A week after the owl, someone came to the Institute. Or to be more specific, two people came. One looked like a school teacher and the other looked like a reject from the sixties or seventies. Both of them were clearly from Europe...they were the only ones who still wore robes of all things.
One of the other psychics named Anna who lived at the Institute met them at the gate, and discreetly read their minds. She had to be extra subtle with the older one who had some form of shield around his mind.
From what she knew, generally the only ones who bothered with mental shields were those who dealt with legilmency regularly...or were mind readers themselves.
There was a downside however. As a consequence of being from a pure blood society, they weren't used to mutants or the fact that unless they were looking for it, natural psychics could walk right past their shields.
In a way, Artemis' shields were perfect for their purpose, even if she originally developed them to keep her own powers in. By turning her shields into briars that caused 'pain' without the correct entry way, it kept psychics (and by extension legilmens) out of her head, while keeping her own psychic ability from reaching past the walls. She just kept the exit closed up.
It would be interesting to see if either one of them figured I out.
The woman was there solely to check on Artemis and to see if she was genuinely getting a good education. The old one was more interested in retrieving Artemis and regaining the power he had over her life. Anna hated that 'Greater Good' crap.
Charles Xavier recognized the older man. It was hard not to when most of his extra teachers complained about him and were very happy when they got jobs at the Institute.
Albus Dumbledore. A man who made a lot of promises he had yet to keep.
Almost immediately after making eye contact, Charles could feel the subtle push of legilmency, a spell he helped some of the more magically inclined students perfect. Charles' smile became a tad more set, but he allowed the wizard to believe he had no shields... for now.
He sat and listened to Dumbledore for the first twenty minutes, before he detected a mental intrusion that had him throw up his shields.
"I believe if we are to resolve this misconception, we should start on the proper footing," said Charles, giving Dumbledore a displeased look.
Dumbledore blinked.
"And that would be?"
"You came in here assuming this is a 'muggle', I believe is the term the Europeans use, school. I'm afraid that would be in error. This is a school for those born with certain genetic traits that make it rather difficult for the children to pursue normal education with their peers. Tell me, are you aware of the current debate on mutants?"
"What exactly are mutants?" asked the woman. Minerva McGonagall.
"To put it simply, they are the 'werewolves' of the 'muggle' community. People who unfortunately do not have the luxury of hiding like yourselves. A mutant is someone born with an extra piece in their genetic code, giving them unique abilities that humans cannot duplicate with any success. Because of this, if a mutant is discovered they generally become treated the same as the werewolves in the magical community. And the gene is very similar to the one that give first generation magicals their gifts," explained Charles. He was using the simpler version for their benefit, as he was fully aware that most magicals didn't bother to keep up with the times.
Dumbledore nodded.
"I take it the muggles react badly to their presence?"
"To put it mildly. This is a school where they can learn to use their powers safely and for the benefit of others. Now since this is genetic, we also offer classes for those born to magical parents and have worked out an arrangement with the Ministry to avoid complications. We're a fully registered school for magic, even if the courses are only available to those with the gift. Our primary purpose is to locate new mutants, train them and give them safe haven from those who would harm or use them to further spread misunderstandings."
"It sounds like you have a rather successful school. May I ask how Ms. Potter attracted your attention?"
"To be perfectly honest, she is related to one of my better success stories. Jean, would you come in please?" asked Charles.
When Jean walked in, the two magicals stared. She was a dead ringer for Lily Evans, with different colored eyes.
"This is Jean Grey. One of my more distinguished graduates," said Charles.
Jean made a point not to look Dumbledore in the eye, having found out that he was a mind reader.
"May I ask how you are related to Ms. Potter?"
"Lily was my favorite cousin. If I had known she was magical, it would have given us more to talk about. Petunia was more than happy to sign over the guardianship of my favorite cousin's daughter."
McGonagall looked disgusted.
"I told you those muggles weren't the right sort to raise a child!" she growled at him.
Jean looked at her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I was there when he left the poor girl on the doorstep ten years ago. I watched them for a single day and I knew without any doubt that Petunia was an unfit guardian. She wouldn't even discipline her own child, and I remember hearing from Lily how much her own sister hated her for having magic. Freaks indeed!" sniffed McGonagall.
"And it never occurred to you to knock on the door and ask her if she wanted to raise Lily's daughter?" said Jean incredulous. Judging by the look on his face, that was a 'no'.
"I left a trusted member of my Order to keep an eye on her. Admittedly, it did take her a while to find out that Ms. Potter was no longer in the residence."
"And how long was 'a while'? She had been living in the woods for two years before we found her," said Jean incredulous.
At that, McGonagall whipped around to face the Headmaster with an angry look.
"You told me that she was perfectly safe with them," she growled.
"Arabella never reported that they had..."
"Two years, Albus?!" hissed McGonagall like an angry cat.
Dumbledore tried vainly to change the subject.
"Am I to assume there's no way we could convince you to allow her to return to England?"
"I'm afraid that's nonnegotiable unless she wants to return. Considering how close she is to Jean, that's rather unlikely. There's also the fact she has apparently inherited the same mutation Jean has, as well as from her father," said Charles simply.
"James wasn't a mutant," said McGonagall confused.
"Traditionally it's the men who pass on the gene, and it can be dormant for several generations," said Charles, omitting the fact that Artemis was a Potter by adoption.
Technically she was James' daughter...just not the James they were thinking of.
The magicals left feeling somewhat unsatisfied, or at least that was the case with Dumbledore. Once McGonagall saw the classes that were being taught and the fact Artemis had learned the moment they knew she had magic in her bloodline (a good three years before they would have brought her to Hogwarts), she admitted the girl was probably better off in America.
The thing was that they never said Artemis' chosen name. And since she had magically changed it at the bank, anyone trying to enforce a magical contract under the name the Potters gave her would backfire with a vengeance.
"So you're supposed to pitch a big presentation in front of Congress about mutation?" said Artemis.
Jean nodded.
"Can I help?"
"I don't know if they'll let a child into this meeting..."
"They can't track psychic ability. I could probably sneak in by pushing the Professor around and posing as a student trying to fill some part of my government class," countered Artemis.
"Or you could say that you want to learn more about politics as a future voter," said Jean, considering it. It wasn't that uncommon for someone Artemis' age to take an interest, and having her pretend she was there to see how government worked was an excellent cover. They might be able to swing a few other mutants who were taking government class if they played that angle up.
"There's also the fact that unlike you, I've been reading the recent history books and I've seen some inconsistencies that we can use to get them to drop this issue for a long time, or at least look at it in a new light."
Jean's look spoke volumes.
"Why don't we run this by the Professor and see if he agrees with your argument."
Charles listened with amusement to Artemis' reasoning for going to the presentation. He could easily gain entry for a small number of students for a class project. But the using history to shut down this bill was something he needed to hear for himself.
Which was why he would play the part of a senator who was against mutants and wanted this bill to pass. Artemis had thirty minutes to either convince him or present an argument that was hard to counter in a way that would offend the least amount of people.
"Okay Artemis, present your argument."
"According to recent statistics, there are more Native Americans in the US than there are known mutants. And thanks to the work of people like Martin Luther King Jr., discriminating people based on race, religion or genetic disposition is considered illegal in every state. By that reasoning, this bill should be considered illegal because it persecutes a minority group based on factors outside their control."
Charles blinked. He hadn't thought of mutants as a minority group, though it made sense. If this was true, then it did provide mutants a degree of protection in the eyes of the law.
"There are those who could argue that mutants are 'less' than humans, or that they deserve this," said Charles. It was a distasteful fact, but one they had to deal with far too often for his liking.
"This bill not only infringes on American rights, it also comes borderline close to tyranny much like the Nazi regime. In the mid 1940's, Hitler ordered that anyone of Jewish faith be taken to camps and treated as less than human because they didn't fit his 'Aryan' profile. They marked and 'registered' to keep records of all those forced to live in those horrible conditions, and this bill is doing almost precisely that."
Charles barely kept from wincing. He knew full well his old friend and often times enemy Eric was likely to come to this meeting and this might bring up old memories.
"People might not react well to be called borderline Nazis," he pointed out.
"Well there's also the fact that once people got it in their heads African Americans were people too, they didn't really treat them all that well until people started doing sit downs and displaying passive aggressive resistance. You could always point out that what they're trying to do to mutants is almost exactly what they tried to do to them nearly a hundred years ago. No matter how you look at it, mutants do fit the requirements of a minority group and persecuting those is considered illegal in the US," said Artemis flatly.
"I won't argue about that, but I want you to do further research and come up with a convincing argument that doesn't make it sound like you're calling those who support the bill racist Nazis outright," said Charles.
Artemis perked up. Time to hit the books.
It took her three tries before she came up with a convincing argument against the bill that would make people stop and think without outright insulting them in the process.
It also gave the small debate team the Institute had a new member. Artemis had a way of words and a real skill for using history against people.
Jean was making her case about mutants, she was hoping that she didn't have to use Artemis' arguments to shut down the bill...hard. Yes, her sister made a very convincing and hard to counter argument, but it also forced people to consider things they normally didn't like to think about.
She finished making her case, telling Congress about mutation and why it happened, when one of the Senators stood up.
That's when Jean knew this was going to be a real headache.
She felt Artemis nudge her, and let her sister take over. What happened next was brutal...for those who hated mutants anyway.
Artemis pointed out flaws and arguments that most mutants would have overlooked...like the fact that mutants technically qualified as a minority group.
Up in the balcony, one mutant in particular was listening on with interest. Especially when Artemis started dragging up what many considered ancient history for some...and a very painful reminder for him.
It took Magneto exactly two minutes to locate the one feeding Jean Grey the information needed to spark a credible case in the courts for the rights of mutants...and give them a strong backing to make new laws that would help their cause rather than hurt it for once.
Still...some of the arguments dragged up painful memories he would rather like to forget if he could.