Dueling for Salem

Thea had barely gotten in the door of her office when Edison Constantine followed her in the door and shut it behind him. "Athena," he said without emotion. "I need to speak with you."

She sat on the edge of her desk. "About what?" She already knew the answer, but she had to be respectful. Constantine was the Secretary of Magic, the highest ranking magical official in government. She had never particularly liked him, but he wasn't a terrible politician, and he could always be relied on to give honest information.

"Non-Magical Placement."

"Of course." It was all she had talked about in the last few weeks.

"Exeter is willing to fight you all the way on this. Not only does he not want you to expand, he wants to shut you down entirely."

"What's his objection to the program?"

"He thinks someone will eventually blow their cover, and the whole wizarding world will be compromised."

"How likely is that? We have magic. If someone does 'blow their cover,' we can always modify the memories of the witnesses and revoke that wizard's funding. Wizards in the past have admitted to magic without major consequences. If anyone in the non-magical world claims to possess magical powers, he's written off as mentally unstable."

"But if they have evidence to back it up..."

"Ed, I don't think it will come to that. I think we're safe. What's Exeter's real motive? Does he want all of our resources focused on ourselves instead of helping anyone else?"

Edison paused and sat in a chair opposite Thea's desk. "Is that a terrible argument? He's not alone on this. Magical pride still exists, even with all of your new political correctness. Do you think the Armisteads, or any of the other families with money, have changed their minds? Just because you stopped calling them Muggles doesn't mean the wizarding world thinks any more highly of them. They dislike us, and given the chance, they won't be afraid to show it."

"We're not asking them to love us or even to recognize us. We're trying to use our abilities to better the entire world."

"I know where you're coming from. You don't have to tell me. Tell the papers. I need a press conference with numbers and statistics. Prove we're doing this right and I'll back whatever you say."

Thea looked down, annoyed with all of the opposition. "Fine."

"Good. And the Salem Homecoming is tomorrow. Make an appearance."

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JP stood next to Hari in Charms 5 Advanced, her first class of the day. Tuesdays and Thursdays meant fewer classes, but longer class periods. It was much harder to stay focused. She was excited for Homecoming the following day, mostly because they didn't have class, but also because of the dance.

"Aguamenti," Hari shouted, and a trickle of water emerged from the end of his wand. The class was learning the water casting spell, and they were all outside in the gardens to do it. "If we're going to make a mess, we're going to be useful," Professor Fortescue had said.

JP laughed. "I think you watered one flower."

"Let's see you do it."

JP was distracted by an owl flying overhead. She wondered if it was Ace coming to bring her a note. "McFarland," the professor called. "Let's see a spell."

"Aguamenti!" she shouted. A jet of water sprayed out of JP's wand, practically knocking her backwards onto the ground.

"Not bad, not bad."

JP turned to Hari. "Aguamenti."

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Myra copied down notes in her Ancient Runes class, concentrating on the text in front of her. She was happy to be away from the rest of her group, who considered Runes a dead language, which if she were honest, it probably was. She looked up when a floating memo flew into the classroom. Professor Strauss caught the paper and read it over quickly. "McFarland, what is this symbol?" She pointed to a small drawing on the blackboard.

"Dark wizard."

She held out the pass. "Go."

Myra took the paper and read it while walking out of the classroom while everyone watched her. The pass read "Myra McFarland from Ancient Runes to Potions 2." Myra didn't know why she would be needed in Potions 2, but she walked quickly to the Potions hallway and knocked on Professor Nelson's door. "Myra," he said, excusing himself into the hallway. "Thanks for coming. I actually need you to go to the girls' bathroom. There was a fight about Homecoming, and you're the RA..."

"Who is it?"

"Allison Smith."

Myra tried to remember who she was on her way to the closest bathroom. Inside, she could hear sniffling coming from one of the stalls. "Allison?" The girl didn't answer but continued crying. "Allison, please come out. It's Myra." The stall door slowly opened and the small seventh grader came out, her eyes red. "What's going on?"

Through a mess of sobs and sniffing, Myra could barely make out the story: "Travis ... going to ask me...Elmira...I'm not going...they're so mean..."

"He was going to ask you, but he asked your friend?"

Allison let out a sob. "Now I'm not going."

"Why not?"

"They'll be together."

"Are any of your other friends going?"

"Yes." She hiccupped.

"Do they have dates?"

"No."

"Can't you go with them?"

Allison looked at her as if the possibility had never occurred before. "Maybe."

"Why don't you ask them?" Myra didn't know if it would work. She hoped the girls would go along with it. From what she had seen, Allison had a small group of girlfriends who would have to be willing to go to the dance with her. "You might see another boy you like."

"Okay."

Myra stayed with Allison for a while, then walked her back to Potions, where Professor Nelson waved at her. Allison rejoined a group of girls, and the crisis seemed to be at least somewhat pacified. Myra walked quickly back to the languages and history wing, passing her brother's class. He was talking to a room of sleeping freshmen and sophomores, not seeming to notice that no one was paying attention.

Myra stopped in the hall in front of her classroom. Professors Strauss and Exeter were in the hall, whispering to each other. "Later, I have a class," Strauss was saying.

"We need to discuss this now. They're all over us. Soon enough the school will be a Muggle breeding ground."

"By the end of today? I have a class, Aurelius." She noticed Myra lingering in the hall. "In the room, McFarland. We've had enough interruptions today."

Myra moved as quickly as she could without running. Strauss followed her, and on seeing a student standing near the door eavesdropping, whipped her wand in his direction. His wand flew into her hand while he tumbled backwards, hitting his head against the wall and slumping to the floor. "Damn it," Strauss muttered, then revived the boy and sent him to the nurse. "Back to work."

By the next hour, everyone had heard about Strauss' outburst. Myra had retold the story to her friends in Charms, then Professor Fortescue had made them end the discussion and set up to practice stunning spells. "How did she do it?" Myra asked him as everyone started to practice. She didn't really want to work on charms anyway, but it was required for all seven years of school.

"Do what?" Professor Fortescue stepped away from a misaimed spell.

"Knock him out. It looked like a disarming spell. Why did he fly across the room?"

"That's never happened to you?"

"No."

"The first element of a spell is intention. Even if you intend one spell, it also reads your feeling. Professor Strauss was probably very angry."

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On Friday, Jared walked into a Muggle café in Cambridge, looking around for Troy. A young man waved from a table, and Jared sat beside him. "I didn't think you'd recognize me." Troy did look very different outside of the club, in jeans and a tee shirt instead of shining performance clothes. "I also didn't know if you'd come. It's been hard to find a time to do this."

"I know. I've had to work."

"You're a teacher?"

"At a boarding school. In Salem."

"Salem? That's far away."

"Kind of."

"If I had known, I would have met you somewhere."

"That's alright. Transportation isn't hard for me." It had been a while since Jared had really interacted with a Muggle who wasn't related to someone magical, and he had forgotten how much he had to conceal. "So how long have you been a singer?"

"Oh, that's not my only job. I'm in law school. Harvard, actually. That's expensive, so I do what I can. I work for a law firm too."

"Wow."

"Sorry, I don't mean to show off. What do you teach?"

"History."

"That was never my best subject."

"Oh, well...My dad teaches it too. At Harvard." Jared ordered coffee from the waiter. "I miss this stuff."

"What, no coffee in the boarding school?"

Jared realized his mistake. "It's terrible...Tell me about law school."

They were at the café for more than two hours, when Jared said, "I'm really sorry, I have to get back."

"Oh...alright."

"I would stay, really. It's just...it's Homecoming at the school, and I have to supervise."

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Thea quickly located Jared during her appearance at the Salem Academy Homecoming. "This is nice." It really was beautiful, with the entire campus decorated in tiny white lights and draped in gold and blue silk. Jared nodded, though he had already broken up two fights involving stolen boyfriends or girlfriends. He thought of Troy, back in Cambridge, having a normal Friday night, and wished he was there.

"Jared, are you listening?"

"What?"

"I said, Thanksgiving, make sure you and the girls are home. Filius is coming."

JP walked by at the perfect time. "Uncle Filius is coming? Yes!" She trotted off amongst her friends.

"Yes, and he wants to see everyone. You don't have plans, do you?"

Jared was lost again, back at a café in Cambridge. "No, no plans."