A/N: Thank you everyone for your support for this story. I have loved getting your reviews. As always I will try to answer any questions though PM.
I did also want to make a note about the Wizarding World in America. I will try to use canon information when I can, but keep in mind that the information I am using also contains a lot of guess work on my part as we will be learning about the Wizarding World in America as the Fantastic Beasts movies continue to come out. Right now that information is somewhat limited. I have taken some creative licence already on that front, for instance in this chapter you will see American Wizarding currency and I guessed on what the real value of that was. A lot of this chapter involves me trying to make Harry's life in Wizarding America not so unbelievable and I hope that this chapter reads as well as it was intended. I am a little bit OCD and always right AU or Non-canon, but it has given me fits trying to make sure that I get as close as possible. (This note was actually written because of those OCD tendencies I have.) Of course, as time goes on this story will become even more non-canon as more info on Wizarding America comes to light, please keep that in mind when reading.
I hope you enjoy!
Happy Reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Supernatural.
Harry spent the rest of the day with Darla. She had made a copy of every scrap of information that she had on the supernatural world outside of the world of magic so that Harry would have everything she could give him on the subject.
Darla was thrilled to have someone would finally be taking over the research for the supernatural world. She had only been stuck with the information because she was a member of the Department of Magical Creatures. The information had come to her department because no one was quite sure how to classify the supernatural world. She was known though out the department as the Department Head of the Supernatural; an unofficial department that was born in the hopes that they could learn more.
Harry would be reporting his findings directly to her as well as sending in any samples of supernatural creatures he could find. She would then pass those on to those that could research their usefulness.
Because Harry was not sure he would eventually settle down and because he would probably travel a bit anyway, Darla arranged for him to have an interdepartmental mailbox so that he could simply place his findings and samples in his box and it would appear in the box she would keep in her office. Letters could be passed this way too, allowing for less time in responses, something that Darla was worried about in case he ran into a situation where he needed to have the Obliviators or Aurors back him up.
She had him registered in the Department of No-Maj affairs as an expert in No-Maj communication and contact. This would prevent him from running into trouble because of interacting with the No-Maj world, which was still what the Supernatural and the hunters were classified under.
She made sure that he was registered as having permission to interact with No-Maj of any kind with no repercussions from the Department of Law Enforcement. Though Rappaport's Law had been repealed in 1965 , they did take any interaction between the magical and No-Maj world seriously. Harry would be fine as long as he took every effort possible to keep the International Statute of Secrecy.
After getting him the proper documents as a registered No-Maj expert, they repeated the process for Magical Creature Harvesting. This would ensure that he did not get into trouble if he was found carrying the parts of any magical creatures. He could earn a little extra money this way as the unofficial Department of the Supernatural did not provide a huge salary. Not that harvesting magical creatures was lucrative. It was more luck than anything to find a wild magical creature, much less harvest ingredients from them.
Darla made sure to take Harry down to the Accounts Payable department so that he could have his salary directly deposited into a vault. When they learned that he had most of his money transferred into No-Maj accounts, they provided him with a bronze rod that looked similar to a pen to present to the Goblins. This would be used to link his salary directly to a new vault.
Once they left the Accounts Payable department, Darla spent a little bit of time going over American Wizarding currency. He had been surprised that they did not use Galleons, Sickles or Knuts there at all. Instead, American wizards used Dragots. Their smallest denomination was the ¼ Dragot, which was a bronze coin about the same as an American Quarter in value. The ½ Dragot was a silver coin that was about equal to fifty cents. And the 1 Dragot coins were about the same as the American Dollar and also silver. There was a gold coin called the 5 Dragot which was roughly the same value of five dollar gold coin it had been based off of.
Harry was impressed that the American Wizards had tried to keep their currency so similar to their No-Maj counterparts in an effort to limit any questions being asked if the coins were found by a No-Maj. Harry also learned that the Galleon was worth about seven dollars and thirty-five cents, making the 5 Dragot the closest in value to the Galleon.
He would be paid roughly fifteen thousand Dragots a year for the time being. Harry felt that this was fairly good for a job that he had not even planned on getting. He had enough in his muggle…No-Maj (That would take some getting used to) accounts to keep him for a while.
It was a very exhausted Harry that made his way back to his hotel that night. He had planned on going to the bank and finding out about his Men of Letters vault, but had spent the whole day with Darla getting the correct paper work for him to research the supernatural world. He even had to get a different wand permit that would let any Aurors he came across know that he was able to interact with the No-Maj world and that he could use magic when dealing with anything supernatural.
After getting a good night's rest and reading the files Darla had given him on his father and brothers, which did not take long as she had very little information outside of birthdates, Harry finally made his way to Gringotts.
Though early, he found that the bank was much busier than its counterpart in Diagon Alley. It took a while, but he finally managed to reach a teller. Felling like it would take the least amount of time, Harry handed the teller the bronze rod he had been given by the Accounts Receivable department the day before.
The Goblin was quick to place the rod in a box to the side of his station and a few minutes later, a bronze key was passed back to Harry. The rod itself had been melted into a new key with his new vault number stamped at the top. He would now have his salary deposited into vault 11032.
Placing the key into one of the small pockets on his bag, he quickly handed the iron key he had received in Diagon Alley to the Goblin. The Goblin ran a few checks on the key before he called for someone to escort Harry to his vault.
Harry was surprised to find that a wizard was going to be escorting him. When he expressed that surprise the man told him that Gringotts in America worked with a lot more witches and wizards because the discrimination in America was nowhere near the levels it reached in Britain. In America, they had a much better working relationship between the two races.
They reached Harry's new vault very quickly with the easy conversation they kept going. Harry learned about Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where his escort Matt Concord had attended. He was told about the four houses; Thunderbird, Horned Serpent, Wampus, and Pukwudgie. He was told all about the history of Isolt Sayre and how she was descended from Salazar Slytherin. He learned about Gormlaith Gaunt and how she had tried to kill Isolt.
Matt had been astonished when Harry had told him that Lord Voldemort was actually named Tom Riddle and was the child of a muggle and squib from the Gaunt Line. When Harry told him that he could speak Parseltongue like Isolt Sayre and her ancestor Salazar Slytherin, Matt had been in awe. Apparently Parseltongue was not thought of as a dark gift in America, and it was actually quite useful when dealing with some of the venomous snakes' native to the continent.
Harry was feeling pretty good about himself by the time he stepped into the Men of Letters Vault. His feeling changed when he stepped into the vault though…then he just wanted to smack someone. He looked around incredulously at a vault that was actually messier than the Black vault. There were boxes that were stuffed with what looked like files and paperwork. Books in stacks randomly placed around the vault. Artifacts also randomly placed.
Harry's eye twitched as he looked at the mess. As he looked around to see if there was any sort of organizational scheme going on…and nope, there was not, Harry noticed a flat black box resting on top of an old cardboard box. The only reason it caught his attention was that almost everything was in cardboard boxes or in wooden crates. This flat box was made out of some kind of dull grey metal with the Aquarian Star carved onto the top.
Finding that the little flat box was the only thing in the vault that looked remotely different than the rest, Harry flipped the latch and opened it. Inside two keys lay pressed into a mold that had been covered in velvet. A faded piece of paper was folded and tucked into the lid.
Carefully pulling the paper out of the box and unfolding it, Harry raised a brow as he read.
Future Legacy of the Men Of Letters,
If you are reading this, then you are not only magical, but also a Legacy of the Men of Letters. There has not been a magical, a natural born magical with a magical core, member of the Men of Letters since my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather never told his fellow members about the magical world, and he had mostly separated from it by the time he became a member. He told me once that his family was full of idiots who could not find their bottom with both hands and written directions. He was quite bitter when he spoke of them. When my grandfather was born without magic, they decided to place the rarest of documents in a Gringotts vault, just in case the unthinkable happed and the Men of Letters ceased to exist, with the hope that a magical would eventually inherit the vault.
I have known of this vault, but as I have no magic, I had no way to see what things my great-grandfather placed there. I was lucky to witness magic being done not long ago, and I had this box with me. The magical that was going to take my memories gave me a chance to write this letter before completing the spell. He has assured me that he will take this to Gringotts where it will be placed in the vault. He was fairly confused as to how I even knew about Gringotts, and after I explained my great-grandfather, told me that he would take all of my memories of magic. I will never have another chance to send something to the vault. I hope that he will indeed take this to Gringotts.
It is currently the year 1935, and the Men of Letters just finished a monumental project that has taken us three years to complete. We built a bunker, a safe place for us to live and store the knowledge, every object, scroll; spell ever collected for thousands of years under one roof... the safest place on earth, warded against any evil ever created. At least as far as we are aware.
The bunker is completely self-sufficient. Even the telephones cannot be traced back to the bunker. We have made it as safe as we could. It is located in Lebanon Kansas, a place chosen because it is at the center of the United States.
Hopefully, if this is ever read, the Men of Letters will still be adding to that protection and that knowledge. If not, these keys will give you access to the bunker. I hope that you will continue with this legacy.
I wish I could tell you more about your legacy, but he is waiting to take my memories.
I wish you well,
Hubert Rand Yaxley.
Harry choked on air as he read the name at the bottom of the letter. That was unexpected.
Taking a closer look at the letter, he noticed that there was an address, which he supposed was where the bunker was located. Glancing around at the mess in the vault, he finally shrugged his shoulders before placing the box in the front pocket of his bag and then sitting the bag on the floor with an empty pouch gapped open.
He now had one pouch filled with things from the Potter Vault, one with things from the Black vault, a pouch with random things, and now the fourth would be filled with things from the Men of Letters vault. After this he would definitely need to start sorting through his things as he only had one large pouch in this bag left. Of course, he could just get a second bag.
With that thought, Harry waved his wand and watched as the items in the vault slowly began moving into his bag. An hour later he was back in his room.
He had mainly come to America to start over where no one would bother him if he went out in public. As far as he was concerned, that was mission accomplished. He didn't think anyone would look for him under a different name or look. Most people still thought he liked all the attention for some reason. Even Ron never believed him that he hated and he was fairly sure that Hermione did as well, though she was less vocal.
His second reason for coming here was that he was interested in his father and older brother. Now he knew he also had two younger brothers, and he was just as interested in them. He had not expected that his father and brothers would be hunters. The comment Darla had made about hunters being extremely violent towards things they considered not normal made him think of the Dursleys too much to just walk up to the guy and introduced himself.
The Men of Letters vault was really a bonus to coming to America. He never really expected much from it, but he was curious about what they did and what this 'legacy' was all about.
Reaching into his bag, he pulled out one of the boxes from the vault. It was full of files and loose scraps of paper where someone had written down a note. Pulling out a random file, Harry began to read.
Ghosts or Sprits are the souls of people that have, for one reason or another, not passed on to the afterlife and are instead existing within The Veil. Over time, some of them learn to appear in the physical plane and interact with the living. When in the psychical plane, they can appear almost solid, as though they are flickering in and out of existence, or as wispy apparitions. Some may even be able to move and interact with objects in the physical plane without becoming visible, but more information is needed.
Ghosts that have recently died seem to be confused. Some that have died abruptly or have experienced violent deaths seem to not be aware they have died.
It is currently thought that Ghosts are able to remain within The Veil as they are being anchored by their psychical body or to an object that was of import to them while living. (More information is needed on the possibility of a soul being anchored to an object.)
It should be noted that it seems as though the more violent and dangerous of ghosts seem to have been here for a long time. Ghost that have died more recently seem to be more cognizant. It is theorized that they lose more of themselves the longer they remain, and thus become angry and more violent. It is possible that existing as a Ghost is traumatizing to the soul itself.
While more research is needed, it is possible to weaken them temporarily with iron or salt. Use this method to get away from the spirt and find Holy Ground, as they seem to be unable to cross it. If possible, find the body of the deceased and pour salt over the bones and then burn it. If the Ghost is bound to an object, do the same and destroy it. More information is needed.
Harry read through the information twice just to be sure that he was not hallucinating. Reading it one more time, Harry decided that yes, he was looking at information on what Darla had called No-Maj Ghosts.
He had actually been on his way to the door of his room to find Darla and tell him of his find when he stopped and thought about it for a moment. Telling Darla was not that great of an idea. Not only would this give him a jump on his new job, but it was also possible that telling Darla about the Men of Letters would draw more interference from MACUSA. He eventually made his way back to the couch to read more after he decided that MACUSA really had no reason to learn about his inheritance.
He spent the rest of the day and most of the night looking though the files. They were full of information on creatures he had never heard of and there were even references to Hunters, which the Men of Letters seemed to look down on, though they had their uses.
From what he had read, it seemed that the Men of Letters were the researchers and the Hunters were the weapon.
Packing everything back into his bag Harry prepared for the next day. He had a plan now. He would find this bunker and see if the Men of Letters still existed. If they did, he would try and get a hold of their updated information. If they did not, well, he had a vault full of research that he could use to jump start his new job.
Harry slept in a bit the next morning having stayed up fairly late the night before reading though the box he had pulled from the bag. He checked out of his hotel with no trouble and then decided that he would need to get a few things before he headed to Lebanon Kansas in search of the Men of Letters Bunker.
First, he really needed a map…maybe more than one or a big book of maps. He had no idea where Lebanon, Kansas was aside from the fact that it was in the middle of America…so West-ish. Second, he needed a car, so that he could actually get there. He doubted a taxi would want to drive him all that way as America was fairly large. Finally, he needed to get a cell phone.
While he did not have much experience with technology, he knew that cell phones had become quite popular, and while he did not currently know anyone he could call just for a chat, it would come in handy if he had problems with his future car while on the road. Not to mention it could come in handy as he did his research.
He wasn't worried about his magic interfering with technology, as he had found out quite by accident that it was not magic that caused problems in Britain, but wards that caused electronics to short out. Harry had already seen some of the American witches and wizards with cell phones, Darla included. Her's was the first contact to be added to his new phone.
He quickly found a cell phone provider store near his hotel and became the dubiously proud owner of a Nokia 5210, a phone that was durable and had a splash-proof green case. Afterwards, he hailed a cab and was taken to a popular used car dealer that the taxi driver assured him carried some really great cars.
He took a few hours to look around. There were a few newer cars, but Bob, the owner liked to find and fix older cars. Eventually, Harry decided to buy one of Bob's newer finds. A 1964 Pontiac GTO that looked like someone had taken a sander to the paint. From what Bob said, the engine was perfectly fine as was the body of the car, right now it really needed new tired and a good paint job.
Bob had been surprised that one of his rarer cars was being bought, and that the buyer was paying cash, but he was happy to take Harry's money and sign the title over to him. Before Harry left, he was given a book of road maps by Bob, who carried all kinds of maps in the lobby of his office. He said that they were proper reading material for a car dealership and it was the least he could do for someone that outright bought a car. It was last year's book, but it would be up to date.
Bob watched him with from the window of his office as Harry sat in the car for over an hour trying to figure out how to get out of New York. First he had to find where he was, and then chart a way to get to the interstate; something that Harry was not all that familiar with. It took a good bit of backtracking and pulling over so that he could look at the map, but eventually Harry was on his way.
Three days after leaving, Harry pulled over on the side of a deserted road and got out of his car to stretch his legs. He was not used to all the driving and had taken to getting a room for the night at whatever hotel he could find for the night. Right now he was actually not far from his destination, maybe another three hours.
Looking at his car, Harry pulled out his wand and checked to verify that he was the only one on the road. He had been thinking about what he wanted his car to look like and had finally come to a decision that morning. A whispered charm later and his car was a green so dark it was almost black. Smirking, Harry decided his car was kind of badass. He sighed as he got back behind the wheel.
Three and a half hours later, he was sitting in his car and looking at the front door to the Men of Letters bunker. There was a huge building behind the entrance that looked abandoned. The entrance itself was a door that looked exactly like Harry would think a bunker door would look like. Honestly, it could have been a bit more subtle.
Feeling like it would just be rude to barge in on a secret group that studied the supernatural, and possibly life threatening, Harry decided that his best bet was to knock. So he stood at that door and knocked…waited a bit…then knocked again. He waited a full half hour before he decided that it was safe to use the key.
The door opened with a loud creak born of years of disuse. Once inside the front door, Harry looked at the dust on the floor and wondered if anyone had been here at all lately. While it was a pretty fine layer of dust, it was still enough that it showed very little traffic.
He had to enter another locked door, one that reminded him even more of a Gringotts vault door, before he was in the Bunker proper. Harry stepped out onto a balcony surrounding a large circular room below. Even from where he was standing, he could see that the room looked frozen in time.
As he walked around and turned on lights he found radios, typewriters, old telephones and other electronics that he had no idea of their use. He found bedrooms, bathrooms, a full kitchen, an odd room with a huge table in the middle and a map of the world (Harry thought it was some kind of planning room) a huge library with books and weapons on display, an actual firing range, a few rooms that appeared to be labs or offices, and a large garage with old vehicles stored inside.
Harry made his way back though the bunker after finding the garage and locked up the front of the bunker securely before moving his car into the garage and securing that as well. Taking his bag inside the bunker, he found a good sized bedroom that was close to the bathroom and the kitchen to claim as his own.
A few cleaning spells and he was ready to unpack his personal belongings. By the end of day Harry had his personal affects out and had eaten the dinner he had made from the sandwich items he had brought on the road.
Falling into bed exhausted, Harry had one last thought before drifting off to sleep.
Looks like I am home.