Chapter 2: Philadelphia

The field outside Independence Hall was buzzing on a cold January day. There was a group of tourists who were meeting around the Liberty Bell facing the building and listening to a tour guide spit out facts about things that happened hundreds of years ago. People were ducking into coffee shops and family diners in storefronts all around to warm up and to get some lunch. None of the muggles noticed as a Starbucks and Joe's Cheesesteak Shop slowly separated to make room for a colonial style storefront with mannequins in period clothing from the early 1800's, one of whom turned and said "Welcome to Philadelphia" to Harry Potter as he emerged from the door into the courtyard.

The magical community of the United States rebelled against Great Britain in 1775, sparking the American Revolution. It wasn't recognized by the Ministry in Britain until after the war of 1812 when American and French wizards killed the British Monarch of Magic during the battle of Washington D.C. and spread democracy to the British magical community. Washington D.C. was destroyed in a fire resulting from the battle. The muggles rebuilt the city, but the Congress of Magic simply moved back to the original capital of Philadelphia, using Independence Hall as the facade of their new ministry.

Harry stood outside the visitor's apparition building, which disappeared again behind him, and waited for the American Secretary of International Affairs, Ruth Zimmerman, to meet him. Instead a tall, brown haired man greeted him. "Welcome to Philadelphia, Mr. Potter," he said.

"I was expecting Secretary Zimmerman like last time," Harry responded.

"She is busy. We have a major problem which requires her presence at your United Magical Nations headquarters. I'm Emmanuel Chesser, Secretary of Magical Defenses."

"You're not a member of the UMN," Harry said.

"Well, we are considering changing that," Chesser said. "Secretary Brown has spoken highly of your efforts last summer. President Reed is listening to him."

Chesser escorted Harry across the courtyard and into Independence Hall. They stood still in the entrance hall for a minute before the door slammed shut behind them. A Hagrid-sized man pulled off an invisibility cloak in the signing room, behind the partition. He addressed Chesser.

"What are you doing with this British scum, Chesser?"

"Escorting him. He has been summoned by Secretary Brown, and I was afraid you would stun him before he got there. Just do your job, or I'll have to report you."

The man started to respond, but stopped and turned to Harry, "Wand please."

Harry looked at Chesser who nodded and Harry gave up his wand.

"Hmm, 11 inches, Holly," the man said turning the wand over in his hand. He pointed it at Harry. Fire erupted from the wand and red and orange roses grew from the tip. "Phoenix feather," he said as his eyes lit up, "I haven't seen one of these."

Chesser ripped the wand from the man and gave it back to Harry. "That's enough, Greg" he said. Greg made Harry a visitor tag and the two moved toward the signing room.

"Not so fast, Secretary, I must 'do my job,'" Greg said, mocking the last three words. "No one goes past me without getting checked. After all you could be a zombie. Wand please." He said, holding his large hand out with a giant smile on his face.

Chesser reluctantly reached into his pocket and produced a black wand.

"Hmm, 12 and a half inches, Black Walnut," he pointed the wand at Harry and immediately the room roared, lightning streaked across the room and bright white roses appeared at the tip. "Thunderbird feather. Our Phoenix," Greg said, handing the wand back to Chesser without taking his eyes off Harry.

"Thank you Greg, now let us through," Chesser said, clearly irritated.

"My pleasure," Greg said, stepping aside to allow them to walk through the partition and across the signing room to a small hallway next to the former Secretary's desk. Harry felt the air change slightly as they walked down the hallway till it ended in an elevator. The two men got inside and Secretary Chesser pushed the lobby button. Harry could feel the elevator go up, which surprised him. Most European ministries are underground.

Harry was stunned when the door opened. The entrance hall of the American Congress of Magic was a long hallway, lined in marble that shined with the light from the ceiling which was displaying a cloudless, blue sky above. The ceiling was held up by Greek columns. Along the sides were active fireplaces, each of which was under statues of famous, American wizards.

At the far end of the hall were two statues of Bald Eagles which were spreading their wings across the far wall. Between the two statues was a large opening which led to the Congressional Chambers.

A memo, shaped like an f-16 fighter jet, flew up to Chesser and unfolded itself. He responded and it re-folded (this time like a b-2 Stealth Bomber) and flew away.

"Impressed?" Chesser asked?

"Yeah, it didn't poke you in the nose like ours does," Harry responded.

The two men walked across the hall. In the middle of the hall, on either side, sat small doors which led to the administrative lifts. Harry followed Chesser to one such lift and rode it to the 4th floor.

The door opened on a zoo. Papers were piled everywhere, men and women sat at desks with bewildered looks on their face. A couple of them were asleep. An alarm went off and everyone jumped up and ran to a large map of North America. Finally one man exclaimed, "There, South Dakota. Oh, it's nothing, just an Imperius curse."

"Aye, not Travers," Another said.

Harry recognized the back of Secretary Jacob Brown's head as he stood staring silently at the map. Chesser led Harry up to the map.

"Scary isn't it?" Brown asked before Chesser could say anything. "Thank you for taking him safely past Greg," he said turning to face the two men.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It is connected to our trace," Brown said. "Every illegal spell shows up here or on the world map over there. Recently though, we have been forced to focus only on Travers, whose characteristic zombie-making spell shows up as a navy blue mark." Harry looked up on the map which was spotted with at least 50 such dots. "As you can see, he has been busy."

Harry remembered Adam Travers well. The American dark wizard had created an army of inferi last summer. When Harry's son Albus went after Travers, the wizard captured and nearly killed Albus. Harry and a few of his friends manage to find Travers and save Albus just as the killing spell was being cast. But the damage had been done, and now Albus was marked in the same way as Harry. And the nightmares had begun. Harry knew that Albus could now feel Travers's most extreme emotions, just as Harry had felt Voldemort's, the wizard who had marked him. But Albus had not had any clear visions yet, and Harry was praying that he never would.

"What is Travers doing?" Harry asked.

"He's creating a new Army. We haven't yet been able to figure out his objective, or where he is keeping them all. We haven't figured very much out, as you can see," Brown said, motioning to the office. "All we know is that he has raised more than 2000 people, 850 of them were magical including 3 wandmakers. That brings me to why you are here."

Brown guided Harry over to the world map and pointed to a small, blue dot in the middle of Baltic Sea, north of England. "We can't figure out what is there."

Harry took a deep breath and said, "Do muggle maps show an island there?"

"No. That's what is confusing us. It's as if Travers raised a shipwreck or something. But we can't get there, the sea is too stormy. We were hoping you could help us."

Harry looked like his worst fears were confirmed. "Do you know the legend of the Deathly Hallows?" he asked.

"No," Brown replied.

"The Deathly Hallows are rumored to have been given by Death himself to the three Peverell brothers. They are the Cloak of Invisibility, which is able to hide the wearer from Death, the Resurrection Stone which is able to bring the dead back to life, and the Elder Wand, which supposedly can't be beaten by any other wand. It is said that if you own all three, you become the Master of Death.

"The second most feared dark wizard in European history was Gellert Grindelwald. He believed in the Deathly Hallows and sought to find them all. He found the Elder Wand, but we do not believe that he found any others. Albus Dumbledore defeated him and the Elder Wand in 1945 and imprisoned him at his own prison. He was killed there in 1998 by Voldemort." Harry paused before continuing. "It's believed that Grindelwald wanted to use the Resurrection Stone to create an army of Inferi which he could use to attack Europe.

"We found the prison in 2008 and removed it from all maps, including muggles. Apparently, Travers found it, because that is where it is. Only Grindelwald was there."

"Why would he spend so much energy for one body?" Brown asked.

"There is only one reason I can think of to raise Grindelwald," Harry answered. "If Travers is building an Army, he has gotten its general."

The room was sent into frenzy by the alarm again, and everyone gathered at the North American map, but it was Brown who spoke first seeing a navy blue dot appear in England, "Here, it's Travers." Everyone rushed over as Brown turned to ask Harry what was there, but stopped when he saw the look on Harry's face. "Mr. Secretary, I want England involved in this war," Harry said.

"What is it Harry?" Brown asked tentatively.

"That's Godric's Hollow. My parents are buried there."