Chapter Two, Anti-Magic?

I took half a second to scope out the battlefield. The Aurors had followed my lead and were sending physical attacks over the wall to meet the invaders and a menagerie of transfigured animals were running amok as conjured knives, axes, swords, and even bewitched stones zipped through the air, and with all of that the men with guns weren't backing down, the sharp retort of their weapons cracking all around us. More and more men ran into the room, assaulting us in a tide of humanity while the muggle guard finally responded, backing up the Aurors with their own firearms.

I rushed forward, crouched low, just because my suit should stop bullets didn't mean I wanted to test it out, especially with the way they seemed to cancel out magic. I pressed my glowing hand to the ground and swept it upwards and a ripple of tile and stone rushed outwards to meet them, growing larger and larger in the intervening space until it was a wave taller than even Hagrid when it smashed into the men. As soon as it made contact with them I felt the spell falter but the pure physical force behind it still threw a dozen attackers through the air.

Next to me, Nightshade had formed large hands made of Darkstuff and was throwing debris at our enemies, their cries of pain sounding over the din of battle. Bullets were exchanged with spell fire and the magical manipulations of the physical world rearranged the ballroom into a deadly war-zone as we beat the invaders back into the hole they had breached through.

The civilians had by that point been evacuated and sirens could be heard on the air as peace officers arrived.

With that, the attackers rushed back though the hole in a retreat, but I shared a look with Nightshade and we chased after them.

The hole in the wall opened up into the grounds and I could see our enemies scattering, using their weapons to clear their way through panicking pedestrians who hadn't yet been cleared away.

I grimaced and pulled my wand, forming small golems with monkey-like proportions from the ground, my time with Detective Chimp making them strangely lifelike, with Nightshade producing a series of birds made from her Darkstuff, and their realism reminded me of the afternoon Eve had spent cooing over my animagus form. Together we sent out our creations to attempt to apprehend the villains as Nightshade took to the air and I ran off, my wand trailing a deep, angry crimson light.

-0-

I soared high over London, scanning the rooftops with keen, avian eyes. As far as I knew I was the only raven animagus in the world, though of course one could never be sure since most Animagi learned in secret and never registered. I could be relatively certain that I was the only one with nearly glowing green eyes, though, as such it was no real surprise that Nightshade knew that I was me when she flew near and formed a flying carpet of Darkstuff for me to land on.

I shook my head as I once more took the form of a man and Nightshade settled next to me. "I've got even more ravens looking out but I think it's an exercise in futility. My birds will let me know if they track any of them down between now and sun-up, anyway."

I frowned and nodded before I drew my wand and countered my transfiguration with a mental nudge, over twenty golems simply crumbling into small piles of dirt where they stood all over London. "Let's get back to the ballroom. It's time we have a chat with one of those men."

"A chat or a Chat?" asked Nightshade.

"Yes."

Nightshade snorted, and her Darkstuff-carpet turned and flew off.

-0-

Buckingham Palace was awash in flashing light from what looked like hundreds of police cars and other first responders and I couldn't hold in a grimace at the smoke rising from the ballroom that left a foul taste in my mouth and stung my nostrils.

Had there been a fire?

In the heat of battle I hadn't noticed, but considering I had been working with the others to repel a kill-squad I didn't really blame myself. Besides there were several wizards and witches left there when Nightshade and I ran off after the fleeing attackers.

Nightshade brought us in close and we jumped off the Darkstuff-carpet when it grew close enough to the ground. Cops and Medics and Aurors all eyed us as we passed until we made it to Ron's side inside the ballroom barking orders to his men and women. "Magus, Nightshade?" asked Ron, fully into his role as Head Auror. Did you get any of them?"

As members adjacent to the Justice League we had to respect and respond to law enforcement with deference. It was a public relations move mostly and everyone knew it, but as this was Ron I didn't have to feign my respect. "No Sir," I said, shaking my head, "Nightshade has scouts out looking around but once the sun comes up they'll lose power until they finally fade away."

Ron nodded, a muscle working in his jaw.

He turned away.

"We have over a dozen dead so far and more than three times that injured," he said, and I could feel the turbulence in Ron's magic aching to lash out at those responsible. "The bastards we've managed to capture are being held in a side room guarded by my best Aurors and members of Mug－Mundane law enforcement."

I nodded and though I knew no one there could see my face I knew they could hear my anger. "I want to talk to at least one of them."

"Done," said Ron, walking away, his arms held stiffly behind his back, "follow me."

Nightshade gave me a warning look and I tried to tamp down on the rage I was feeling at this entire situation.

Ron led us deeper into the Palace, passed stone-faced Aurors and other peace keepers until we stood before a section of wall that had recently been transfigured from a door. With the way the attackers weren't effected by magic this seemed the best we could do on short notice. Even if the energy in the spell faded the wall was still currently a wall, after all, as removing the power from a transfiguration after the change had occurred didn't counter the change itself.

Ron gestured the Guards away as he drew his wand and they complied, raising their own weapons as they did so and pointing them towards the door-turned-wall. Ron bit out a muttered, "Reparifarge," and the wall returned to its un-transfigured state. He turned the knob and opened the door, gesturing us in.

The room was little more than a large closet. I could see cameras pointed towards ten men who had been stripped down to their underwear and yet more guards within the room keeping their wands and guns trained on them.

They didn't look like trained soldiers. They were pudgy and soft and entirely average.

I strode towards the closest man and knelt in front of him. As I was so close to the the group I could feel my magical powers somehow being washed away and I knew I didn't have too much time.

I struck out and slapped the man with a harsh backhand and he glared up at me with hatred. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was flushed in anger. "Look at me," I growled.

"Magus," warned Nightshade.

I slapped him again and one of the other prisoners tried lunging for me but he was shoved back by an Auror before a muggle in body armor pointed an automatic rifle in his face.

"You will suffer me," I rumbled, lacing my voice with more power than should've been required to coerce a single muggle, "LOOK INTO MY EYES."

The man did so, struggling the entire way and with a hissed, "Legilimens!" I was falling into his mind through his murky-blue eyes.

I had never been resisted so strongly, not even when I had exorcised Eclipso from Jean Loring during the Battle of Stonehenge. Mental winds battered me from all directions and I felt my power sapped away and I was forced to increase the strength behind my probe just to keep the connection between us. Memories flashed by at speed but their clarity was severely degraded and I was forced to dig deeper and deeper. The man was named Jack Williamson and he had a family. Two children under the age of ten and an ex-wife. As I focused on them, I saw the memory of Jack walking in on his wife with his business partner and I practically felt that man's blood on my knuckles as Jack attacked. Dismissing the memory as irrelevant I gouged deeper. I was vaguely aware of screaming, and I could only assume it was Jack back in the real world as I peeled his mind away like an onion.

I didn't care too much.

Something caught my eye and I dove into another memory. This one was dark, and great chunks of it were simply not there. I saw a cave lined with torches. A man in a blue robe was preaching to a gathering of men and women like Jack. A tear in reality beyond which I saw a single lidless eye burning with alien malice, then a pale blue orb floating in inky blackness.

The Earth.

The eye again, peering deep into my very soul and though I heard no words I felt an incredible, implacable hunger.

I pulled away as the last of my power faded from me and I stumbled back into Ron and Nightshade. I shook my head and shivered violently, like an anemic who needed a tall glass of orange juice, "Magus," whispered Nightshade near my ear, "I know, I could feel the struggle from here but you need to pull it together－we have a visitor."

I blinked several times, trying to clear my blurred vision and I heard the screams of the attackers cursing me in several different languages. As the world came back into focus I saw Jack lying on the ground with blood seeping from his ears and nose, his vacant eyes looking upwards to the ceiling, his chest unmoving.

He was dead.

"H-how?"

"He was screaming," said Ron sotto voce, "and then he started to convulse. Whatever happened in his mind was too much for him."

"That shouldn't have happened. Mental distress, maybe. I wasn't easy with my probe, but nothing that should've killed him."

"I believe you," said Nightshade, "but that's for later. Magus, look behind us."

I did.

Holy shit.

There, framed by the light of the hallway, stood the Queen of Great Britain, Elizabeth the Second.

-0-

We, Ron, Nightshade, several important muggles I didn't know, and I entered the solar behind the Queen and her personal guard. We waited for the Queen to settle herself in an antique chair next to a large window and then she passed over us with a gimlet eye, and despite knowing she was a muggle it felt like I was once more standing before Dumbledore's desk as a student, his electric blue eyes x-raying me in that uncomfortable way he sometimes did.

"We would have you remove your masks." she said simply and I was unable to deny her this. I waved my hand over my face, countering the aversion charm before lowering my makeshift hood. Next to me, Nightshade's Darkstuff receded from her face.

"Your Majesty," I murmured, bowing and feeling only a little awkward for it, "I am Harry James Potter."

Her eyes flicked up to the faded remnants of my scar and I saw recognition in her eyes.

Somehow she knew of me.

"It is good to see that one such as yourself is still fighting for your country," she said regally, "after your efforts deposing the terrorist known as Lord Voldemort you disappeared from my people's knowledge."

I swallowed nervously. "I did some travelling after that," I said, "to find myself and learn more. After that I took a job with the International Confederation of Wizards, your Majesty."

"And now you go by another name, working with a higher profile group of people."

I nodded. "I go by Magus of the Shadowpact and I also act as a magical liaison with the Justice League."

The Queen made an assenting noise before turning her attention to Nightshade.

"I am Eve Eden, your Majesty," she said, without prompting, her back straightening to an almost military-like posture.

"And from your accent We can tell you are American," said the Queen.

Eve nodded and the Queen graced her with a small smile. "Now tell Us why Our home was attacked by these ruffians tonight."

"We're still determining that, your Majesty," said one of the Muggles, clicking his heels together as he stood at attention.

"We have several of them contained and I've already called in Unspeakables to study their resistance to magic. When we can counter that we'll be able to look into their memories for more information," added Ron.

The Queen looked me over. "One of you have already pierced their mind, though?"

"I have, your Majesty," I said quietly, "but it was a fight the entire time. I just saw flashes of a cave and a bit about his past. His name was Jack Williamson and he was under the command of a man in a blue robe. Beyond that though…" I shook my head. "Just learning that much killed him. I would advise waiting until our Unspeakables can counter their abilities. We only have a handful more of them and it wouldn't do to kill them just to come back with such vague snippets."

"Very well," said the Queen waving a hand for silence as one of the muggles seemed ready to protest the admitted coldness of my reasoning, "these men believe themselves at war. They will find the British people an opponent they can not best. Harry Potter, Magus, step forward."

I did so and knelt before the Queen of England.

"Go forward," she said, waving her arm grandly, "with Our support. Know that the Crown backs you. Drive these villains into the ground on Our behalf."

I swallowed a lump in my throat and nodded. "It will be as you command, your Majesty."

"Then you and your companion are dismissed, Magus."

I stood silently, bowed at the waist, and walked back to Nightshade. I flipped the hood back up over my head as I reapplied the aversion charm, and my girlfriend used her Darkstuff to once more hide her own identity. I laid a hand on Ron's shoulder, receiving a nod in return, and Nightshade and I left the room.

The door closed behind us and I sighed. "Let's get to the Bar. We'll need the rest of the 'Pact for this."

"Yeah," agreed Nightshade, raising her hands as a portal opened beneath us and pulled us into the Realm of Nightshades.

-0-

Ever since the 'death' of Jim Rook, the previous leader of the Shadowpact and the owner of the inter-dimensional Oblivion Bar, Dan, his best friend and bouncer, had taken over. He still served drinks but you had to call in and book the place ahead of time because the 'Bar' now served as the headquarters of the Shadowpact. As such, while the main room hadn't really been changed the backrooms and all the beds you could rent if you were too drunk to make it home now served as a second home for the 'Pact's members.

Mere moments after we arrived, Dan, muscular and blue-skinned walked out from a storeroom, a clipboard in his hand and he frowned. "What happened?" he asked, glowing golden eyes raking over our costumes. "I thought you were going to a party tonight?"

"We did," said Nightshade, "I guess you haven't seen the news?"

"No, I've been taking stock of the shipment of magical reagents the Enchantress ordered with Detective Chimp."

"It was a shit-show," I grumbled, removing my hood entirely and flinging it over the back of a chair and countering my aversion charm, "party got attacked by magic-hating mooks with guns."

"Wasn't the party at freaking Buckingham Palace?"

I nodded and Dan cursed. "Shall I call in the rest of the 'Pact?"

"Yeah," I said, moving over to the bar and digging around behind it for two phials of murky liquid. I tossed one to Nightshade and popped the cork on mine, draining the contents in one go like a shot. Steam poured from my ears and I felt my nearly depleted magical reserves start to refill. "This is an emergency. We'll need everyone. I didn't tell the Queen everything I saw in Jack Williamson's mind before he died－some knowledge shouldn't become widespread, if you follow me."

Dan choked on his own spit. "T-The Queen? As in Elizabeth?"

I nodded tiredly and put my head down on the bar.

I heard the steam escaping Nightshade's ears.

-0-

I prodded the surface of my Headmaster's old pensieve with my wand, ending the playback of all that had happened that night up to and including what I had seen within Jack Williamson's memories.

"Shit," mumbled Rory, rubbing a hand down his face.

"Yeah," mumbled Dan, frowning.

"How did they repel magic like that?" asked Detective Chimp. "I've never seen anything like that. It wasn't like a shield spell. Magic just failed when it got too close to them.

I shrugged and said, "I don't know yet."

"It's probably connected to the man in the blue robe and that eye," said the Enchantress, leaning forward to tap at the table top with a single finger. "Jack, at least, was a normal man once."

"It was like a church or mass," said Nightshade, "but something about the man in blue was familiar."

"Whatever it is, we need more information," said Dan, "we'll need a specialist in demonology to tell us more about the eye."

The enchantress nodded. "I know just the man. We'll need to teleport to Gotham City to meet him, though."

Eve nodded. "Let me go put on my actual costume. I've been using Darkstuff to defend my modesty and protect myself but if these weirdos can cancel magic I don't want to end up fighting in the buff if they take my power from me."

Rory and Dan blushed and I chuckled when Eve walked towards our shared room, an extra purposeful sway in her hips.

-0-

Nightshade's Darkstuff deposited us on the grungy sidewalk of a neighborhood that spoke of old money spent frivolously. Brownstone houses three stories tall, much like Grimmauld Place, lined the narrow, litter-strewn road and what few streetlights worked were flickering heavily. The air smelt like burned oil and urine as a deep red haze had settled over the entire city, giving everything a greasy feel.

"Nice place," said Detective Chimp.

"It's more than it appears," said the Enchantress, closing her eyes and raising an arm to taste the invisible wisps of magic that flowed through reality like the whiskers of a cat testing the air.

I knelt down and placed my hand upon the ground. "A magical leyline once flowed through this section of Gotham," I said, stretching my own senses wide, "it never came under attack by the Spectre directly but the magical energy here flowed from a place further away, though I can't tell where. Something else muddies the mystical waters, if you get what I'm trying to say. It's cold and all encompassing, like icy water swirling around a drain. "

The Enchantress nodded grimly, lowering her arm. "Originally this city was the resting place of a powerful warlock. When he was interred in his burial chamber the evil in his soul seeped into the very soil. It's entirely possible that all of Gotham's troubles started there."

"Like building on an Indian burial mound only a thousand times worse," said Ragman, rubbing his arms, "I've always hated this place. This is where my family settled after emigrating away from Nazi-controlled Germany. I moved away to San Francisco pretty much as soon as I could. The souls of the dead permeate this place and nearly all of them cry out for justice or revenge of some sort－it was literally driving me crazy."

Blue Devil frowned. "You gonna be okay?"

Ragman nodded. "It's not like I'm going to be here for too long. Just a visit to this expert."

"Well, I've found the nearest organized nexus of magic," said the Enchantress, frowning, "that should be our man's protective enchantments and wards. At least I don't know of anyone else within the supernatural community that would actively choose to live in a fucked up place like Gotham City."

"Lead on, then," I said, standing. I closed down my magical senses as much as possible to insulate myself from the howling vortex of evil underneath us. Rory wasn't the only one with a connection to the power of the human soul, after all. Around my neck, the pendant containing the Resurrection Stone weighed heavily.

I shuddered. Though I could see, it felt like I was pawing my way through a dark room, but then I always forgot just how reliant I was on my magical senses until I couldn't use them to navigate the world around me.

"Follow me, then," murmured the Enchantress, muttering a Sumerian incantation to protect her from the corrupting influence of Gotham's magic, as she needed to follow our target's trail and couldn't completely shut her senses down like I was.

-0-

The Enchantress led us down the street and around a series of bends and I couldn't help but notice the lack of people. It was strange because It wasn't so late and besides, even in cities like Gotham people were out and about at all times of night. Blue Devil, it seemed, noticed as well, the Trident of Lucifer clinking against the ground with his every other step.

"This place is creepy," he murmured.

"Well it is in Jersey," said Ragman, the frown in his voice palpable.

Nightshade snorted. "Well if anyone here has the right to indulge in stereotypes it's the native."

Ragman grumbled.

"Could be worse," I said, "did I ever tell you about the time I was stranded in Albania without a wand, and after having my magic sealed away by a Night Hag under the employ of a wizard who was selling young metamorphmaguses into sexual slavery, and it was only thanks to a travelling Romani caravan that I gained my powers back at all and escaped the country?"

The entire group stopped and looked at me like I had grown two extra heads.

"You'll be telling that story later, Magic-Man…" muttered Nightshade and I huffed out a laugh as we continued on, the Enchantress shaking her head and moving off.

Fortunately, we had been close and the Enchantress led us up onto the stoop of a brownstone house that while just as decrepit as its neighbors, seemed somehow more stately.

As we were very close to the building, I could feel powerful enchantments permeating every brick despite having closed myself off from external magic and something told me that if a bomb fell on this neighborhood our expert's house would get off with only a light dusting of ash.

I approached the door and reached up to grasp the heavy brass knocker that hung at head height but before I could use it, the door was opened by a stately man with brown hair streaked lightly with gray in a tan sport coat, black turtleneck sweater, expertly pressed trousers and highly-shined oxford shoes.

He raised an eyebrow. "The hour is late, once more magic itself trembles, and the Shadowpact arrives on my doorstep? What a strange portent－it seems as if Madame Xanadu was correct again…"

"Jason Blood," greeted the Enchantress, nodding deeply enough that one might call it a respectful bow if they were being generous.

Blood cocked his head. "Indeed. Well you had all better come in," he stepped to the side, bowed at the waist, and gestured us into his home, adding, "no evil will befall you here except that which you bring with you－enter freely and unafraid."