A/N 1: Soooo... I had this chapter (finally) completed in like... January? But then I thought "I should wait until chapter 8 is finished to post." And then I lost my writing inspiration because of Life. I have once again found myself in a lockdown and am writing chapter 8 but I wanted to go ahead and post this because it's been forever since I posted.A few things:1.) My opinion that Magical America's issues would be closer to Non-magical America's issues stems from the idea that America has a larger muggleborn and half-blood population post-Rappaport's law being overturned. This is of course my opinion.2.) I am not Native American, and most of my research and understanding of modern Native American culture used to write Cate's step-father and friends comes from reading Native American blogs/websites and watching vlogs by Native American YouTubers. If you are Native or know someone who is who would like to critique how I am going about writing these characters, please let me know.

Friday, July 23rd, 1993 Portkey Arrivals area, Dansby Portkey Hub, Chicago, Illinois

The sight of John-Dad, wearing his worn brown leather bomber jacket and steel-toed work boots, standing with his hands in his pockets in the arrivals area sent an overwhelming wave of emotion through Cate. She rushed through the crowd of people to throw herself into her stepfather's arms. As she breathed in the warm smell of pipe smoke, she felt herself relax.Home.She was home.

Britain was starting to feel comfortable, the Fawleys like family, but home would always be John-Dad.

"Hey there, Catey. You didn't miss your old John-Dad now, ay?" His warm, deep voice washed over her and she pulled back to look up at the way the corners of his brown eyes crinkled beneath the brim of his stetson as he smiled.

"Miss you?" She replied, her voice sounding slightly watery to her dismay. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

John-Dad chuckled and squeezed her tight for a moment before letting her go to motion toward someone behind him. With an excited screech, Kimimela Fasthorse came rushing up to pull Cate into a tight bear hug. Her long, thick black hair was pulled into the two, tight braids Kimi had started favoring once her field training as a magizoologist had begun. Kimi pulled back, her face glowing the way it always did when she smiled, her bright brown, almond-shaped eyes sparkling. "Gah, this girl! It's so good to have you back, ay! I was worried I wouldn't see you until Christmas! You have to tell me everything."

"Of course!" Cate laughed, "I don't want to be the only one talking though, you need to catch me up on everything that's been happening here." She stepped back and tried to be subtle as she glanced over her friend's shoulder to see if anyone else was with her.

Of course, Kimi and John-dad both noticed, John-dad letting loose an almost inaudible sigh and turning to walk over to a newspaper stand to read the headlines.

"He's not here," Kimi said with a soft look, biting her lower lip. "He's coming tomorrow night, but he's been busy with a case."

Cate felt a weird twist in her stomach as her heartbeat slowed from a gallop to a steady, disappointed rhythm. She was relieved, right? She should be? She'd been nervous about seeing Mato again, there had been few chances for them to meet since she'd broken up with him two years ago, and the anticipation of seeing him for the first time since she'd ended things had been building.

"Hey," Kimi's hand on her shoulder pulled her attention back to the moment. Her friend's eyes were soft with understanding. "Your dad and I were thinking of getting dinner here at Windy Shore before heading to the hotel, whatcha think?"

While not on the same level as Diagon Alley in London or Van Winkle's Square in New York, Windy Shore was the magical center of midwestern magical America. It was as magical as the midwest got, with potions stores, broomstick manufacturers, magical book and toy shops, and enchanter's works all located in one place. For most magical kids who had to make do with mail orders and whatever their local non-magical/magical hybrid store got shipped in, taking a trip to Windy Shore was almost as good as Disney World.

"Sounds great, Marcellino's?"

Yes!" John-dad exclaimed, obviously having decided it was safe to rejoin the conversation. "I could go for some lasagna."

"That's the Italian place with the giant meatballs?" Kimi clarified.

Cate grinned. "Yeah, and the whistling fig panna cotta."

"I'm so in. Oh! I gotta tell you about how I won the betting pool at work!"

Friday, June 22nd, 1984 The Blackwell Long-term Spell Damage and Magical Trauma Unit, Pointe du Sable Hospital of Magical Infirmities, Chicago, Illinois

The hospital smelled like potions and Spellman's magical cleaning solution. The monitoring ward in Mrs. Matsouka's room had been flashing red for the better part of half an hour. Inside the room the air was tense, the trainee medi-witch standing ready by the emergency cart, one of the hospital potions masters pouring doses of reviving and blood replenishing potions, handing them to Madam Wronski who spelled them into the unconscious woman's system as Junior Healer Ghorpade cast spell after spell with frantic wand movements over the patient. Behind him, frowning at the flickering lights reflecting Mrs. Matsouka's vitals dancing above the bed, Healer Yitzakhi was muttering under his breath. Occasionally he would interject some guidance to Healer Ghorpade or Madam Wronski.

After about an hour of focused intervention, Healer Yitzakhi looked at the dancing, flickering lights above the bed and sighed. He gave a quiet word of instruction to his team members and slipped outside to have a word with the family.

Further down the hall, sitting in a chair outside room 503, an almost 16-year-old Cate Fawley watched the scene from over the top of her book. Quietly, she took in the sight of Persefoni, Mrs. Matsouka's daughter, crumpling into her husband Damon's arms as Healer Yitzakhi spoke quietly with her elderly father. Evander, Persefoni's younger brother stepped forward and started speaking in a low angry tone to Healer Yitzakhi. Mr. Matsouka placed a calming hand on his son's arm, pulling him gently back, not looking up from the floor as he turned and spoke quietly to Evander.

Mr. Matsouka turned back to the healer and said something that made Persefoni cry harder and Evander's shoulders slump. Healer Yitzakhi gave a short nod and walked back into the room. Shortly after, the glowing red aura on the room stopped flashing and vanished as the monitoring spell was released. A few moments later and the trainee medi-witch left the room, pulling the emergency cart with her, the potions master with his bag of emergency potions following behind. The family was kindly motioned into the room by Madam Wronski to say their goodbyes.

A wave of pipe smoke washed over her and Cate started as John-Dad slipped into the chair beside her.

"What's a man gotta do to get a Dr. Pepper in this hospital, ay?"

"It's a hospital," Cate replied absently, looking back up the hallway. "Dad, Mrs. Matsouka just died."

John-Dad followed her gaze to room 508 where Evander was walking quickly out, wiping tears from his face. Junior Healer Ghorpade followed closely behind, placing a sympathetic hand on the young man's back and speaking quietly to him.

John-Dad let out a sigh and leaned his head back against the wall. "Poor family, she was a sweet woman. May she find peace." He looked back over at Cate. "I take it your mother doesn't know yet?"

Cate shook her head. "Healer Cohen hasn't come out yet. I haven't been able to tell her what's been going on."

"Long session today…" John mused, glancing toward his partner's room where she was meeting with her mind-healer.

Cate grimaced. "It seems like they've been getting longer."

"Might be a good thing, mind you" John sighed as he stood up again. "Might mean your mother's opening up more. I'm going to go talk to Alexios, come get me when Healer Cohen leaves, ay?"

Cate watched as her step-father walked down the hall toward where the Matsouka family had gathered. He put a comforting hand on Mr. Matsouka's shoulder and said something with a calm, open expression on his face. She watched as he listened sympathetically to the grieving man. For all that the Matsouka family had become friends with the Fawley-Cloud family over the past year, Cate couldn't grasp how John-dad was able to go up to them and try to comfort them in their grief. All she could think of as she slouched further behind her book was her mother's body slowly wasting away in room 503, and the icy cold feeling that settled in her spine as she wondered how much longer it would be until she and John-dad were the ones grieving in the hall as her mother's body was being readied for transport to the morgue. Did that make her selfish?

She was startled again when the door to her mother's room opened up and Healer Cohen stepped out into the hallway. A tall, almost statuesque woman with deep umber-toned skin and thick, rich black hair that corkscrewed into tight curls that she always kept intricately pinned up, Simera Cohen was an impressive sight. The first time she had entered Isolde Fawley's room and introduced herself, Cate had felt like she was looking at an Amazonian queen.

The healer smiled at Cate and then looked down at the empty seat beside her.

"Your dad's still not back, Cateline?"

"He's here," Cate answered, pointing down the hall. "He's talking with the Matsoukas. Mrs. Matsouka…" She trailed off with a grimace and dropped her hand.

"Oh, I see…" Healer Cohen said sympathetically. "I'll have a word with him in a minute." The healer sighed as she took a seat in the recently vacated chair next to Cate. She glanced at the book in Cate's hands and asked, "What book are you reading?"

"And now the thunderbird is gone. It's by Onawa Littlefeather, I found it on John-dad's bookshelf." Cate turned the book to show Healer Cohen the picture of a thirteen-year-old Onawa on the front. "It's about her life. She grew up during The Stolen Years."

"The Stolen Years?"

Cate nodded, "That's what the Native American wizarding community calls the time when MACUSA was forcibly removing indigenous magical children from their communities and sending them to the magical re-education schools. So they could learn how to be good witches and wizards and follow MACUSA's laws," She finished sarcastically. John-dad's aunt and Kimi's grandma had been sent to a re-education boarding school. It was so stupid. Stealing kids from their families just because their culture had never had a statute of secrecy and they had different rules about practicing magic.

"Sounds like an interesting book." Healer Cohen commented. "Are you enjoying it?"

Cate shrugged, "It's keeping me occupied."

The older woman hummed, then eyed Cate with an assessing gaze. "How areyoudoing?"

Cate turned back to her book as she tried to hide the discomfort she felt at being cornered by the mind-healer. "I'm okay."

It was bad enough she had to go to "caregiver coping sessions" with John-dad, but lately Healer Cohen had been asking Cate questions outside of the sessions with John-Dad. In sessions with John-Dad, she at least was able to let him do all of the talking and avoid any discussion of her feelings on her mother's inevitable death.

She felt Healer Cohen shift, heard a soft sigh, then the older witch spoke again, "You're wondering why I can't leave you alone, aren't you?"

Cate stared resolutely at the book in her hands. She'd been distracted from it for so long, she wasn't even sure what the last sentence she remembered reading was. Frustrated, she turned back a few pages, trying to find the last thing she remembered reading and comprehending.

"I don't want to pressure you, Cate, but you are going through a rough time right now and I don't think it started with your mom getting sick."

Cate kept her gaze focused on the book. Onawa was talking about being punished harshly for speaking the Eastern Apache dialect of her tribe. It reminded her of how John-dad's aunt had taken lessons from another elder to improve her Lakhota after not being able to speak it for so long.

"In our sessions with your step-dad, you always let him speak about his feelings, concerns, worries… you never want to contribute your own. Why do you think that is?"

Cate glanced over to see Healer Cohen's calm, kind face. She shrugged and turned back to her book, trying to ignore the tight feeling in her chest.

"Do you think it might be because you don't want your step-father to know about your feelings? Because you don't want him to worry about you too?"

Face flushing, Cate sunk into her seat a bit as she turned a page. That was exactly it. She had so many different feelings about what was going on, about what losing her mother meant to her, about her relationship with her mother, and she didn't know how to express it with sounding angry and ungrateful and she just… she didn't want John-dad to see her like that.

"Do you think it might help if you and I had a separate session, so you have some privacy to work through things?" Healer Cohen's voice was gentle and understanding as if she already knew the answers to the questions she was asking.

Cate bit her lip, the words on the page swimming before her as she thought. She'd held everything in for so long, would it help? It seemed to be helping Mum.

"I think… yeah… ok." Cate nodded and glanced at the woman beside her. "Do… do you have to talk to John-dad about it or something?"

Healer Cohen smiled and nodded, "I'll talk with him." She patted Cate's knee gently and then stood to meet John-dad who was walking back from talking with the Matsoukas. Cate sighed and looked up and the pristine, white ceiling above her. Maybe she should go for a walk

Saturday, July 24th, 1993 Furbish Publishing House, The Tribune Tower, Chicago, Illinois

"By the end of what MACUSA would call the White River Riots, three Lakota elders lay dead, ten akicita were sentenced to life imprisonment in Manitou prison, every non-magical member of the tribe had had their memories of their magical neighbors and family removed, and fifteen children had been stolen from their families and sent to the re-education school in Oklahoma. It was a massacre, perhaps not as bloody as the no-maj massacre at Wounded Knee, but a massacre nonetheless. A massacre of a culture and a way of life for native wizards. The message from MACUSA was clear: conform to our ways or else." The strong, unwavering voice Onawa Littlefeather spoke with belied her small, frail form.

Standing a little ways behind the elderly, Apache witch, Cate looked out over the room set aside for the small book release party their publisher had set up. A few audience members were subtly wiping tears from their eyes, as Onawa continued to read from the passage she had selected. Most notable was book critic and journalist forThe New York Scribe,Ulysses Mantel taking notes in the back left corner of the room while Eudora Updike of the Atlanta-basedSouthern Quillseemed to be instructing her photographer on the angle of the shot she wanted.

At the podium, Onawa closed the book and continued, "The interviews, eye witness accounts, and government records that form the basis of this book, tell the story of all of the magical native people of North America. From my memories and conversations with family and friends among the Dinee in New Mexico to the accounts of the Lakota people who survived the White River Riots in South Dakota to the interviews with the Niimíipuu elders in Idaho, we all have similar stories of suppression and oppression. Whether we struggled against MACUSA, CMOM, or CMEUM, we all experienced the fight to hold on to our own magical culture in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform to the colonists' rules. However, we are a people of survivors, and we are reclaiming the heritage and the cultures that were stolen from us. The proceeds from this book,Voices of Our Struggle,will go to the North American Association for Indigenous Magical Education to help fund their efforts to revitalize education in native language spells and ritual magics."

There was a smattering of applause. Cate felt a nudge at her elbow and leaned slightly to her left to hear what her agent had to say.

"You're sure you don't want to say anything after this?" Zori whispered into her ear.

"Positive." Cate whispered back, "I'll be giving a short statement to the critics after, but I want the focus to be on Onawa for this, ok?"

"Fine, fine, but you're doing that book signing at The Mighty Quill tomorrow morning."

Cate bit her lip, "I have an appointment at 1 o'clock. Personal."

Her agent gave a small shrug, "You'll be done by then. It's from 10 to noon, I'm sure you'll make your appointment." Piercing grey eyes glanced over at Cate before turning their attention back to the room. "Onawa can't do it, her sister's health took a turn yesterday and she wants to get back to New Mexico tomorrow."

Cate nodded and turned her attention back towards Onawa.

A little while later, Cate found herself in a corner with a small circle of journalists. She was eyeing the dessert table hoping she would make it in time to snag one of the singing cannolis before they were all gone when she saw him.

Tall and athletic looking, warm brown eyes scanning the room, his red and blue patterned akicita robes standing out in the sea of formal wizarding attire, Matoskah looked good.Of course, he does, he's better off without you. And you can't be distracted.She tilted her head slightly, ignoring the voice of her insecurity. His hair was... shorter? Cate felt a wave of concern wash over her as she eyed the way his hair brushed the tips of his shoulders now.

He caught her eye and smiled softly before raising one eyebrow and cocking his head toward the balcony door. Cate smiled politely at the journalist fromThe International Magical Scholar's Reviewand started to make her way over.

Slipping out onto the balcony, she stopped and drank in the sight of him standing by the railing.

"You cut your hair" The words slipped out of her before she could stop them. Cate mentally facepalmed.

Mato grimaced, "It wasn't a choice. My partner and I were on a raid. Illegal potions. One of the perps caught me with an incindio and set the ends on fire." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I put it out as soon as I could, but I lost the bottom half."

Cate nodded her head in understanding. Silence then stretched between them as Cate could hear the pounding of her pulse in her ears and she tried to think of what to say.

"Kim said you met your mom's family. How was that?"

"Surprisingly, not as bad as I thought it would be." Cate mused, leaning her forearms on the railing. Mato leaned next to her eyebrows raised, motioning for her to continue.

"It's just…" Cate sighed, shifting uncomfortably in her heels "So many assumptions I had about Mum's family were colored by who Mum was when I was growing up before John-dad came. I knew that she'd been affected by her imprisonment, but the more I learn about her from her uncle and cousin the more I'm realizing that who she was when I was little was completely different from the person she was before '67."

Mato hummed and looked up at the sky, "It makes you think differently about things? More than just her?"

Cate squeezed her eyes shut, remembering her last conversation with Mato before she'd broken up with him. Things she'd hidden from him, from Kimi, even from John-Dad, had been said. When she'd broken up with him a week later Mato had understood that it had everything to do with what she had told him and nothing to do with him.

"For so long I had bucked against my mother's insistence that I had to be this… not even a heroine, more this…mouthpiecefor her. I know now that she knew that she wouldn't live to see the war that's coming but at the time I just couldn't understand why she felt that I needed to be involved when all I wanted was..." She turned her head to look at him, "After she died, I felt like I owed it to her for all of the… the shit. I just…fuck… I never even said I'm sorry. I went to England still not understanding why, but after meeting them… I feel like there's a part of me that's starting to understand why she couldn't just let it go."

Mato moved closer and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face tucking it back behind her ear, his dark eyes glittering.

Cate looked back at the lights of downtown Chicago, no-maj cars in the busy streets below. "A part of me has always wanted to just… ignore everything she told me, settle down in the midwest with John-Dad - withyou- and have the life I always wanted and not even think about England or… orhim. It's still there but it's quieter now."

Mato hummed contemplatively, a sudden gust of wind whipping the shoulder-length strands of his glossy black hair so they moved like tendrils across his face. He pushed them back and then turned toward her, "Kimi and I never questioned our roles as Lakota magicals. We are Lakota of the First Nations, we grew up with the stories of our people's struggles, with parents who protested and fought for native magicals' right to self-governance. My maternal great grandfather was one of those akicita who were imprisoned at Manitou after White River. Our family never saw him again." Mato's face was calm, thoughtful as he spoke as if trying to decide what to say next. "Kimi and I have been involved in honoring the old ways, resurrecting our lost culture since we were kids. Our cousin though, you remember David?"

Cate nodded. David Claybourne was Mato's youngest aunt's son. Tanaya Fasthorse had married a white man and left her family for Indiana. When she and her husband had been killed in an accident when David was three, Mato's family had tried to get custody of the boy. However, the MACUSA judge had ruled in favor of Michael Claybourne's parents and David was raised in Indiana by his white family who refused to let the Fasthorse family have any contact with him until he was 17.

"David grew up completely separate from our people. He knew nothing about what it meant to be Lakota, about the struggles our people face in dealing with MACUSA. He faced racism in school from being half native, but that was the extent of his connection to his heritage. For him, being a native was a negative thing. Something to be ashamed of, not celebrated." Mato frowned, "Do you understand what I'm trying to say? He didn't have the connection, because he didn't know his roots. You didn't have the connection because you didn't know her roots. The only thing you ever knew about your mother's past in England was her pain and the man your mother tried to prevent you from becoming."

"But now I know her roots, my roots. Now I have faces for names. People who I am starting to care about…" Cate stared at the man next to her with dawning comprehension. "Thank you, Mato. I needed to hear that."

Mato smiled and then he was pulling her into his arms, pressing a kiss to her hair. Cate sighed and relaxed into the embrace.I can let myself have this. Just this.

After a few moments, Mato broke the silence with a soft, almost hesitant voice. "Do you still want that?Willyou still want that? What you said?"

Cate pulled her head back to look at his face. His eyes were on the city lights again, not meeting her own. "Maybe. I… I don't know who I am yet, who I'm going to be when this is all over. You may not want the Cate who comes back when it's all said and done."

A crooked grin crossed Mato's face as he squeezed her tighter before letting her go to step back. "Don't be so sure of that, Cate Fawley."

Later that night, Cate lay haphazardly across the bed in her hotel room, still in her dress robes but sans shoes. She was staring at the ceiling trying to find the energy to go to the bathroom and take a shower.

"So, if I asked you what it was you and my brother talked about, would you tell me?"

Cate turned to look at Kimi who was sitting at the little table by the window, looking at her expectantly, one eyebrow raised imperiously. The witch was carefully painting her nails a bright turquoise blue.

"No." Cate sighed, returning her gaze to the ceiling.

"Fine." Kimi blew a drying spell onto the nails on her right hand then started painting the left. "Tell me about England. What's different, what's the same? Am I going to need to duel this Charity person to maintain my BFF status, ay?"

Cate laughed and rolled over to grin at the other girl. "Charity is very cool, I wish I was as confident and spectacular as she is, but she's never almost drowned with me because we snuck out to perform an ancient purification ritual in the river during the new moon."

The other witch snorted, "Damn straight she hasn't.Mercy, we were stupid kids, ay."

"Speak for yourself!" Cate cried, tossing a pillow in Kimi's direction, "I was stupidly brilliant."

"Whatever, here, scooch over."

Cate moved over on the bed and Kimi fell onto the blanket next to her.

"England is… it's like the East coast but… not?"

Kimi raised her eyebrows and blinked slowly, "This girl… sure, that makes total sense. I know exactly what you mean by that."

Cate rolled her eyes, "I mean, the East coast has a very structured magical society. Most magicals live in towns that are all magical or in cities that have magical centers. They keep themselves separate from non-magical society whereas the further West you go in the country, the more integrated magicals are into non-magical society."

"Yeah, up until you hit the West Coast where it's more populated there aren't a whole lot of places outside of the big cities where the magical population hits above 10 to 20 magicals in one area."

"Exactly, the way we live is different because we're so spread out and, since Rappaport's law was lifted, the majority of our population is half magical or no-maj born and raised." Cate turned to her side and propped her head upon her hand, twirling her wand absently. "It's different in the big cities and on the coastal areas where large groups of magicals congregate and you have more families that come from long, mostly unbroken lines of magical ancestry."

"It's true? That's a thing over there?" Kimi asked, making a face at the thought.

Cate sighed, "It's everything over there. Magicals of nomaj birth are discriminated against, you can barely get hired there as most of the positions go to so-called purebloods or half-bloods."

"Huh…" Kimi stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Gah...It's interesting. Magic is magic here, doesn't matter if you were nomaj born," She paused, "I mean, aside from the whole squashing indigenous magics because our way of life was different from theirs, MACUSA didn't deal in prejudice against other magicals. It was mainly prejudiced against the nomajs because of the witch trials and the scourers, but if you had magic you were theirs," She paused to roll her eyes, "To the point that they'd abduct you as a child to get you away from your no-maj family."

Cate nodded, "Yeah, and with the higher number of nomaj born here, the emphasis on blending in to prevent discovery… They have the statute of secrecy over there obviously, but they keep it differently. Rather than learn to blend in with nomaj neighbors they just judiciously avoid them. Or obliviate them, but MACUSA can be pretty heavy with the memory charms. " She scrunched her nose up and shook her head, "I don't know why I'm comparing them honestly. They're the same song, different dance. MACUSA used to abduct children from their nomaj families and raise them in magical children's homes to keep the statute and would take indigenous children away as well if their families accidentally broke the statute. The openness in our society is fairly new, Rappaport's Law was only overturned in '65."

Kimi sighed and sat up, "No society is perfect mind you… you should know this being Miss History Major. C'mon, you need to shower."

"You saying I stink?" Cate teased, groaning as she forced her muscles to move.

Kimi rolled her eyes, "I'm choking on the stench over here, ay."

A/N 2:

Magical Government acronyms

MACUSA: Magical Congress of the USA

CMOM: Canadian Ministry of Magic

CMEUM: Congreso Mágico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos

Magical Locations in Chicago:

I named Dansby Portkey Hub for Ellsworth Dansby Jr. who was one of the Tuskeegee Airmen during WWII. He was from Decatur Illinois. The hub is located underneath Navy Pier and can be accessed through two elevators disguised as maintenance closets inside Navy Pier's main building, through the Windy Shore entrance, or travelers can directly apparate to and from the portkey hub at the designated apparition points near both exits.

Windy Shore is Chicago's Diagon Ally and can be entered through the back of a run-down diner near Navy Pier.

The Point du Sable Hospital of Magical Infirmities houses the Blackwell Long-term Spell Damage and Magical Trauma Ward where Isolde Fawley was treated/died. The entrance is located in Mercy Hospital.

OK, I have written so much set up I think it's time we started getting into the plot. Remus is finally making an appearance next chapter, and Dumbledore's auror connection.