Dueling for Salem

Thea and Clive paced the office while the four lawyers looked at each other. Two of them, Wheeler and Brown, still looked shocked at James Holt's revelation. It turned out that Wyatt was actually Holt's wife, who was non-magical, but who of course had known about his secret. After a light show from Holt's and Thea's wands, they were convinced, but astounded. "What do we do?" Brown asked simply.

Troy spoke up first. "I think we need to paint them as a persecuted minority. Technically, they aren't breaking any laws. We need to get people on their side."

"I hate to sound mercenary," Wyatt said. "But I don't see how this will end without a fight."

"That's true," Thea said. "But we don't have an army."

"What about all of the other witches and wizards? Together, you should be more powerful than anyone without magic."

"Not all of the wizards are on the same side. There's too much internal argument about the role of magic in the rest of the world."

"What do you think that role should be?"

"I think we should use it to help people."

"But hide it?"

"Yes." Thea began to realize the near-impossibility of her wish.

"I think the religious idea works," Brown added, still looking incredulous. "If we can get rid of these yahoos who are influencing the public, we can get some legislation passed to protect you."

"So who do we need to call? We can't face this alone," Holt said.

For the next few minutes, all four of the lawyers and Troy were on the phone. It wasn't a challenge to convince some of the minority rights groups of the witch hunt over people who were different. They were more than willing to stage a march or protest, but were unsure when anyone mentioned actual fighting.

Clive and Thea were silent for a while. "I should call parents," Clive said.

"Who? They're probably all regretting sending their children to Salem. Who would stand for us? We haven't told them enough about the school. They won't trust us."

Clive ignored her and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Frank, hi, it's Clive McFarland. Yeah, I saw that on the news, too. Listen, I need your help."

They were in the office for hours, speaking with everyone they could reach on the weekend. "Salem Academy, Salem Massachusetts," the lawyers said over and over. "Children are being held captive because their parents are part of a separatist organization. They do have some special talents and advanced technology. No connection to terrorism. Check the government files yourself. No crimes have been committed."

By the end of the day, they were exhausted. "Get a serious phone tree together," James Holt said as they left, "Everyone will be at Salem when you need. There's strength in numbers, even if people don't have magic."

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Myra exited the fireplace at the Accio! Bar, expecting a crowd of Aurors. Her wand was clutched tightly in her hand, and she prepared to apparate. However, the bar was empty, though she could see rigid shadows walking the street outside. She didn't know what was happening at the school, and there was no way to find out officially. Assuming that the professors had kept the students locked in the adjoining dormitories, Myra apparated to the edge of campus, performed a quick and rather ineffective disillusionment charm, and dove into the first tunnel entrance she could locate.

She didn't know the system as well as JP and hoped that no authorities had found it first. Walking as slowly and quietly as possible, it took Myra almost fifteen minutes to reach the dormitory. She pushed open a trap door, hoisted her cargo of wands through on top of her head, and pulled herself through the floor into the main lobby.

She was greeted by a chorus of gasps and screams. Most of the students and faculty were in the lobby, sitting silently or talking among small groups. Everyone seemed to have brought in games to distract themselves, but no one was overly committed to the competition. Instead, they all mechanically laid down their Exploding Snap cards or threw their Gobstones without really thinking. Everyone was in Muggle clothing. It looked normal enough on the students, most of whom wore jeans on the weekends, but the teachers looked completely foreign.

Professor Armistead helped pull Myra to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." All of the students were looking at her. Sadie and Jackson waved awkwardly, small smiles on their faces. Abby glared, then forced a smile. "Where's JP?" Asia shouted from across the room.

"She's okay," Myra shouted back.

Myra didn't have a chance to decide what to do first. Professor Strauss, who seemed like a different person in a Muggle suit, pulled her into a small adjoining room. Professors Armistead and Nelson followed. "Where are they?" Strauss demanded. Myra noticed that she looked exhausted, and her hair was falling out of its careful style. She probably hadn't slept at all the previous night.

"Jared's with my parents. Joan's in London with our uncle, Filius Flitwick. They're getting help to break us out of here."

"How are they going to do that? When?"

"I don't know when. They're just gathering people for a fight. They'll send us a signal when they're about to come."

"How will we get a signal? All communication is down. How will we know if they're trying to reach us?"

"You have to trust him. We'll know."

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JP was impressed by every detail of the Ministry headquarters. She had been to her mother's office several times, and it was nothing like this. Professional-looking witches and wizards bustled about. Though it was Saturday afternoon, the office was fairly busy. Most of the people looked like Aurors or officials, whose jobs required them to be on duty all the time.

Filius was walking quickly down the hall, and JP had to practically jog to keep up with him. She kept her hand on her new wand, ready for anything. "Uncle Filius," she panted. "Where are we going?" They climbed onto an elevator and waited for the disembodied voice to call "Auror Department."

"We're getting backup," Filius answered. "If they have Aurors, so should we."

Filius knocked on a door that read "H. Potter, Chief Auror."

A young man, black-haired man opened the door. "Professor Flitwick," he said, motioning them inside. "Professor McGonagall told me you'd be coming."

Filius introduced JP to Harry Potter. She vaguely recognized his name, but didn't know why. They sat in front of his desk, drinking tea, as Filius explained the American situation. "I have heard," Potter said slowly.

"I know that it may be out of your area to act in this case," Filius said carefully.

"It is out of the country, but I don't think it's beyond our jurisdiction. I can't believe the Aurors turned against them. The school should be the last place to be made unsafe."

"Of course."

"This affects all wizards everywhere. And we know personally what it means for our school to be compromised, don't we Professor?"

"We do."

"When do you want us to go?"

"Sunday, 3:00 p.m., American time."

"How many Aurors?"

"As many as you can spare. Thank you, Harry."

JP shook Harry Potter's hand and ran down the hallway after Filius. "When we get outside, call your parents. Tell them the time."

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Jared arrived in a store in Cambridge and quickly sensed that Aurors were guarding it. He apparated quickly, but not without being seen. Breathing hard, he arrived backstage at the nightclub, and heard a smooth voice singing on stage. He knew immediately that it was Troy. "Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue. And those dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

It only took a minute for Jared to locate his parents. His mother was wearing clothes that he recognized as Troy's, and both of them looked extremely out of place. Jared rushed forward and embraced both of them, glad to be back in the U.S. and in a slightly familiar situation. Clive and Thea held tightly to him, then started with a barrage of questions. Jared told them that his sisters were safe, though they both shouted upon learning that JP was still in England. "Filius has a plan, if you have some people and a way in."

"We're getting there," Thea said.

They listened to the end of Troy's song, Clive with his arm around Jared. "We love that guy," he whispered.

When Troy had finished, he waved the three of them onto the stage. "What's going on?" Jared asked.

Troy seemed shocked to see Jared, jumping into his arms and kissing him to roars from the crowd. "Your parents aren't so bad," he said.

After a few moments for a reunion, Troy took the microphone back from a large drag queen who was teasing the crowd. "I have something I'd like to say," Troy said in his normal voice. "This is my boyfriend." People cheered. "And these are his parents." He motioned for them to come forward. "You might recognize this woman. This is Athena McFarland. She's been on the news a lot lately."

Thea listened as Troy described the situation at the school and her attempt to help people through her program. As Clive stepped away from her to answer his phone, she looked around at the audience. For the first time, although they practically had a plan, she truly felt hopeless and saw her own role in the problem. "Thea, would you like to add anything?" Troy asked, then added under his breath, "and maybe a little show."

She waved her wand over her head, sending golden sparks flying about the room, then flashed all of the lights. For her finale, she sent balloons flying across the ceiling, then exploded them so that silk confetti rained over the crowd. Loud hoots answered her display, and she knew she had their attention.

"My name is Athena McFarland," she said into the microphone. "I am a witch. I have magical powers. I work for the Department of Magic; I'm the Secretary of Education. I also created a program that disguises witches and wizards as non-magic people in order to help the greater community. I'm here tonight because," she took a deep breath, "I want to apologize. When I started Non-Magic Placement, I arrogantly assumed that you needed our help. From what I've seen, it turns out that you were doing alright on your own. I don't know how you do it without magic. For us, it's our livelihood. So I'm sorry. I underestimated you. In my conceited mind, I thought we could help you, but I never realized that you would help us." The entire room was silent. Thea turned to look at Clive who was smiling sadly. She felt terrible for her under-appreciation of everything he offered. "I'm sorry," she said again in his direction. He nodded and she turned back to the audience.

"If I may, from one 'freak' to others..." General laughter answered that remark. "Ask your help. Our school, Salem Academy, means everything to us. If we may, we would like your attendance. All we need is manpower, strength in numbers. Come as a protest or just come. We're taking our school back."

The large drag queen was in tears. "When, dear?"

Thea turned to Clive and shrugged. "Tomorrow, 3:00," he said, having just hung up with JP. She repeated it to the audience.

"Well, girls," the drag queen said. "We've fought the man before. Let's do this for our brothers and sisters, for all of the outcasts in this country."

Thea and Jared smiled at each other. Jared took Troy's hand as Thea threw her arms around Clive's neck. With a crack, they apparated home.