A/N - Hello again readers. Time to see the Sentinels begin invading the magical world.
Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.
16) THE INVASION OF MAGIC (PART 1)
Although the Sentinels had been repelled from taking over Washington D.C. on their first attempt the rest of the cities the Sentinels had attacked weren't so lucky. More and more of the country was falling under the sway of the giant robots all the time and the situation was similar in much of the rest of the world as more and more Sentinels appeared and marched on many of the countries around the world.
As had happened in D.C. many of the invaded countries sent their militaries out to face the Sentinels. The results were very similar to what happened in D.C. except that in those other countries the Sentinels won most of the battles. They were learning from their mistakes and their information network was extremely fast. Their knowledge and experiences were all combined a central brain that was able to send information to all the Sentinels at once. This brain was the Master Mold.
The Master Mold was the nerve center and intelligence behind all of the Sentinels. It was a Sentinel too of a sort but not like the others. For one thing it was far larger than the others, at least 3 or 4 times as big as any of the other Sentinels. For another it was far more intelligent than any of the other Sentinels. It was basically an enormous supercomputer in robot form. It was the nerve center and controller of all of the Sentinels. Although the Sentinels were free thinking robots they were all connected to and controlled by the Master Mold. It was the ultimate expression of Trask's project. He had designed it to control the Sentinels, and by doing so, control the world.
"Where are all of the Sentinels coming from?" was a question that many, many people were asking during these first days as the Sentinels began swarming across the world like a plague of locust over a field. What people didn't know was that Dr. Trask had been working on his Sentinels project for a long time and had discovered a way to manufacture many Sentinels quickly. He had built up an enormous number of them (with more on the way) that were now being unleashed on the world.
They weren't just trying to take over the normal parts of countries. They were actively invading the magical parts too. As a squib Trask knew a lot about the magical world. He could see things and access places that normal mundanes couldn't without help from a magical. He also knew the locations of many important magical places both in the U. S., Europe, and other parts of the world. All of this information was fed into the Master Mold which disseminated it out to the other Sentinels. He also gave them the ability to detect high concentrations of magic. They might not be able to detect an individual witch or wizard if they weren't using magic but they could detect places where a lot of magic was being used. Lastly, Trask knew enough about magic that he was able to make his Sentinel highly magically resistant. He did this by constructing them with considerable amounts of iron which is very magically resistant and gave the Sentinels a lot of protection. It didn't make them completely magically resistant as that would have been impossible, but it made them resistant enough. They had the same amount of resistance to magic as trolls and dragons.
As a result the Sentinels knew what to look for and they knew where to go. Not long after swarming New York City some of them invaded Colony Alley and the American Ministry. It didn't take long for both places to fall under Sentinel control although almost all of the magicals in both locations managed to escape. However since departure from the ministry was so hasty once the Sentinels had control of it they were able to access various departmental records which gave them a lot of information on other places and the names and home addresses of many people. All of this information was fed into their network and filed away for later use. They weren't going after individuals in their homes, at least not yet.
The next things the Sentinels invaded were the schools but they weren't as successful there. They managed to take the Salem Academy easily enough but there was no one there when they arrived. The Salem Academy was a day school. When the Sentinels began their attacks on the world the school had suspended classes until further notice. No student or staff had been there for a few days by the time the Sentinels seized the campus.
At Ilvermorny the wards around the school notified Headmaster Pope that the Sentinels were coming well before they could reach the top of Mt. Greylock. The first thing Pope did was to place the school defenses into maximum shield mode. He knew the shields wouldn't keep the Sentinels out indefinitely but hopefully they would buy enough time for the school to be safely evacuated.
Next he raised his wand and cast a spell on himself that would allow his voice to be heard by everyone in the school.
"Attention all students and staff" called Pope, his voice thundering throughout the school, "the Sentinels are coming. Assemble in the entrance hall immediately in preparation for departure. Take only what you need for right now and leave the rest of it behind. This is not a drill."
Within minutes the entire school was coming into the entrance hall where they found the headmaster waiting for them in the middle of the floor by the symbol of the Gordian Knot.
"We're leaving now" he announced to everyone, "we won't be using magic to leave as the Sentinels can track that as they focus in on our school. Instead we will be using the emergency escape passage which will take us out of the school and down to the bottom of the mountain. Once we're all safely away from the school we'll be able to portkey you home or let you floo home without the Sentinels being aware of it. Now stand back everyone."
Pope cleared the area around the Gordian Knot before bending over and touching a secret switch. He stepped back as the whole symbol plus a large section of the floor around it split in half and retracted backwards exposing a spiral staircase underneath it that descended down into the ground below the school.
A few of the teachers lit their wands and went first to lead the way. The first year students followed them down the stairs. The second years came after them, then the third years, and so on with the oldest students going last. A couple of teachers accompanied each year group to help move things along and in case any students needed extra help.
Headmaster Pope was the last person to enter the passage. Before he did so he sent a last boost of magic into the wards to buy them all more time to escape.
After Pope had walked down about 15 or so steps from the top of the staircase he touched another secret switch. This one caused the portal in the entrance hall floor to close up again concealing the passage from view. An empty castle was left behind as the staff and students descended the secret staircase underneath Ilvermorny. With any luck the Sentinels wouldn't find the entrance to the passage when they finally got into the school. Of course even if they did they were too big to enter it and would be unable to follow the school population down the passage.
The spiral staircase went down for about 150 steps before ending at a large underground landing. Leading out of the landing was a gently sloping tunnel that continued on down into the Earth. It was a very long tunnel which took the marchers all the way down to the base of the Mt. Greylock where it finally let out in the back of the building that was used to represent the Adams Day School to the mundane world
Once everyone was out of the passage and all of the students were accounted for the teachers began sending them home using either portkeys or the floo system.
It was as the last students were being sent home that Pope felt the school defenses fall.
"They're getting in" he said to his staff who were all still with him.
"Thank God we got everyone out" said one of the other teachers.
"No kidding" said another, "I wonder what the Sentinels will think when they find that the school is empty?"
"Hopefully they won't destroy it" said Pope.
"What do we do now?" asked a third teacher.
"Most of you should go to your homes and prepare to defend yourselves as best you can if necessary" said Pope, "if the Sentinels could find our school they can probably find magical homes too so I'd suggest people go into hiding if they can. As for me I'll be staying here to keep watch on things. I'll keep you all up to date on how things are going."
"Don't get caught" said the first teacher.
"I'll do my best" said Pope.
The Sentinels didn't destroy Ilvermorny when they found that the school was empty. They decided that such destruction would serve no useful purpose. Instead they left some of their members to watch over the school in case anyone came back. If that happened any arriving magicals were to be captured, or killed if they resisted their capture too much.
Britain was overrun just like the other countries the Sentinels were invading. One of the first places they went to was Hogwarts as they decided that if they captured the students they would have an easier time gaining control of the adults, especially the students' parents.
Dumbledore knew they were coming. Ever since Halloween the headmaster had expected that something would happen fairly soon although he didn't know what it would be. When he read about the Sentinels in one of the muggle newspapers to which he subscribed he quickly raised the Hogwarts shield again. It wouldn't hold them off indefinitely but it would hold them off for a while once they came to Hogwarts, and Dumbledore knew that they would come.
After raising the shield Dumbledore went to the wardroom where the Hogwarts ward stone was kept and began pouring as much magic into it as he could until he'd increased its strength from the normal day to day wards level to a heightened defensive level. This, in turn, would strengthen the shield.
Next Dumbledore summoned the staff to his office for an emergency meeting. As soon as everyone had arrived he came straight to the point.
"We're going to have to evacuate the school" he said. This caused everyone to react in shock as all of the staff started to talk at once. Dumbledore fired a noise spell to get the staff's attention again.
"Let's calm down please" said Dumbledore, "it won't help us if we all panic."
"Headmaster, why will we need to do this?" asked Professor McGonagall.
Dumbledore told his staff about the Sentinels and their creator Bolivar Trask.
"Trask?" asked Professor Tonks, "like that dark wizarding family? Is he one of them?"
"I think he is" said Dumbledore, "his picture was in many of the muggle newspapers and he bears a distinct resemblance to members of that family."
"If he's magical why would he expose us?" asked Professor Sprout.
"I bet he's a squib" said Flitwick.
"That's not possible" said Professor Tonks, "the Trask family is known for killing any squib children they might have."
"Ah, but maybe someone got him away from them before that could happen" said Flitwick, "after all even Trask wives love their children."
"You think he's exposed us for revenge?" asked McGonagall.
"Perhaps" said Dumbledore, "but it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that the Sentinels will be coming. Probably very soon. A contact of mine says they've already taken over Ilvermorny and the Salem Academy but the schools were evacuated before they got in. I want to make sure our students also get out before the Sentinels come. They might already be on their way even as we speak."
"If that's true" said Professor Vector, "how will we get the students out without the Sentinels seeing them? Even the secret passages out of the school don't go far enough to get people safely away from an invader's possible notice."
"That's true" said Dumbledore, "however there's one other way."
Everyone sat up at this and listened to the headmaster closely.
"How many of you know about the Room of Requirement?" he asked the staff. Most of them had blank looks on their faces but Professor Flitwick's face broke out in a grin.
"Of course" he said, "that's perfect."
"Would you care to tell everyone else about it Filius?" asked Dumbledore. Flitwick nodded.
"It's an amazing room that the founders created when they built Hogwarts" said Flitwick, "but very few people know about it although the house elves all know about it. They call it the 'Come and Go Room.'"
"What's so special about it?" asked Madam Pomfrey.
"It will become whatever you need it to be" said Flitwick, "you all know the 7th floor corridor with the picture of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance ballet?"
Everyone nodded that they knew of the picture.
"It's right near there" said Flitwick, "the entrance is usually concealed but if you walk past where it is three times thinking about what you need a door will appear and behind that door will be a room containing what you asked for. I've used it a few times to access books that the library didn't have. I know Argus has gotten extra cleaning supplies from it too when he needed them."
"Wait a minute" said McGonagall looking at Dumbledore, "that story you told me once about finding a room full of chamber pots that vanished when you went back to look for it again. Was that this room too?"
"Yes" said Dumbledore, "as Filius said, it becomes whatever you need. I didn't know what it was at the time but not long ago the house elves told me all about it and I put it all together."
"Then we can use it to get the students out of the school and to safety" said Sprout.
"We can indeed" said Dumbledore, "The room can send us anywhere we want to go. Once we're there we can either stay there or send people to their homes."
"Is there anywhere it can send us which will be safe from the Sentinels?" asked Madam Pince.
"I don't know if there's anywhere that can be completely safe from them" said Dumbledore, "but there are definitely places that will be very difficult for them to find."
"Oh?" said a few people, "like where?" added Professor Tonks.
"The Underground Realm for one" said Dumbledore, "that's probably the safest place we can go."
"The Underground Realm's just a myth" objected Hagrid.
"No, it's not" said Professor Flitwick,. "it exists. The goblins know about it and there's a way to access it from deep inside Gringotts."
"What's the Underground Realm?" asked Professor Sprout, "I've only ever heard passing remarks about it but have never learned what it is."
"In blunt terms it's a refuge for magicals" said Dumbledore, "all magicals. It was created by Merlin back before Arthur came to the throne. It's hard to explain exactly what it is. It's sort of like Avalon in that it exists somewhat separate from the rest of the world and can only be reached through special entrances. One of those entrances can be accessed through the Room of Requirement if it is asked for. Another, as Filius said, is through Gringotts."
"From what I know about it" said Flitwick, "it was made to be self-sustaining. The magic of the realm provides for anyone who stays there, much like the Room of Requirement but on a much larger scale."
"That sounds like just what we need" said McGonagall.
"It is but there's one possible drawback" said Flitwick, "in order to keep the realm stable one entrance must always be open to it. If all entrances were closed it would be cut off from the normal world and be lost. If that were to happen anyone inside it would also be lost. That's why the Gringotts entrance is an open archway without a door that leads into a passage into the realm. Of course for maximum security the entrance is in the lowest, deepest part of Gringotts that few people are allowed to access and it's always guarded."
"But we don't need to use Gringotts to get there" said Dumbledore "the Room of Requirement can supply us with an entrance and once everyone has passed through the door to the room will close and vanish. Any Sentinel who walks down that hall will only see the wall."
"But if the Sentinels can detect magic" said Professor Tonks, "won't they be able to tell that something is there? Even if they can't see the door?"
"Maybe" conceded Dumbledore, "but that's probably unlikely because this whole castle is saturated in magic of many different kinds. Why should one small area of a hallway wall draw special attention?"
"Then we have a plan for the school" said McGonagall, "but what about everyone's families? If the Sentinels will be here soon what can we do for them?"
"The Ministry has been warning everyone to go into hiding as best they can" said Dumbledore, "there's not much more we can do from here for anyone outside the school. Right now I think we need to begin preparing for the evacuation. The Sentinels aren't here yet but I don't think it will be long before they are."
Dumbledore didn't waste any time informing everyone in the school as soon as the staff meeting was over. He activated the school Public Address System and his voice was immediately heard in every part of the school. He ordered everyone to stop what they were doing and listen to what he had to say. He told everyone what the current situation was. That he expected the school to be attacked soon and he was implementing the emergency evacuation procedure to ensure the safety of everyone whether student or staff, human or nonhuman.
He ordered everyone to report to the seventh floor corridor and bring only their wands and anything they absolutely had to have but no more than they could carry with them. Time was of the essence and attendance would be taken so that no one would be left behind.
Once he was finished with his announcement Dumbledore left his office and went to the seventh floor corridor where the Room of Requirement was. He quickly walked back and forth three times asking for the entrance to the Underground Realm. When the door appeared in the wall he threw it open and stood by it waiting for the students to come. The other teachers soon joined him. As students began to arrive their names were checked off against the master list of students and once a student was noted to be there he or she was directed to go through the door and on into the Underground Realm.
It was a good thing Dumbledore and the staff of Hogwarts acted when they did. While the evacuation was in progress the magic of the castle informed Dumbledore that the wards and the shield were under attack. The Sentinels were outside and were working to penetrate the shield. It would take them a while but Dumbledore knew they would do it in the end.
"We must hurry" he said to his staff and they began urging the students to go through the door more quickly. Fortunately the bulk of the student body had already passed through the door when the Sentinels arrived and it didn't take much longer for the rest of them to go through the door too.
Now Dumbledore summoned the house elves and had them go through the door. The house elves had an advantage over the others in that they could pop themselves to and from the Underground Realm whenever they wanted. It was decided that a few of them would hide at Hogwarts to watch over the school after the Sentinels got in. They would stay out of sight of the robots and they would rotate in shifts of a few at a time with the rest staying in the Underground Realm when not working a shift. Any house elf that didn't want to take one of the shifts would not have to do so but, house elves being what they are, all of them wanted to help watch over the school and to let the staff know when it would be safe to come back again.
Once the house elves were squared away the staff all went through the door, even Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, and Fang, Hagrid's Boarhound, went through. The ghosts didn't go as they could hide themselves very effectively if they wanted to, and in any case the Sentinels couldn't harm them. Peeves also didn't go, preferring instead to see what mischief he could make against the invaders when they finally got into the school.
Dumbledore was the last person to go through the door. Before he did he contacted Professor Xavier and told him what was happening and asked him to give the news to Harry so he would know what happened with his friends and that they were safe. Xavier said he would do this. After that Dumbledore went through the door and shut it behind him causing it to disappear completely from the wall. Although it left signs that magic had been used in the area it didn't say anything more than that. There was no indication as to what magic had been used there and nothing to show that a hidden door could be found in the corridor if someone knew how to find it. As Trask didn't know about the Room of Requirement he wasn't able to feed that information into the Master Mold. The Sentinels wouldn't be able to follow the Hogwarts population into the Underground Realm.
Eventually the Sentinels did get through the Hogwarts shield and entered the school. They found an empty building with no people inside it anywhere. They decided to leave a bunch of their group there so in case anyone did show up at the school they could be captured. It would probably only be a matter of time.
(To Be Continued)
A/N - That's all for now. Next week we'll see how some other parts of the magical world do after contact with the Sentinels. It may not go how you think it will.
Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.