I really don't blame you."
[3] German for 'my lady protector'
[4] German for 'Narnia bring me home'