December 5, 1997
I saw a man get Kissed today.
Not by his lover.
But by the shroud of a Dementor.
His name was Christopher Briggs and he was only twenty-five.
While the body of Mr. Briggs still has a beating heart, his chest moves with every breath he takes, he is nothing more than an empty husk. That is the inherent cruelty of Dementors, in every way that matters, their victims are dead, but the husk that is left behind is a threat to those left behind.
At the end of his life, as he begged and screamed, Christopher Briggs became an empty husk.
The British Ministry accused Mr. Briggs of being a 'A thief of magic through stealing a wizard's wand', an 'insurgent against the British Ministry of Magic' and 'Supporter of Undesirable Number One', also known as Harry Potter.
His true crime was being a Muggle-born, a person of nonmagical descent, the rest of his crimes were an effort to legitimise his 'death' in the eyes of outside observers and the more easily cowed members of the populace who may be considering rebellion.
In writing this paper, I wish to try and explain what it is to live in a dystopia. How the mundanity of daily life becomes normal for its callousness and how this polished veneer of wealth, blood status and power is nothing but a facade to make the small minded feel important as they begin to lose power and influence in their society.
The value of blood purity is held aloft now in a way that disgusts any reasonable person, they cloud it in a glimmer of high society and a return to their ancestral roots. Now there are American pure bloods who have used passport loopholes and dual nationality to skirt the travel blockade. These purists are in your house and coming to Britain to treat with people who do not just flirt with extremist practices, but fully embrace them as a matter of power and opportunity. This administration has labeled Muggle-borns as Undesirables, this label also includes those wizards who would offer them help, comfort and love. In the months I have been here, I have seen spouses ripped from each others arms, children who were denied access to the train to Hogwarts, as attending the school in now mandatory, it was used as a way to capture the parents and snap the wands of children, or take them away to their own trials for magical theft. Now current students are punished through the the use of the Unforgivable torture curse when they step out of line or engage in dissent against the Ministry or their new Headmaster, a Death Eater named Severus Snape.
Much like WandWay, the goal here is to begin to outbreed the nonmagical, but families can only cross pollinate with cousins for so long before the offspring become unstable and more of a liability to a regime that wants to assert itself as something great and powerful, something that the rest of the world should aspire too and that's hard to do when most of the population has no chin or begins to resemble the Hapsburgs. This is an opportunity for those who support the administration to raise their own soldiers, fully raised in their own blood purist ideology and ready to die for the cause of their dark master. I speak, of course, of Voldemort.
To speak his name on British soil is to invite death to one's door. The fear of this monster is warranted, earned and proven in bloodshed and cultivated by the people's fear of parseltongue during his previous rise to power and in the last couple of years he has resumed activity. Only now, Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic in all but name, sowing further discord and fear through his puppets in the current Minister of Magic, Pius Thicknesse, and the various servants who now lead important Ministry Departments. Victor Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries is performing experiments on Muggle-borns in his dark lair. Corban Yaxley is now the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, despite only recently escaping from Azkaban himself and has relished in the authority and power that this particular position has offered him to chase down, threaten, torture and imprison those people who are more qualified for the position he currently holds. Regular citizens are being pulled out of their offices for even the perception of disloyalty or a wrongly punctuated sentence. Every move within this society is viewed with suspicion.
To touch on another topic, Harry Potter has not been seen since the early months of the war in his raid on the Ministry of Magic and no one has heard anything of him or his whereabouts in months since he raided the Ministry to free captive Muggle-borns. There has been no sign of him in the months since- no word of raids or resistance or anything else. There are rumours of a prophecy that Harry Potter will stop Voldemort, but I'm not sure we can put thousands of people's lives in the hands of a child. That's not fair to him.
If we have any chance of removing Voldemort for power through his death or through his agents who hold up his Ministry, we must act. The people of this nation need intervention from the proper channels. The British Ministry of Magic must be condemned for their actions and outside support from powerful governments like MACUSA would allow us the chance to overthrow the regime and destroy Voldemort.
-Anonymous
This is ridiculous.
I've said this on official channels, but I continue to fail to see how the international community can do nothing but condemn what is happening in Britain and put no action to the page. People are dying. People are suffering for who they are and that is against the core tenant of wizarding America and humanity itself. Yes. We are human before we are magical - this power does not make us greater than others, and it does not make us immune to the vices of humanity. It makes the impact of those vices greater.
Seeds have their wands snapped and are sent away if they are lucky, the Azkaban prison contains the less fortunate ones, those who are likely to make trouble or have already made trouble for this new regime.
This country has collapsed long ago and the idea that this is a stable partner is long gone until they produce a stable administration beyond just putting the right body in office and it will take years for the Ministry to recover from this farce if they do so at all.
Elihu A. Weathers
MACUSA Representative - United Kingdom
Oo0Oo0
December 13, 1997
The New York Ghost has had a lot of responses and editorials from readers sent to us from across the nation under the same topic: Parselmouth Rights. En lieu of publishing all of these letters as separate, we have published segments of some of the letters received on the topic and encourage our readers to draw their own conclusions.
Why has some parselmouth gained control of one of the most influential governments in the Wizarding World? How did that even happen? Maybe we should enact the parselmouth registry on these children of Nathairia! They're dangerous and use magic that most of the world can never grasp - what happens when we produce a Voldemort of our own? We won't know until it's too late and he takes over MACUSA!
-Mortimer Grimsditch, Aged 75, Nevada
Here is another example of the bigotry that is infecting this country. I am a parseltongue of African descent and you have the gumption to tell me that I need to be registered? No, if the government tells me to register they can keep dreaming. I was born the day the Civil War ended, I was born in freedom while my ancestors were massacred and treated as property to rich men. Being a Seed and having magic allowed me a better life than those I had to leave behind. My ability to speak to snakes has saved lives at home and abroad in times of peace and war. I've served my country, if the government wants to watch me they already have my address.
-Libertus Freeman, Aged 132, Alabama
By the Twelve, no one had opinions about Parselmouths in this country until this war in Britain and now, like assholes, everyone has one! It's a wonder we have any parselmouths at all. I can't tell you how many times those snake-talkers from the forest service saved missing hikers and made contact with the more elusive Sasquatch communities, obtained rare snake venom that saved lives and worked to conserve our magical snake species. This community serves a purpose in this country. It's important, generally unstated and frankly, if none are willing to come forward and say what they are to the world, I don't blame them at all.
-Harlow Mulligan, Aged 47, Wyoming
We all know that parseltongues know each other and secretly run the government! I say we just kill them all and be done with it before they get a taste for Dark Arts!
-Absolum Elms, Aged 48, Maine
Speaking to snakes is part of my heritage, it's one of the cornerstones of the Indian magical community. My grandfather fled in fear during the prosecution of parseltongues in India by the British Ministry of Magic and found his way here to America under the promise that he could practice this part of his culture in peace because that is what Magical America promised to the world, a place free to practice their magical craft. Now I see the threat of rescinding that promise and I am disgusted! We're all immigrants. We should be welcoming to each other and the differences of this nation's people, now we are tearing each other apart over a bad man with a special gift that he is using to terrorize his nation and now the rest of the world? We are so much better than this.
-Priya Sharma, Aged 28, California
There is no wix in this nation who does not have a parseltongue in their family tree in some form! If we put them all on a registry, it'll just be Native wix or those with Native ancestry and frankly, the government having all of our family trees through that is a terrifying prospect. How long before they tell us who we can marry? It'll be like Rappaport's Law all over again, only now turned inward!
-Elisa Yazzie-Garcia, Aged 31, Texas
Oo0Oo0
December 15, 1997
"This is Mary Goode reporting with Magical Public Radio! With news out of Britain containing confirmation of the treatment of first generation wix, many are coming to protest this treatment within the halls of MACUSA itself to incentivize their leaders to begin the call for intervention despite the earlier vote. As you can tell the echo in here is quite severe. There! That deafening charm worked on my home office and it should work to conduct interviews here at the MACUSA Atrium. Many protesters are carrying sleeping bags, tents, fire jars and food for their No-Maj cooking device that is up to my waist and stands on three legs. It looks like a kettle?"
"It's called a grill," Sam Jackson Junior is a current Illvermorny student in his final year attending the protest with his boyfriend, Darcy Clopton, lights the coal under the metal bars with a fire spell, fascinating stuff! Some other students nearby make signs with such phrases as, 'No Justice, No Peace!', 'Intervention!', 'Undesirables Welcome Here!' and 'Magic Grows Wild!'
"Are all of you Seeds?"
Sam raises his hand with half of the other students in attendance.
"More are coming tomorrow!"
"Most ain't Seeds, they're coming to help!"
"We're just the first wave, more students from all over the country are on the way!"
"All over the country? What brought all of you out here?"
A girl has handed me a wrinkled pamphlet labeled, Semper Honestus.
If the listeners are not familiar, Semper Honestus is a monthly political publication that is based in Britain. It has recently taken to publishing first hand accounts of the new regime that now rules the British Isles and the latest issue has a first hand account from within the Ministry of Magic itself. We here at the Magical Public Radio, do encourage our listeners to pick up this latest edition for a full picture of these events.
"These are students like us, being denied an education because of their origins. Here in America, Seeds are still taken from their families to be forcibly integrated into the magical world and lose touch with their cultural heritage as both No-Majs and whatever culture of origin their family is from. Britain does not have those issues and look what's happening over there!"
Another young man steps forward.
"Madam Goode, I am Cincinatus Jones and I am here today to help raise awareness for the struggle of Seed children around the world and the unjust captivity of our brothers and sisters in the United Kingdom."
Cincinatus Jones is a twenty-five-year-old political activist from, where else? Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Jones has just launched his own campaign for one of the Representative seats of his home state, both of which are opening for filling in fall next year. The current talk is that he has a real chance of becoming the youngest state Representative in the history of Magical America, in either Governorship or as a standard Representative, learning under a more seasoned politician, if he's successful next year.
"We are as magical as those of supposed ancestral magical lines, they're just afraid that what we offer the world is greater than what they've ever accomplished in generations. We don't get to coast on family names, we succeed because we have the talent and drive to accomplish what we want in the world with the opportunities we've been given or earned through our own hard work."
Along with the Northern contingent, there is also representation from the South, particularly Louisiana which features a sizable group of people from New Orleans who have brought a real sense of energy to unify the ragtag groups gathering here at MACUSA.
"My future Daughter-In-Law is a Seed, she's in the UK now as an Auror with my son and I'm scared for her!" This man has agreed to be interviewed under the alias, Mark, to protect his family serving abroad and his family have also agreed to be mentioned under alias as well, we intend to respect and comply with their wishes. "What has come out of Britain in the last few months is shocking! We need to pick a side in this as a wider community and it can't just be MACUSA standing up and saying this! Graves has the right idea in that we can't just allow the British Ministry to proceed unimpeded while they prosecute and murder their own people. We're not supposed to be a global police force, but where is the condemnation from everyone else?"
"You must be very proud of your son."
"Proud? Yes. He's a good man, but I still see my little boy when I look at him and Britain is the last place they both need to be."
Mark and his family have come to offer support and rally the protesters through music, the daughter is currently attending the New Orleans Academy of Magical Arts and is one of their top students. Mark's wife, Joy, is helping the students enchant their signs while running a potions stall. The family does not consider themselves politically active, but they are prominent members of the New Orleans magical community and have brought other self professed Seeds and their friends to join the rally.
"We'll be here as long as we can, if Sam can keep the grill running we'll be here longer!"
"We need more hotdogs!"
"Keep the signs coming!"
There is also a fifty strong contingent of protestors from California who have begun to make camp near the check-in desk and featuring people from all walks of life, students, middle-class business workers, a few hippies banging on drums and California's treasured grandmother, Mei Lin Ling, who is cooking up a storm of her country famous traditional bao buns to help feed the masses with help from her grandson and, what I am told, is her Mahjong Club.
"Madam Ling is here for the party!"
The cheers you're hearing are Madam Ling and her contingent of Mahjong enthusiasts.
Of course, on the other side of this rally of support for the rights of Seeds, there are voices in counterprotest.
"Why do we teach Seeds magic?" Phineus Pussett has no issue stating his name for this broadcast and has made himself and a group of others comfortable in lounge chairs with their own signs stating 'Go Home No-Maj!', and 'Purebloods First!' "They get all the money from the government, get special programs to help them through and after schooling and then they take the jobs that belong to good wizarding stock! We all can't be name-bearing descendants of the Twelve Aurors! There are two ways to get a leg up in this country, be some immigrant kid, or be a damned Graves- and we all know he's a damn half-blood!"
"I just feel that it's not right that Seeds get all of these advantages while we get shuffled off to the side," Volumnia Laurier is a woman currently corralling a group of five children, all with the same corn blonde hair as their mother and holding similar signage featuring flower seeds being burned. "I voted for Jack Graves believing I was voting for a strong pureblood to lead this country and that fact that he's got a Seed mother is offensive to what Magical America is, a true haven for those of magical bloodlines."
We here at Magical Public Radio would like to clarify that Ophelia Turing Graves is a noted hero from the war against Grindelwald and famous for her work in the field of combat medicine, she's credited as one of the early creators of medical triage in mass warfare zones and her dictation that medics must learn combat alongside their healing craft if they are going to engage in frontline support in order to protect their charges. There is a section of the Magical War and Conflict Museum in New York dedicated to her work and a medical training center named in her honor in the Catskill Mountains after her death. Her connection to her son, or her bloodstatus, has never been a secret.
This counterprotest group is smaller than the growing collection on the other side of the MACUSA Atrium, but at only twenty strong, more are arriving to try and intimidate the young people and drown out the voices on supporting action after an article from wartorn Britain has mobilized Americans to demand action of any sort from their government in the weeks to come. Current reports are coming daily of similar protests from Canada, alongside various countries from South America to mainland Europe as more dark news from the British Isles finally leaves their shores and the world continues to watch and wait with bated breath. Live from MACUSA, this is Mary Goode signing off!"
Oo0Oo0
Author's Notes: It's a weird chapter, but I wanted to see the article and give it the focus and impact of the chapter as it mobilizes the Americans. Also, names like Cincinatus, Absolum and Volumnia were all used during the Civil War era. If you want unusual names, look there.
This chapter was last minute- It came to me in a fever dream? I got a cold two days into my new job, spoke like Fran Dresher for 3 days and there are days I do not remember. I fought Ronald Reagan in a Hell in a Cell cage match in hell. Yeah. I was in no state to write or edit