CW: Discussion of systemic child exploitation (non-sexual) that leads to widespread oppression of women
John Major looks at ambassador Wagley increduliously, "So let me recap the last 30 minutes. The natural disaster in Malaysia was because three pieces of crystalised magic were brought to Earth. It was so much magic that taking them to Hogwarts caused her to manifest physically and evacuate the school. And these children were completely unaffected by it."
"That seems to the a fair summation, though you missed out the bit where there are contingency plans to bring them to Earth deliberately in the event of an invasion."
"Why in Christs name would they want to bring it to Earth deliberately?"
"Apparently, there is a very powerful magical cloaking field around the planet. This prevents the ambient magic from being detected by creatures off planet. If, sorry, When one of them attacks they won't be able to defend us without attracting more of them. I have been assured that there is pretty much nothing we could do to defend ourselves. After reading the collected works of Lovecraft and the additional works written after his death, which I've been assured have accurate depictions of some of the 'sleepers', I can't say that they're wrong. Lily reminded me of the event that allowed her to manifest from the wards around #4."
John shudders, "These things would be worse?"
"I'll remind you that the natural disaster was reality breaking because of how much magic was in the area. The Malay Sultanate, their magical government has already moved an outpost of the government into the area as the background magic is still higher than normal. All of the people that were in the affected area are now confirmed to be squibs, so they are instituting a curfew in order to acclimatise them to not being awake past midnight."
"Right, we need to start acclimatising people to the idea of magic in everyday life then. I'll get the TV Channels to start new shows that include magic in everyday life. Maybe a British reboot of bewitched. We also need to reach out to our counterparts in other countries and let them know of the issues at hand. We'll also need to get them looking at their own history to see if they can find any agreements like the magical magna carta, that they can use to set up their own magical governments."
The M-meeting continued with discussions about how Little Whinging was coping with the influx of tourists.
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Bill looks over at the last of his team, sweat dripping down is back as his hair hangs limp, "So, Marcus, how's it hanging?"
"You know exactly how it's hanging you bastard."
Joshua joshes him, "Give up, it's not his fault we're here. We all followed his sister willingly remember?"
Marcus growls, "Don't remind me. What I want to know is how is Set's name are our trainers still so fresh?"
Bill laughs, "They've already done this and more I'd wager. Have you seen the state of Madam Bones after her session?"
"Fuck, what's she here for?"
Joshua laughs, "Remedial sword training."
"Fuck that, we're not letting those… Shit", Marcus cuts off as a trio of stunners heads towards them followed by the sword wielding maniac known as their teacher.
Conversation quickly cuts off as all their available attention is put towards surviving the next 30 seconds.
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Gutslash carefully cleans off his blade as Azaria moves on to training the curse-breaking team. He observes them for a moment as they are put through their paces before nodding, they'd make good goblin warriors if it wasn't for their birth defect. He looks over at the others that are still part of the training and smiles a tooth filled grin. He and his clan mates will be most honoured when they complete this and gain the title of Warlock. He looks forward to being able to walk around the Ministry without them being able to do shit about it. Indeed, the hardest parts for them have been the magic, they are now all using bronze blades because the iron content of their normal blades prevented them from being used as a focus.
He shudders as Magi Minerva heads over to train them on projecting a protective field and casting from anywhere in that field. As a race they were conversant with wandless magic out of necessity, but this was human magic not goblin magic.
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Tansu looked at the other groups morosely, she was the last one left after Niyazi left at some point in the night. Even now she could feel the oath to her Emperor, curse his name, pushing her to go beyond her abilities and then return with the title of Warlock. She knew that her only future in the empire was as a broodmare and a teacher if she succeeded. A mindless broodmare if she failed.
She looks up as a shadow falls across her, Karen surprises her by conjuring a chair rather than starting the next lesson.
"I want you to just use body language to answer yes or no, also answer the questions I ask honestly and only the questions I ask. Do you want to talk about it?"
Tansu hesitates before nodding.
"Can you talk about it?"
She shakes her head.
"Were you under duress when you had to make your oath?" Seeing her puzzled expression Karen continues, "duress means that the was some threat, coercion, or blackmail involved that made you choose to do something that you wouldn't normally do."
She gives a hesitant nod, as she's not sure if it counts as duress but she's not sure she'd have made the oath if she had the choice.
"Come, there is someone I'd like you to talk to."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I know that the middle east is a crapshoot for women's rights, with some countries being very progressive and others being very regressive. I also know that can change in a matter of months as the regime changes. Given the experience that Minerva and Victoria had, I can't imagine that it's better than the non-magical world. I also noticed that you were the only woman here, and that the men didn't include you in anything. Now I have nothing against men in general, however a lot of cultures around the world were pretty bad in the past, and the magical world seems to be stuck somewhere between 2 to 400 years in the past culturally."
"I will listen, but I cannot betray my country."
"I wouldn't ask you to."
Tansu finds herself in the Library with the smoothest transition she's felt yet, as Karen stand up from the chair it vanishes without any indication of casting. She shudders as the gulf between the two of them in shear ability let alone power is made stark by such a simple thing. A step later and they are both in a corridor in the castle, and Karen knocks on the door.
"Sorry for not walking, pregnancy you know. Anyway they're inside."
All of a sudden Tansu is alone in the corridor the closed door sitting tantalisingly in front of her. She has no illusions that her inclusion in this group was down to Karen's known sexuality rather than her ability with magic. Growing up in a Harem had taught her the skills she needed to control her magic, and a few spells to make life easier. It also taught her that she had rights, and how easy it was for them to be taken away. The obliviation slaves were odd to talk to, as they had no memory of their lives before her father bought them. However, women talk, and it was clear that each of them had done something that embarrassed a man in their lives to the point where their Honour was damaged. One spell later, and nobody can say that the woman wasn't already slave material, least of all the woman in question.
She had no illusions that some form of slavery was in her future regardless, if she succeeded then she'd be one of the emperor's honoured wives, thus bound by custom and etiquette. If she failed, well she wouldn't remember so there's no point thinking about it.
Having thought herself into a corner, Tansu begrudgingly opens the door in front of her. Inside is a bare room without even a fireplace. The only furniture is a blue sofa, on which one of the elves sits.
"Come child, make yourself a seat or join me on mine."
Nodding, she conjures a carpet and a pile of cushions that she remembers from her time in the Harem. She's not so comfortable with her new skills in conjuration that she's willing to make new things up yet.
"Would you like any refreshments before we start?"
Not trusting her voice, she just nods.
"Would one of the house elves mind getting us some traditional refreshments from the child's homeland." – An elf pops in and gives an affirmative response – "While we are waiting, I am the Hearth Mistress of the Yewglisten clan. We thought that you might like to hear a bit about a different culture. While this isn't strictly part of the Warlock training, we felt that the discussion might give you a different perspective. One that will allow you to complete the training without killing yourself. I will be teaching you about illusions while I'm at it, so it's not wasted time, so have no fear about missing some of the lessons."
Tansu relaxes into the cushions in relief at that, she wouldn't want to find herself pushing against her oaths by listening to story time.
It didn't take long for the house elves to return with some traditional Turkish refreshments. While not the area of the Ottoman empire she came from, it was familiar enough for her to feel comfortable. As she drank some tea, the Hearth Mistress told her about the three stages of life for a Sidhe. How as a child they are protected from their own mistakes for the most part. Life as an adolescent, and finally taking the oaths of adulthood. One detail that she seems to go in depth about is how easy it is for adolescents to enter into magical oaths accidentally or thoughtlessly, and how they were able to remove those oaths. Throughout the talk the Hearth Mistress forms illusions to illustrate different points, also taking the time to explain how she forms each illusion.
When the Hearth Mistress finished talking, the room lapsed into silence for a good long while. Tansu wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, as there had been no obvious dismissal, so she sat sipping her tea as she thought about the talk. As such she was startled when the Hearth Mistress asked her a question.
"Child, I have to wonder. Do you feel like you're an adolescent that has made a mistake?"
Instinctively she shook her head, but then stopped under the steady gaze of the Elder. "I think I am. But I didn't think I was."
The Hearth Mistress nods understandingly, "That is often the case with adolescents. Far to often they do things because they think they have no choice, however with guidance they find that they had plenty of viable choices. Humans have a saying, 'Hindsight is 20/20'. We don't have an equivalent saying as we teach our adolescents how to take the time to consider their choices and the known consequences of those choices. As well as the known unknowns of those choices too.
"Come sit beside me, and I will help you with your mistakes. Once we are done we can talk about them and how you could approach things better in the future."
Tansu did and sat down beside the Hearth Mistress. What followed was the most uncomfortable experience she'd ever lived through, and that included the nearly two weeks of training. It was like someone was running their fingers through her hair and then teasing out the tangles, except inside her. It was also clear just how large a gap there was between the two of them magically. By the end of it she had re-lived every oath she had ever given. Alongside her the Hearth Mistress stood firm as she unravelled the tangle. Along the way a few memories were restored to her as well, some unpleasant, some embarrassing, and one awful – one of her father's wives was taken away because she refused to allow her father to bed her – but brought with it some wonderful memories of learning at her feet.
They then came to the oldest oath.
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Tansu was excited, she was going to get to play with her father alone today. The women that gave her sad looks were just jealous of her. She was going to have so much fun, he'd promised that they could go to the park. First of all she was taken to her fathers study, some of the Eunuch's also gave her sad looks at they passed.
In the office her father knelt down in front of her and took her hands, "Tansu, you know we are of noble birth don't you."
"Yes father."
"And you know what promises are, and how important it is to keep them."
"Yes father."
"Tansu, I want you to make me a few promises now, these are very important and will cost you your life if you break them. I promise that we'll get ice-cream and visit the park afterwards."
"I will father."
"As we are of noble birth we are given special privileges. I want you to promise me that you will always remain loyal to the Empire."
"I will father."
"As we are of noble birth, our culture and customs are very important. I want you to promise me that you will raise your own daughters with the same lessons that you are being taught so that they know their place as well as you do."
"I promise father."
"Lastly, I want you to promise that you'll never run away from your family or the empire."
Tansu shakes her head, why would she want to run away? "I promise father."
"Come Tansu, lets go and get ice-cream."
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When she came out of the memory, Tansu found herself being hugged tightly by a very irate Sidhe. Around them the room itself was starting to buckle as the Hearth Mistress held her tight and protected. For the first time in years she cried for herself, for the innocence that had been stripped away on that day. Slowly the Hearth Mistress regains control over herself, once she's back in control she looks down at the child in her arms and realises that in a very real sense she is a child in the body of an adult.
"Come child, I will take you to the Sanctury where Sorcha and Lyasa can keep you company. I need to have an urgent meeting with Hogwarts and the Headmistress."
Tansu registers being taken to a palace with crisp cool air before the feeling of her magic changing on top of everything else pushes her into unconsciousness.
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The Hearth Mistress stormed through the Library towards Karen, her anger a palpable thing in the air. Realising that she was possibly to angry to coherently explain why she's so angry, she pauses and forms the entire process of removing the oaths from Tansu into a History, before putting them into a crystal vial. Not even the courts would do something so vile as had been done to the poor child.
It doesn't take her long to find Karen after that.
Karen looks up surprised as she storms into the room she's having her afternoon nap in. She shoves the vial into her hand and growls, "You and Hogwarts need to view that history, and for the love of Darkness, keep it away from your wife and the children. I'm going hunting until I'm no longer a danger to the people here. You wanted Spine wolves didn't you."
Stunned Karen can only nod and add, "Fae Dragons and Hydras too."
With an uncharacteristic snarl, the Hearth Mistress disappears from the school for a few days.
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Karen sat in a hastily arranged meeting with Amelia, Alannah, Hogwarts, and the Honoured Elder. Sitting accusingly in the centre of the table was the crystal vial that the Hearth Mistress gave her.
"Before we begin, I would ask that you bear with us. We want to know some details about how magicals are raised in your society and the other countries that you know of. We have come across some disquieting news during the training of the recent Cohort of Warlocks. In that vial is a personal history of one of the trainees taken by the Hearth Mistress. Hogwarts and I have both viewed it, and it is what prompted this meeting.
"The goal of it is to find out what the general opinion of children and adolescents taking magically binding oaths amongst those brought up in the magical world."
The Honoured Elder glances at the two of them sharply, his eyes narrowing as they focus on Amelia and Alannah.
Alannah stares at the vial as though it is a venomous snake. In that moment the thoughts of what it might contain more frightening than anything she's experienced in the past. Clearing her throat, she starts to talk, choosing her words carefully.
"Culturally, the British accept that it occasionally happens accidentally. As a mind healer, I have been called on a few times to retrieve the memory of an oath that a child has made. However, as they have no control over their own magic it is not something we consider children generally capable of doing deliberately until they reach school age. By which point they have generally learnt enough to know not to do it.
"There are some old families that still teach them some family magics before they reach school age, and those families usually require a secrecy and loyalty oath along the lines of never using the magic to the detriment of the family, and never teaching anyone not related by blood except with the explicit permission of the head of the family.
"As a general rule though, it's something that we disapprove of. As healers that goes double, as a badly worded oath can permanently cripple a child's development and it's something that we just can't cure. Not even obliviation helps, all it does is make it more likely they'll fall foul of the oath."
Amelia takes over, "It's actually one of the reasons why most magical children are home-schooled until they start Hogwarts or the Academy. As far as I know, all of our neighbours that we're on good terms with have similar views on the issue. May I ask what brought this on?"
Karen gestures to the vial, "Knock yourself out, if you put the memory on your finger and hold it up to your forehead you can imagine opening a third eye and viewing it. Make sure you don't absorb it though, as you'll end up with a headache and needing to give it back to us once you've recovered. Be warned, it's more personal doing it that way than using a pensive. Also, while you won't understand what's said, you will get the idea of it."
Amelia goes first and, grim faced she takes her finger away from her forehead, "That explains a lot. I'd have to take this to a Law Wizard, but I have a feeling that there is nothing we can do to stop this practice as I would imagine that it's self-perpetuating with a set of oaths given to the sons that will ensure that their sons and daughters are asked to give the same oaths. Healer Gosling, you will need to be mindful of your own oaths before you view this.
"Merlin, the Ottomans have had some of the most progressive laws for women on their books for hundreds of years. It's only in the last couple of hundred years that Europe has surpassed them after the rise of the likes of Joan D'Arc proving that magical strength has nothing to do with physical strength. Couple that with the odd Dark Lady, and the more recent Grindlewald war rewriting the national boundaries across Europe. When it comes down to it, our own laws are probably now behind the times, even though they're far more progressive than the Ottomans are now.
"This History puts a whole different slant on the story, I can't imagine it started big. Probably just a few families and the Emperor's family. But as they intermarry the oaths spread and over a few hundred years it undermines their whole legal structure."
Alannah puts her finger down and starts crying against the table as she finishes viewing the history. Gently she is lifted over to the lap of the Honoured Elder where he cradles her before taking the memory from her finger and putting it to his own forehead. Once he finishes viewing it he takes on a pained expression as he absorbs the History, and then extracts it.
"Be well child, I will send Elder Isbeil to talk to you about this. Hogwarts, Karen, if you'll excuse me I have urgent clan business to see to."
After carefully placing Alannah in a chair, he disappears back to the clan lands.
Amelia looks at the other two, "What just happened?"
Hogwarts sighs, "The Sidhe can remove oaths, and they routinely do so for all children regardless of how or why they made the oath." – Alannah looks up and pays intense attention to what's being said – "Adolescents are given a say in whether they want to keep an oath, however they can be made to either keep the oath or have it removed depending. It's only once they reach adulthood that they are expected to keep any and all oaths that they make. The only reason why they haven't gone after us is that we don't take any oaths for warlocks or magi until they have become journeymen. I gave my assurances that we would not let anyone under the age of majority take that oath, even Fleur won't be allowed to take the oath until August when she turns 17. I suspect that there will be a massive uptick in changelings in the Ottoman Empire over the next year or so."
"They can't do that, it would be a massive diplomatic incident."
Alannah speaks softly, her throat sore from crying, "Yewglisten wouldn't be doing it. It would be too much like us going into the Ottoman empire in order to visit the Sidhe near them. I have no doubt that the History will be shared with some additions to add context. As from what Elder Isbeil has said, that's how they share news of important events that aren't clan secrets. If you'll excuse me, I need to go to St Mungo's to report this news, as there are lives we may be able to save if we can get one of their Elders to help there."