Severus scowled as he stared at the gargoyle blocking his way.
The Gargoyle of Headmaster's Office, or Asshole as Severus thinks of it, was an enemy of all professors of Hogwarts. As one of the few semi-sentient outlet of Hogwart's own sentience, it was a pranking asshole. Sometimes, it would spit out fire or stomp on people's foot just because it could. At other times, it would do nothing and make the professors paranoid.
He hated it.
The gargoyle paused after he gave the password and moved away.
He scowled as he stepped pas-
He lost his balance and fell forward.
The gargoyle's mouth opened, and fire spewed out.
"SON OF A -!"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at singed and beaten Severus.
"My boy, what happened to you?" he asked with a smile hidden behind his majestic beard and mustache.
"Your gargoyle happened."
"Hmm... Is this about the gargoyle again? I keep telling you and the others that it has nothing to do with-"
"That thing tried to burn me alive," Severus hissed.
Albus threw his hands up in a placating gesture.
"I never meant that you were lying, Severus."
The potion master grunted before he sat down. "What did you call me here for?" he asked, getting straight to the point.
There was a pause before Albus sighed.
"I found Harry."
Another pause before Severus glared at him.
"And why should I care about that ... Potter?"
Albus glared right back. "He was raised by no Potter, like both of us feared, Severus. No, he was raised by something much worse."
He raised an eyebrow. "What could be worse than being brought up as a Potter? The bullies that they were was a menace to all of Magical Britain."
"Because he was raised up to be the next Magus Killer."
A pause.
Then Severus laughed. "Albus, this is the first time I've heard a dark joke from you-"
Albus didn't speak, his glare still in place.
Severus too stopped speaking.
"You're not joking."
He shook his head.
"It seems that Harry was raised by the new 'Emiya Alliance' that we've been hearing about," he replied. "And the Magus Killer himself has been recognized as a Wizard Marshall."
Severus felt his eyebrows shoot up. "That's ... impressive."
And it was.
To the wizards and witches of Magical Britain, the title of Wizard Marshall was something hidden in obscurity and mystery. It was a title only two known figures held: Albus Dumbledore the Professor and Nicholas Flamel the Alchemist. Albus received his title by being the man responsible for the defense of the magical communities against two Dark Lords while Nicholas received his for the vast knowledge of magic he kept hidden and safe.
But Albus knew what the title entailed better than most.
The title of Wizard Marshall came with several surprising revelations.
Such as the fact that alien civilizations existed.
Such as the fact that Earth was not safe.
Such as the fact that Wizard Marshalls were all required to independently seek ways to improve all of humankind's survival against any kind of xeno-invasion.
Albus had received the title a decade ago, but he was no closer to achieving the means his title demanded. He had tried to integrate technology and magic only to fail. He had tried to improve relations between all magical races with minimum success. He had tried to pass laws to increase the number of wizards and witches born each year, but that too was laughed off as the plans of a senile old man.
His Order of Phoenix dismissed his concerns about another possible war.
The only thing he had achieved was the strengthening of the Auror Corps, and that required so much bloody work even with backings from several different concerned individuals.
As for the Emiya Alliance, it was the center of a rumor that has been going around lately. The Alliance in question was hiring many people, regardless of race. It was also taking in magical children as wards, going far as to use the authority of an unknown Wizard Marshall to prevent the children from being taken away from them, which Albus now knew to be the authority of the Magus Killer.
He shuddered at what the Magus Killer was planning.
Why would you need all those children?
It didn't take long for the Emiya Alliance to set up their first school.
The initial plan had been to move the entirety of the Emiya Alliance to a better suited location, but the sudden influx of magical children they had to teach put a stop to that plan. After much discussion, it was decided that it would be better to simply expand the existing cottage.
The cottage was located west of Plymouth, England. The location also consisted mostly of farmlands and orchards. Thus, expansion was easy.
Kiritsugu used the funds available to him to buy the lands around the Emiya Cottage, and helped Tamamo set up a two kilometer radius Bounded Field with standard mundane-repellent and anti-detection wardstones. Of course, it was unlikely that those were going to hold up against a particularly strong wizard, witch, magus, or even a psychic mundane, but it would do.
Once the territory of the Emiya Alliance was set up, Kiritsugu had all available hands get to work on a construction of a school. Berserker and Arturia carried heavy materials like steel and concrete, Tamamo warded each stone(she insisted that it would give the building more protection), Shirou imbued conceptual defenses into walls, and Kiritsugu planned everything. Wizards, witches, and magi hired by the Alliance moved the stones into place.
It was to this sight that Remus jumped out of the only Floo access in the entirety of the Emiya Alliance territory.
"Mr. Lupin!"
Remus stiffened and looked around. Then he found "Lily" heading over to him from the other side of the cottage's living room.
"Y-Yes?"
Remus had been in the service of the Emiya Alliance for two months now. During those two months, he learned many things that he thought were impossible.
One such thing was the authority the tiny blonde girl approaching him held.
While the wolf within a werewolf was quiet and ignorant of the world when they are not out, Remus felt his own wolf immediately go on a deferential mode.
Imagine a wolf with its tail between its legs.
This happened every time that "Lily" was around.
This never happened. Not around Minister of Magic, not around the Malfoys, not even during the odd times that Remus fought against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Not even in the presence of Albus Dumbledore did the wolf obey.
Only "Lily."
And that scared him, though he tried to not show it.
"Kiritsugu is calling. Hurry up."
"Yes, ma'am."
Lily glared at him.
He looked away to not meet her eyes.
"Hurry up."
When Remus entered the cozy office in the Emiya Cottage, which was the building where all of the "core members" of the Emiya Alliance lived in, he found himself staring at someone he had not expected to see.
"Madam Bones?" he muttered as he frowned.
The said woman turned around and spotted him. She nodded to him before turning back to face Kiritsugu.
"Then I'll be happy knowing that you've finished off the bastard. Good day, Marshall Emiya."
Kiritsugu nodded back to her as she headed over to the Floo chimney.
Remus let the head of the DMLE pass by him before he stood before Kiritsugu. "What was that about?" he asked.
The asian Wizard Marshall gave him a look before he closed his eyes and leaned back. "While you were out with the children, I took the entirety of the Emiya Alliance to eliminate the idiot Dark Lord Magnus."
Remus froze, and then his entire body shivered as if a cold, stray wind had blown through him.
He tried to remain calm and act as if nothing happened, but his eyes betrayed him when he glanced at "Lily."
"...And why inform me this?" he asked.
Kiritsugu opened his eyes and stared at Remus. "Because you are one of my employees."
"... That means exactly what?"
Kiritsugu rolled his eyes and began to talk.
Lily "Saber" Pendragon (or Arturia) really wondered just how much Kiritsugu had changed.
When she first met him, the man was the epitome of assassination and coldness. Detached and cruel. To him, his targets were merely threats to others, not himself or anyone working under him.
Yet here this man was, eliminating the most recent "dark order" because he considered them to be a threat to his adopted sons.
"Before I start, I ask you to hold off on the questions until the end. Understood?" he asked told Remus, someone who was supposedly a friend to one of his children's father. The werewolf nodded, prompting him to continue. "As things are, I have an obligation to uphold," Kiritsugu continued. "My obligation requires stability and peace for myself and the entirety of the world. Lord Magnus and his people were working opposite to that. Whether or not it was their intention to do so, their actions have caused much unrest that I would not have wanted. Before I erased him and his order, I tried to open up talks with Lord Magnus, but he was less than open. In fact, he tried to kill me."
Remus opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself from doing so.
"So I went and arrested every single one of Lord Magnus's followers and the man himself. Or rather, woman."
The werewolf felt like the world flipped 360 degrees. "What?"
"Yes. Apparently, the person everyone thought was a man was in fact a woman, not that it mattered to me. Once everyone was arrested, I hired a wizard mind reader. All of them possessed incremenating memories and my people also found some evidences. As such, I exercised my right as a Wizard Marshall and had them all executed. Madam Bones of the DMLE found out about this, and was talking to me about some details." A pause. "Now, you may ask me any questions you may have."
Remus was still struggling from the revelations so far that his brain and mouth spat out the latest question he had made.
"A ... wizard marshall?"
Kiritsugu frowned.
"Yes. The title is given to those who have proved themselves to be capable of being protector of magic and mankind, not necessarily in that order."
"And how did you gain this title?"
Kiritsugu chuckled. "Now that is a story that would take the entire day to tell," he replied. "One I won't be telling anyone, unfortunately. I have my reasons."
Remus nodded slowly before more questions began to bubble out. "Was it necessary to kill them all?" he asked.
He nodded. "I've seen and read what happens to people who go to your wizarding prison, Mr. Lupin. I rather think a quick death is merciful compared to that."
He readily agreed with that sentiment.
"...Why did you tell me all this? What does it have to do with my being one of your employee?"
To Remus, this was a question that had been plaguing him for some time. Unlike most of the mundane and the wizarding world, Kiritsugu Emiya demanded that his employee and their family come under his protection in total. This also meant that they were to move to his territory at the earliest time so that they have be under his protection at the earliest time.
Remus guessed several reasons as to why he did such things. He knew that his boss was very paranoid, though he tried to hide it. Being the paranoid man that he was, he may have implemented the idea of housing all of his employees' families to decrease spies. After all, in a world of unrest and uncertainty that the Wizarding Britain was, one could easily be "convinced" to spy for another by using their family as hostage. By housing people, Kiritsugu Emiya eliminated that possibility from ever occurring.
And that's just one possible reason behind all of Kiritsugu Emiya's complex mind.
Remus knew that he was never going to fully understand the man before him nor would he try to. Doing so would just hurt his head.
Kiritsugu stared into his eyes for a moment before he spoke.
"Because this relates to your next mission."
Remus stiffened. His job always became harder whenever the word "mission" was used instead of "job" or "assignment."
His taking care of the wand shopping for the wizardkin wards of the Emiya Alliance was an "assignment." His contacting of other werewolves a month before this was a "mission."
"Yes?" he asked hesitantly.
There was a pause, and Remus could almost hear the cogs inside Mr. Emiya's head churn and clunk.
"While going through the minds of 'Lady' Magnus and her followers," he began. "I came across rather disturbing information. Such things as 'Death Eaters' from the previous civil war who received next to nothing in terms of punishment because of bribery and connections. Your next mission is to go through the entirety of the Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and English wizarding laws and to make a report on every single loophole you can find. You may hire others to help you, but all of them must sign a magical non-disclosure contract."
Remus's eyes widened.
He knew this was going to be big as hell-!
As Remus left his office ashen and sweaty, Kiritsugu turned to Lily. "Any news for me?"
"The western halls are complete. The rooms for families only need to be furnished."
He nodded. "Good. This will allow us to influence them better."
Though she didn't reply to that, Lily nodded inwardly. She had seen the corruption, bigotry, and bias that the Wizarding Britain was plagued by. What Kiritsugu planned was for the long term.
First, the decision to stay in Cornwall was not a decision made out of financial issues. After all, the "Magus Killer" was swimming in riches even if he didn't show it.
Rather, the decision was made with the current happenings of the Wizarding Britain. When Kiritsugu wanted to move the Emiya Alliance to a more populated cities, he reasoned that being in a city would allow for better communication and recruitment, both magical and mundane. However, the recent split of the four "de jure kingdoms" of Wizarding Britain forced Kiritsugu to stay where he was, the border between Magical Welsh and Magical England. If he did not, then it could be seen as his Alliance taking the side of a single magical community, thereby creating a unnecessary rift between Emiya Alliance and the three other magical communities.
He shared his thoughts and plans regarding this clearly with the Servants, as they will be seen as the "core" members of the Emiya Alliance.
Second, land was cheap and had a lot of open space available for infrastructural development, which would be needed once the Emiya Alliance grows past a certain point.
And third, it was an "unsettled zone." Welsh and English magical communities both laid claimed to the region, even though there was nothing for them to really do here. After all, it was just mundane farmland. Because of the border dispute and the lack of anything truly "magical," no magical families, businesses, or organizations besides the Emiya Alliance was in the region. Oh, the famous Light-sided Weasley Family was to the west of them, but that was fifteen kilometers away or so, easily out of the way.
There were other factors, too, but those were the main reasons.
"How about the Ward Towers?"
Lily pulled out her iPhone and checked for the notes she made on it. It was a popular "smartphone" that came out half a year ago in America, and Kiritsugu had basically forced everyone to rely on it due to its versatility. Lily had to agree. It was both a phone and a computer, which made her life as Kiritsugu's "secretary."
... Well, for now. There was no way she was going to keep being a "secretary." She was a knight, foremost, and she would rise up from this position.
"The Ward Towers are nearing 90% completion. The construction had to stop due to a lack of wardstones available for purchase. We ended up having to commission Tamamo ... again."
Kiritsugu grunted.
Despite being one of the core members of the Emiya Alliance, Tamamo was an oddball.
...
Well, everyone was an oddball, but Tamamo was more so. For big things like wardstones or a feast, she demanded "favors" in return. Last time she used her favor, she had Shirou to herself all day long. They returned at the end of the night with a huge stack of packaged clothes and gifts. Shirou also had a hungry wallet.
And she had seven more such favors.
Lily shuddered. She too had been forced into action by the favor of Tamamo.
They weren't just promises in the Emiya Alliance. To the members of the Emiya Alliance, Favors of Tamamo were closest thing to a binding contract between themselves, except Harry; nothing sticks to the little hellion. It had something to do with the way that Tamamo set up the Bounded Field, where her words and favors reigned supreme in the daily activities of life.
"I see. This is the last wardstone then?"
She nodded.
"Good."
Lily stared at the image of the Ward Tower.
The Ward Tower, designed by Ilya, was a structure that was inspired by the Pylon Towers from a game called Starcraft. Ilya explained to the rest of the Alliance that the Ward Tower would serve as the central hub of power, where independent sources of power would be removed from within its influence, which decreased chances of accidents happening. It would also serve as a protective Bounded Field, and the final wardstone for the tower was exactly that: a supercharged and layered protective Bounded Field generator.
She shivered at the works being done.
Even Merlin, the perverted genius, would have hard time completing projects worth half of the Ward Tower in triple the time.
That's just how powerful and learned Tamamo was. It also helped that she was a literal piece of a deity.
Or destructively creative. Tamamo casually talks about how the entirety of Cornwall would erase itself from the map should the wards engraved into wardstones were incorrectly carved.
Harry's Familiarity with Magical Fields
(A-F)
Runes: B-
Transfiguration: D
Rituals: C-
Summoning: C
Enchanting: B+