The MaCUSA congress and president met that night to hear what the upcoming problems were. The MaCUSA president looked confused. "Hold on," he told the one giving the report. "They can *scry*? Like in books?" The guard nodded with a smirk. "Why?"
"Because they never gave that stuff up," the guard said. "Miss Rosenburg tried to scry that one event to find that shadowy figure. We think we found part of his group but not the one in charge."
The others looked at each other then at him. "We've never been able to do that sort of thing. All that was no-maj fantasy novel stuff," one of the females complained.
The guard shrugged. "Apparently not. They can easily scry and other things from fantasy novels. Also, they noted that covens can be stronger than we can. Rosenburg is stronger than we all are. Possibly together since she can channel the hellmouths."
"On that topic, did you have a chance to ask about how they come to be?"
The guard smiled and nodded. "We're wrong. They're naturally occurring. Though magic users can prompt them to be thinner or more open." They all sighed at that. "And the one in Cleveland is still radiating even while closed. They can measure that." They stared at him. "I shared our list of suspected ones to see if they knew about them." He put that folder down.
"They said four of them are hidden ancient temples to ancient gods, only one's from a demon realm." The MaCUSA president blinked and opened his mouth, starting to stand up. "The others are the working areas of covens, mostly ones that've been broken. Their hearth stone basically." He shrugged but handed one a book. "Their book on how hellmouths are formed. Based on science and there's a few scientists studying them now."
"So we're totally wrong?" the MaCUSA president demanded.
"Yes. Apparently." He tossed down another file from his bag. "From the recent archeological digs in Africa that Watcher Harris prompted. Both human and demonic archeologists visited. One of the most hateful toward demons. He did it during a televised sneering at the idea of demonic history and gave him the map so he could meet him there in a few days.
"The head of the demon university's archeology program had another one and announced his find at the same time the sneering one did." He grinned. "The Council has first written languages account of back that far. Translated a few times over but the tomb team that helped with their building in England found the originals in a safe. Gringotts had it translated again. We're wrong about a lot of stuff. Including about Merlin apparently. He was their type of sorcerer. They have a fact file on him."
The MaCUSA president rubbed his forehead. "So we've basically rewritten our history to make ourselves feel special?"
"Yes." He nodded with a grin. "The pureblood movement is going to have a hissy fit as the young ones say these days," he said dryly. "England is already clenched about everything trying to make sure people don't hear."
"Shit," the president muttered. "All right. How wrong were we?" The guard pointed at that set of folders and book. He took the book to look over. "Oh. I see they are natural and not magic being gathered. That's probably why we found those areas." He looked up. "Are they safe?"
"Yes. They've been identified as working areas for covens. They left the powers there so others with good intent could borrow them. Apparently a few are for fertility rituals and the like. Which are apparently very powerful. I met the young son that a male couple had together. Themselves."
"We've got records that some wizards tried that," one of the senators said.
The guard smiled and shook his head. "Not in decades. They can do it with a full coven helping. Or Rosenburg, who did that to a slayer's pet because she wanted kittens to play with. Without asking the slayer's permission. They were having a screaming match in their back garden over that and Slayer Summers had to yell at them to stop it before we guards heard. The Secret Service guard was amused as anything."
The MaCUSA president put down the book and carefully swallowed his spit. "Is she an anomaly?"
"Not fully. She was never trained. She stole books to train herself. Got into a bit of an addiction to black magic. The coven in Devon helped her end that and her grief. She learned on the hellmouth in Sunnydale, so she learned how to control it first, before we would've taught her to use external powers. It was her first full spell working to close it."
"So she's powerful but probably blown open?"
"She doesn't know any other way. She can do massive things but has to burn a lot of energy off daily by doing things like fixing her hair by magic. Which got her nagged by the witches in residence at the slayer house."
The president looked at a few then at him. "Is that common?"
"They have varying power levels, the same as we do, but they learn to feel and harness the powers around them instead of focusing on a single wand. If you want to know if you can cross over, the answer is yes.
"Mr. Giles knows a few wand users and they got drunk and shared one weekend he said. Back when he was doing black magic things before he went to that same coven to heal." He smirked a bit. "He actually has a wand fitted to him but he doesn't use it." The president slumped, shaking his head with a sigh.
"They're not less powerful than we are. They can draw from a wider range of powers and they're on average probably stronger. I've got a meeting with one of the witches up there next weekend to see about that and any cross-training that could help the guards and aurors." He shifted.
"The demonic congress guard agreed with that. Their magic using people tend to be more powerful than human ones and Rosenburg rates about middle class of theirs he said. There's not many of them in the US, they really don't want to see a new witch hunt and about twenty years ago it was looking like one was going to start again thanks to some media things like movies."
The head of the congress shook her head slowly. "Why would they?"
"Books and movies with paranormal and magical things come out periodically and then religious sorts go after anyone with those ideas. Do you remember the whole panicking things about albums and musicians when you were little?" She nodded once. "Same thing then only new movies and books came out, got popular and attention, then got the heaving ones to start."
"All right," she said, then cleared her throat. "We don't want that. If Rosenburg is that powerful who knows what she'd do."
"It'd probably open at least one hellmouth, as she's had close contact and working with two, in a way that meant it couldn't be closed." He smiled a bit. "Those who were born near one may have a bit of an advantage of closing it if that does happen. Harris apparently has every single one of them try to pet him magically when he's near enough."
"Does he use magic?"
"No. Rosenburg said it goes wrong around him. The ones he worked with on that building cleanout said that he doesn't use magic but he does have a bit of instinctive skills from the radiation it filled him with that can mimic shielding and the like." The president moaned again. "But again, he's the guy defending Africa and training the slayers down there." He shrugged. "He seems like a normal enough guy, even with his visions."
"Like foresight?"
"Like sent visions, yes. Headache inducing from the guys on the tomb team reported when he had one up there. It kept them from opening a doorway before they had what they needed to end that portal and the being holding it open. Which actually took that one's mother showing up to nag him. And some backup weapons just in case. He told them about artillery."
That got a few blinks and a few nods. "Oh, dear," the head of the congress said. "So we'e totally miscalculated half of the world?"
"Not totally. We put ourselves on top for power when we're not. We've forgotten or never knew a lot of history that others had. The same religious sorts are going to scream a lot when they hear about ancient demon societies being there before humans took over thanks to them creating the first slayer." He smirked a bit. "She's in the slayer spirit. Each girl called is in it."
"Is that healthy for them?"
"No idea. Can't probably be ended without killing them all."
"Oh, charming," she said with a nod. "So these hellmouths?"
"Thin spots between realms." She winced. "We can open one that's not natural. We think we have one of those started but they stopped the one doing it. It's leaking but there's a slayer living next door to it. She calls it Flora because obviously it's a female. I have no idea how she'd know that part. I didn't ask."
"Shit," got muttered a few times.
"We need to get the research team down here."
The guard smiled and nodded. "Rosenburg suggested we do share information at some sort of conference. Us, them, the demonic councils. Humans if they can be polite and not scream at us. They have it tentatively scheduled for October because apparently the demonic take All Saints off by tradition but human magic users don't.
"She told us a charming story about a chaos sorcerer who changed their town's children into their costumes during trick-or-treat to raise power for Janus." The president went back to rubbing his forehead. "Bigger kids got assigned to go with them as a punishment. Harris went as a soldier. Rosenburg went as a ghost. Slayer Summers went as some seventeenth century lady according to her."
The president looked at him. "You're giving us all ulcers."
"Sorry, sir. I can only report on what I found out."
"Anything good you learned?"
"Most covens are reasonable beings, and a lot are women but not all. Herbalism is practiced by that sort. They do things very ritually. Rosenburg tends to make it up as she goes along and doesn't measure when she's doing potions. At all. I had to stop her from tossing in a handfull of moss into something she was working on because it'd go explosive and destroy the kitchen."
They stared at him. He grinned and nodded. "By the way, her parents are those psychologists most of us were worried were getting into our business but they never speak to her. Not since they got possessed once and tried to burn her at a stake." That got a weak moan. "And we're right about them, they will lead a charge to burn us all if they can because it's not logical to their way of thinking and they hate all that fantasy stuff."
"The same as we do," the president quipped. He leaned back. "Any other good news?"
"The banks are hiding their laughing at all of this. When I asked for a copy of whatever file they made on Harris, they just smirked at me as it was handed over."
"Charming." He looked around the group then at his guard again. "Anything else we have to know today?"
"The head auror will be one of those trying to attack covens and the slayers," he pointed out. "He was in the paper today sneering about all that. I did warn them. Miss Rosenburg scried him then pulled him to have a talk with him. He was rather horrified but I left my assistant there to bring him back when she's done talking to him about his stupid ideas."
The president nodded, rubbing his forehead again. "That may help or it may backfire." He looked around then at him. "The battles?"
"We have ideas, we have time to figure out if and where we can help, they said we can jump in and then flee again afterwards like the last one we jumped into."
"Okay," the president decided. "Figure that out and brief us next week. Go to that conference. Take a few scholars with you. In many disciplines if you can. Prepare a report about all that then."
One raised his hand. "How many realms did they say we connect to?"
"It depends on which hellmouth you're asking about. One has about fifty. One has probably two hundred but they didn't measure it exactly, just asked the people who used it." The guard smiled. "There's portal makers though. They help in immigration as well." That got a mass nod. "And some of our creatures are actually demonic species. My assistant asked about a few and the witches noted that they were peaceful demon species. And two that're crossbred to be less sentient but nice enough pets."
"Does their congress know that?"
"Probably. They didn't ignore as much as we have. The old Council ignored almost as much as we did though. If they couldn't own it, they considered it evil."
The president nodded. "Thankfully the new one is better?"
"Much. The slayers work with the local peaceful community. They even join them for kitten poker games."
One man winced, just nodding at that. "All right. That makes sense in a weird way. Thank you for that report. I believe I feel my wife trying to summon me home for drinks." He got up and walked off, going to talk to his wife. Who was a historian by training.
"She got very upset and wanted to rush up and nag the coven in Cleveland but he pointed out they were arranging a conference and they allowed some studying in the Council's library. She almost calmed down and started to call around. He texted someone to get a copy of those archeology reports for her. Which made her go on another rant but her former professors were wanting to see those papers.
***
Xander walked into the local magical school where he was, waving a letter. "I have an invitation for your headmaster."
The guardian on the doorway blinked at him. "You have no magic yet you do."
"I have hellmouth radiation." He grinned. "That's one purpose of the conference."
"I'll summon him." He looked up then at the human. "You are quite odd."
Xander grinned at him again. "Yes I am but I'm also the watcher training the local slayers so they can stay home." The guardian slumped and grimaced. "We changed since they blew up. We rebuilt it so it's good for the girls now. We're not anything like the old group." He nodded at the stern looking woman walking his way. "Ma'am, are you the principal?"
"The headmaster's on his way. Who are you? You set off our protections."
"Xander Harris. Watcher over the girls locally so they get to stay home and grow up being happy little girls."
She blinked. "That's not how it was done."
"No, those ones blew up so we rebuilt it the way it should be, so the girls are protected and trained and treated like humans."
"Oh. We hadn't heard anything on that."
"That's why we're hosting a conference," Xander said cheerfully. "So we at the Council, the magical community, and the demonic community can all meet and share information that needs to get around so people quit freaking out." He spotted a teacher and looked in his bag, pulling out a bigger envelope. "From Penelope at the Catacombs library?" The demon took it to read over. "We're hosting a conference."
"It's been the talk of the demonic community, Harris. And thank you for not radiating today."
"I try every day. Some days, though...." He shrugged. "Can't help the radiation." He smiled at the sour looking man stomping his way. "The Principal?" he asked. The man scowled but nodded. "Your invitation to the conference the Council is hosting between us, your community, and the peaceful demonic communities." He handed it over. "We've got people coming from the US's versions as well. I believe they wanted someone around here to talk about herbology or plants."
The headmaster opened it and read it then looked at him oddly. "Why would we ever do this?"
"Did you not hear that everyone got outed a few years ago?" Xander asked dryly. "Because they did. You guys, the peaceful and non-peaceful demonic communities, us." He shrugged. "There's been a lot of assumptions so we've been asked to share information that would solve some of that. Like thinking that the coven sorts are weaker."
"They don't exist," the woman laughed.
Xander and the demon both stared at her. "Yes they do. The Devon coven is still in existence. The US has about twenty smaller covens. All of which are more powerful than you guys are with your wands." He grinned again. "The MacUS president guy had to give a speech about that to stop the newest coven hunting going on because some of you got upset about 'old ways' and 'not modern' and all that."
He smirked. "They lost spectacularly because some of the younger witches got really upset and turned them all into things. Mostly trees but a few cats, a few dogs, one mule." The demon laughed and nodded. "That one was four though. He was worried they'd come for his mom. It was instinctive." The woman looked horrified. "Which is why we're holding a conference. So we can share things and you guys can share things and we all learn from each other." He looked at the demon. "Has Minnie found you?"
"I've heard but no. The temple hasn't sent her to see any of the trainers."
"Awww. She'll be upset. Though she did get the high priestess to play dollies and have tea parties so she had some happiness finally." He grinned at the horrified look. "So I wouldn't be totaly shocked. Also, have you seen the new archeo announcements?" He smirked before bowing and walking off.
"I hadn't." He pulled out his smartphone to look that up. "Oh, they found a few ancient demon cities. Including that bigoted human archeologist. He finally learned better." He walked off nodding. "I'd like to go if I can. I may be able to learn some new things that haven't filtered down to us yet. They're doing some fantastic studying of the hellmouths." The headmaster was spluttering but oh well. He was a hidebound ass anyway.
The teacher took the letter to read it over. "I dare say we can attend that to see what all this nonsense is about," she decided, going to talk to some of her friends in other countries by magic mirror. That night she had notes for her boss, and neither was happy. They hadn't heard about the outing or anything like it. They were no longer a hidden community by any means apparently.
***
Xander walked into one of the magical banks, smiling at the person who was sending people to other offices. "Ma'am, I'm Watcher Xander Harris. I have the bank's invitation to go to the conference we're sponsoring." He held it up with a smile.
The goblin stared at him oddly. "Why would we need to, Watcher Harris?"
He grinned. "Because a lot of the magical community had no idea about a few things we've known. Including about ancient demon societies. One of your digs got near one and got cursed apparently." He handed it over. "If you wanted to present at that time, we're more than open to it. I liked the guys I worked with on our former building in England, cleaning up the former idiots' mess from them being blown up. They said great things about you guys and your banking system."
"Oh. That's interesting. I'll pass this up, Watcher Harris."
"Sure. And if you guys have a problem, let me know. The team I worked with took my card so they have my cellphone number. I've got to be local for the next three months working with a new tiny mini that's just coming into her powers." He smiled again then left.
"That's weird." She read the letter then went to hand it over. "A Watcher Xander Harris had our invitation to a conference to share information that the magical community may be missing?"
He held out a hand with a nod. "Yes they are. Someone in the US outed the Council, the demonic communities, and the magical communities. The US wizards are concerned that witches in covens are more powerful." He smirked."
"He noted that one of our digs went near a demon city and we got cursed?"
"Yes we did." He sighed with a nod. "That happened in Egypt. That watcher nicely showed up and got our team free of it."
"That was pleasant of him. What did he want in return?"
"Not a thing. That's his job."
"Oh." She nodded, going back to her desk to think about that. Was this well known?
***
Xander walked outside of the hotel they had taken over for the conference, meeting the officers out there. "Hey, guys. I'm the Watcher over Africa's slayers." He grinned because a few stiffened. "It's our people hosting a conference this weekend.
"That way everyone knows what we know that can be shared so no one gets the wrong idea about parts of the demonic community or anything like that." He glared at a guy swaggering over. "Move it, Sparky, before I make sure you make it to the next apocalypse battle." The man backed off at that. He smiled at the officers again.
"We do have other formerly hidden community members in here but it's under a peace treaty even if they're harmful. Or snide in a few cases. The only way we'd react is if we're attacked and then I'll blow a bitch up." He glared at the swaggering guy. Then he smiled as he pulled out his phone to show off a battle video. "We're redoing that one next month if you want to join us.
"Their second son is coming this time instead of the first son that I beat so badly he begged for mercy and I refused it so he lived long enough to understand and spread the word not to try it again. His brother apparently wants me badly." He smiled at the officer again when that guy was heaving off to the side. "We're all here peacefully. Until people like that one."
"Understood," one of the officers agreed with a nod. "We were warned?"
"Slayer Syma told people up here. That was her duty."
"Okay. We can put a few officers casually around the hotel to make sure you guys don't get attacked for dealing with weird things."
Xander grinned. "Thanks. I could use a rest. I have a bunch of minis I'm training and most of them are under ten. They're driving me nuts." Someone tried to rush them so he pulled out his hidden battle axe and stared at them.
"Howdy, peoples of unknown but limited intelligence." They stared at the axe. One giggled. Xander used it to cut his gun into pieces. The man ran away from him. His buddies left too. Xander put the axe back with a grin and shrug for the officers. "You guys have fun with that sort?"
"Yes we probably will, sir," the other officer agreed with a nod and a smile. "Go rest."
"I'm going to help share intel." He went back inside. He smiled at the stomping director of SHIELD and the people behind him. "Mr. Stark, did you get the second one I sent up?"
"I did get that. Who found those?"
"A member of the peaceful community. They may have given them to a guy who deals to off-world battles, most of them are revolution sorts right now, but that one wasn't nearby."
"I can fully understand how people having a revolution for a good reason could use my weapons but I'd rather we knew when that happened instead of just guessing. Did you thank them for me after you used the few you did?"
"I did. It came in very handy too. Two feet tall, bright purple, and toxic to everything. They had to burn the whole forest down to get rid of it and two villages we helped rebuild."
"I can fully understand why they did that. Germs can be nasty."
"No, everything about them was toxic. The hairs were acidic and ate through the ground. Their blood was full of stuff that mutated rocks." Stark grimaced. "Yeah, they *had* to burn it. But we did help rebuild and the girls helped watch their animals since we had time to evacuate them for a few weeks."
"That's sweet of your girls. Are you here for this?"
"Yeah. I probably know some things that others don't." He grinned. "It happens a lot." He nodded. "We're starting the main greeting thing in the main conference room." He went that way. "Director, did you get your two idiots I shipped back out of their box and to quit crying?" he asked dryly.
"It took a few days," he complained. "Thank you for sending a report about why."
Xander looked at him and shrugged a bit. "She's a flirty goddess. I'm sure she wasn't amused she made them cry. She's a super nice lady. I see her healers a lot." He let them into the room and followed. "We have officers guarding the hotel," he told everyone.
"Hopefully no more yahoos." They smiled at that. Giles stared a bit. "Not like I brought artillery, Giles. I need it more down there. Though I did promise I'd let them come join our battles if they really wanted to come in." He sat down next to the archeologist. "How are you finding the garden?"
"It's very pretty. Trapping but pretty."
Xander smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Sylvia finally got home. Did you need another helper for the upcoming going back?"
"We're pretty well done with the garden. I don't know why we went."
"Didn't you find the catacombs?" Xander asked casually then smiled. "Or the library?"
The demonic archeologist stared at him. "There are?"
"Under Heldra's arch is a doorway. I have no idea how it opens but I stepped on it and a bit fell in so I looked. There's a staircase under it."
"Oh. I did not get that part of the email." He looked it up. "No, I didn't." Xander handed over his phone with what he sent. "Oh, no wonder. It probably cut it due to spam threat from the coordinates." He fixed it and resent it. "I'll have to check that. If I need Sylvia again I'll call her. She seemed sweet and like she liked the work."
"Her younger sister wants to be Indiana Jones but hates dirt. Sylvia was making her flee her talking to her parents by talking about slime."
The archeologist snorted but nodded. "There's much of that in the field." He handed the phone back. "Thank you, Harris."
"Welcome. Let me know if you need more than Sylvia. Catherine's in some sort of humanities study in England."
"I hadn't heard. I need to ask if she's in my field." He made that note.
Giles walked up in front of everyone. "Welcome. I figured we should talk to share information so all the miscommunication and misunderstandings are stopped before they harm someone." He smiled at the coven members. "If you want we'll start with some basics and move on to hear about newer things. I know we have a few here who do archeology and some of our field watchers." Xander grinned and waved, making a few moan. "Yes, including Xander. He had to alert us that a lot of the Ancient Ones are still around. Thankfully he used some manners."
"I have a letter for Witch Marcia from Heldra's high priestess," Xander noted loudly. "Something about flowers and tea." She looked back so he waved a bit. "It's in my suitcase."
She nodded and turned back around. "Can we start with the magical thoughts so some quit thinking we're just playing dress up, Rupert?"
"Yes, I believe that's a great place to start," he agreed, moving out of the way. The head of a few covens and the MaCUSA people came up plus a few others from other schools and governments. They held a great talk about the differences in magic. The magical community people were horrified but oh well! They learned what witches could and couldn't do, with them demanding proof so they did.
Xander stopped them at one point by standing up. "Do not even ask her to do a potion, people." Willow glared. "You can't measure worth a damn, Willow. And that potion has been stopped twice for being explosive. Let one of the other witches do it?" He sat back down.
"I do not do potions very well," Willow admitted, glaring at him. "But you're in trouble, Mister."
"Oh well! You nearly blew up Andrew last time." She muttered something. "As soon as you picked that up, my protections started to tingle like there was a demon invasion coming," he noted. She went pale and checked then let one of the witches neutralize it for her. "Thanks!" He grinned and waved.
Giles scowled. "Be more polite in front of important people, Xander."
"Sorry, Giles."
Giles sighed. "Willow is correct, her best area is not potions." The witches up there giggled and nodded but handled that for her. Willow could pout. They weren't going to let her hurt anyone.
***
The various magical community members met in a few adjoining rooms that night for their own meeting. "They do things we thought were fantasy," the head of the MaCUSA congress said. The others nodded and shared notes around that they had from other encounters.
"Perhaps we should hold one of these among all of us," the one from France said in accented English. "That way it spreads farther." He looked at the ones Xander had invited up from their magical school, who were all frowning. "We need to find a way to see if the newer magicals are our sort or their sort so they get appropriate training."
"Yes, they should," the headmaster agreed. "Some can use both." He looked around. "We may have to make a class about this, at least a single lesson." They nodded at that.
"England's schools are not friendly to that idea," one of the British aurors noted. "Hogwarts is in a tizzy about all this. Our minister has a perpetual headache from those looking to browse our shopping areas thanks to those books." A few nodded at that. "We need to see what their technology can mimic of ours as well. Because I'm afraid we weren't as hidden as we thought before all this. Our muggleborns warned us about technology and computers but we thought they were farther behind than they are."
"Harris and that one watcher both took what looked like magic mirror calls," the one from Africa noted.
"Video conferencing," the one from the US said with a smile. "We use it here sometimes. We can hold whole classes over it. We have a few students who tune in so they get lessons if they're sick at home. Though we do usually insist they use mirrors for that so no other student freaks out. We'd die if we still used quills like the Brits do in their schools. Even then we're probably a few years behind as well. Our bank does learn some of that for us and keep track of anything that could out us. I'm wondering how they missed those books completely."
"I doubt they read young adult books," the head of the US's academy said dryly. "I didn't but I think I should try to start or have a staff member start. Maybe a librarian." The others nodded at that idea. "Did the goblins seem upset to you?"
"They were," the one from England agreed. "The witches were showing off skills they can't do or mimic. Ones that could help their businesses."
"The short talk on hellmouths was weird but necessary," the head of the US congress admitted with a sigh. "We had the total wrong idea about those things. Even with being told that and going looking, they know a lot we don't."
The head of the African academy cleared his throat. "The historians tomorrow are going to make people scream. I'm aware there's older societies. We had two archeologists there today as well. One's the head of the demonic university in Egypt's archeology program. Harris favors him for finding and announcing things. Gave him a full demon city. And the human one got another one to make him stop sneering at the demonic community."
The others grimaced. "How bad can that be?"
"Demon cities were there first."
The people all stared at him. "Excuse me? Demons were here first?" one of them demanded. That headmaster nodded. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. I looked up that one's archeological papers. The Council knew, it's why they got formed, to fight that." He looked around. "Though it's nice they do work with the peaceful community now."
"Odd but nice," the head of the US congress agreed with a nod. "What do we do if we have a slayer in our population? Can they use magic?"
"I have no idea," the head of the French academy admitted. "We can ask. They're willing to help us." He went to get one of the witches. "We had a few questions, can you come talk to us?"
"Of course," she said, putting her lid on her travel mug of tea and bringing it with her. "I only had nagging Willow duty tonight to make sure she didn't go out to do odd things in the clubs and get hurt by some idiot." They stared at her.
"If she's attacked she's liable to attack back and cause quite a problem for everyone else as well. She does not have fine level of focusing on a single person unless she's very peeved at Xander." She sipped her tea then smiled. "They've known each other since the first day of school." They nodded at that. "What can I help with?"
"What are we to do if we have a slayer among our schools?"
"Slayers may come from a magical family," she said. "Though they cannot use magic themselves as far as we know. We haven't seen any in a few generations by the notes. Among us, they come a bit more frequently because we know about such things. Now the new Council lets them stay at home and train while making decisions about what sort of duty they'll have."
She took another sip. "Some girls decide to never patrol. It's not in them to do that duty. They'll protect their families, maybe a town if something happens, but they'll never be able to handle a patrol. They let the girls decide that themselves. The ones in college often cooperate to cover the college's problems and if they graduate and go to a regular career they fall back to battle only status usually from what they've told us."
"So the girls decide if they're going to patrol?" the head of the US Congress said. She nodded with a smile. "What if none do?"
"Some girls feel the duty very strongly. Like those who feel they're called to military service I suppose. Or legal services." That got a nod. "But not all the girls feel it that strongly. Many will patrol during college years and then retire once they have a career. And really it is harder to patrol for vampires in a club when you're thirty than when you're twenty-two."
"We don't have clubs like that," one admitted.
"They're *quite* an education," the witch said dryly. "Opened my eyes quite a lot. I had been meaning to chide some of the girls for going out in skimpy clothes. They were going to bait. I followed to make sure they didn't get the wrong sort of attention but that's what they were going for, from the vampires so they could hunt them." She grimaced. "It was not how we were brought up in my day but the girls have found ways of handling that duty as well."
"Do all the girls learn that? Even if it's not done in their areas?"
"They teach them in case they have to know because they opted to travel to another house," the witch told them. "But if it's not an option in their normal area they tend to just gloss over it and tell them to ask the older girls how to dance in a club. I know Harris will do it that way and then go over what's more normal for their areas. We heard him talking to one about belly dancing bars." A few sighed at that.
"She's up in the northern part of Africa so they're more prevalent up there. That way she understood all the environments she may need to hunt in. He also teaches them how to camp and do those things if they don't already know. Including teaching them how to make temporary but reasonable shelters if they're in the field and get lost or something." She finished her tea. "The ones in Asia get area specific lessons as well. Harris has said that there's no real staking vampires down in Africa, they're all beheading."
"That makes sense," one of the teachers agreed with a slight nod. "Could we have current pre-slayers in our communities?"
The witch smiled and shook her head. "Not unless they got missed on the location charm with the slayer essence. It hit a few places that blood from slayers but mostly the girls all got spotted. We do it once a year after the first. Willow and a few of us do it together."
"Then you'd send Harris out to alert us and the families?"
"Oh, dear, no. I like Xander, he's turned out a lot better than most of us thought. We thought him fairly rough and crude but he's not as bad as we thought. We'd send someone with tact. We alert the families and give them contact things so they can tell us happy news, plus things to read over, but protect the child long distance.
"When she's six or eight, we show back up to let her know and look over what her parents have done to help her future training, like martial arts classes and the like. That gives the girls the best chance at a happy childhood then we slowly introduce her to things and help her learn how to protect herself. She'll get demon lessons after puberty so she's not emotionally stunted.
"Xander's girls are more natural living as far as I know. He does hover over a few of them but they've been threatened. He does things like show up to make sure they're doing educational things and handle any problems in their areas. Their parents or someone alert him to something going on so he shows up, goes over their homework with them and teaches them things they'd get in self defense classes, plus handles things."
"So the girls are encouraged to be happy young women," one said with a smile.
"Yes. It seems to work. They're also encouraged to have friends, including some that may help them with limited parts of their duty. It worked for Summers. Xander brought her back to life once. Apparently she had been drowned and that created a second slayer. The girls are much happier now that there's more than one doing the duty at a time and with the upbringings they're getting.
"Even the girls in the house who don't have other families make one out of the other girls and some of the support people they have around them. Though Giles does encourage them to find out if they do have family still living. He's insistent on it the last I heard."
"That's good for the girls then. Much better than it had been," the one from England said. The witch smiled and nodded. "How do your sort of witch tell if a child has a gift? We use things from books that track magical sparks and lineages to people who alert us if there's accidental magic going on."
"Sometimes they find us. There's a ton of books written by the meditative sort who use the name and the craft but can't do actual magic. If we find one that has magic we'll tend to feel it if they're near us and show up to talk to them about it. A few of us also substitute teachers so we may find one that way. Though we have had an epidemic of jealous girls who turned their rivals into pets and sent them to the pound." She huffed at that. "We've been wearing ourselves out checking pounds."
"We'd go to jail for that," the one from England told her.
She smirked a bit. "Yes but you haven't caught three of yours. We had a talk with one of the girls." He winced at that. "Belinda, the one with the henna colored hair, had that talk. Her mother was of the opinion that it was jealous girl things. Which it was. But it did nearly get a few killed. Her mother got her the meditative books and started to teach her about not being a jealous pre-teen girl." She cleared her throat again. "Her mother was horrified that a coven found out about her daughter."
"Oh, dear. A noted family?"
"Jerrols?"
"Slightly," the auror agreed. "I'll go check on her myself." He made himself a note. Then sighed. "That's got to be a modern problem."
"One of the demons in Cleveland said that they had once stopped Willow from accidentally sending someone back to Ancient Greece when she was mad at them." That got a few moans and a single nod from the auror. "Magic can be emotionally led at times. Especially in teenage girls." She smiled at the teachers in there. "You have a lot more fun than I probably do."
"Can wand users do that? Temporal spells are considered forbidden and extremely difficult."
The auror looked around someone at them and nodded. "We've had two recorded. We got them bounced back. It's as hard as banishing someone." That teacher winced. "Teenagers are traditionally emotional and unknowing so we just don't tell them it's possible. That way they don't consciously do it." He sat back again.
"We do the same thing, though the girls have usually been taught that their connection to the natural magics will guide them if something's unethical. We try to make sure they have good natural connections but not all practioners would have that sort of connection. Some do connect better to chaos or to air or to planetary powers even.
"Thankfully most of them haven't grown up...wrong minded. Though some do turn later on. And some turn back. Magic addiction is bearable once you break it, the same as alcoholism is. But one can backslide as with any addiction."
"Is that's why Rosenburg's so heavily watched?"
"Yes. The girl grew up without great parental assistance. Hers were ...I believe I can call them absent frequently without swearing."
"The ones on the news shows," one said. The witch smirked and nodded. "No wonder she grew an addiction."
"Yes, and she's had other problems because of her upbringing. Thankfully we helped her fight a great many of them and she's aware of backsliding. Now and then we have to point it out to her but she'll end it on her own these days. It's a struggle as any addict can tell you."
"I've seen some. Muggle drugs tend to render magic undoable."
The witch smiled and patted him on the hand. "Only a few. Opium had that effect but many do not. Including pot. That can actually make it easier to access other methods of power." He groaned. She smirked and nodded. "Willow got high one night at a club without realizing it. She came home calling on spirits.
"Thankfully she didn't bring anyone else back to life but she was surrounded by spirits. Including some who were in a coma in a nearby hospital. We got them all sent back and asked Xander if he knew how to block that off as he's easily possessed. He sent up a few meditations and some herbs to do with that, plus suggested she talk to a Buddhist monk or Native shaman about those issues. He talked to many about his."
"He can be possessed?"
"Yes," the one from the aurors in England said firmly. "The tomb team had to make sure a few of the things they found couldn't get him. They tried a lot." He smirked at the witch. "He held off most of them without help."
"That's great news! The boy got possessed by walking into someone's working circle. Someone wanted to be a native shaman and merge with a spirit hyena."
The auror raised an eyebrow. "Huh." He made a note to get a copy of that file so he could see if others needed that sort of help. "How did he learn?"
"They have native healers and shaman down in Africa. We assume he talked to them. If not maybe learning some things at the ancient temples he's found. Apparently he's very nice to the ancient beings in them."
"There's still ancient Gods?" the auror demanded.
"Yes, we were all amused as well," she said with a smile. "He talks to a few who have helped the girls more than once. One of them stopped a battle by showing up and slapping her former boyfriend for standing her up for a date. Totally stopped him causing a problem by ranting and slapping him across the face." She grinned. "We were all amused that night."
He nodded. "Me too." He rubbed his forehead. "Does anyone have a real idea of what the boy's done?"
"Ask the demon community. Their poker circuit may if they're betting on it. Or if some other realm's been paying attention to him." She smirked. "He'd be a boring tele show but you never know."
"I can do that." He made that note for himself in the morning. "Can we do watcher things?"
"I suppose you could," she admitted. "It's a lot of learning and backing the girls up. You'd have to be able to help them learn how to handle battles and probably fall in for a few. Perhaps not with magic though. Many of them seem to require swords, crossbows, and artillery. Harris works with a few militaries and one's training the other militaries in the region so they can fall in and hide things.
"I heard one country said that a battle did not happen and would never happen. Though I've heard rumors that it was because they were all rendered naked during it. I suppose they didn't want to be seen to be waving two swords at that time." A few laughed at that idea. "Harris!" she called. He knocked and leaned in a minute later, still chewing, and made a humming noise. "If they wanted to handle battle things, who's training the militaries down there?"
He swallowed. "General Kalini in Mali's military. He's trained some agents too." A few made notes of it. "A lot of being a watcher is being a lecturing big brother sort. It really is. I talk to the girls about sensible things and help them with normal girl things. And I protect them from idiots. Human and demonic idiots at times.
"If you wanted to do that, go for it. We could use more. I could use backed up because I'm the only guy doing the slayers in Africa." He grinned at one. "Though your brother's helped a few times." He beamed before going back to his room.
She smiled at them. "Summers does the same thing with her minis. She big sisters them, nags them about homework, all that."
The others nodded at that. "We may have some people who'd do good with that. I'll have to ask around." He looked at the others then at her. "So you don't have formalized education."
"No, we have guidelines we teach and if they want to learn a skill they can ask. Or if we see they need taught a skill we'll do that. Though none of us have been able to teach Willow how to measure a single thing so far. She does the same thing with cooking." She sighed at the end, shaking her head. "Tea making as well."
"Could she learn to like a wand?"
"I don't think she'd use it more than ceremonially and she's not really suited to formal styles of magic. We've tried to get her to help with rituals. She either focuses everything on it, and overpowers everyone else, or her attention will drift." That got a mass nod. "I'm rather worried she'll find something new to learn in one of the demon cities being uncovered." She sighed again and stood up. "We can chat more tomorrow. I need more tea." They smiled and a few thanked her on her way to get more tea.
The one nearest the door shut it. Xander knocked and opened it then handed in a card. "The one who hides it in the Brit military and the one in India's military in case anyone needs to talk to them. At the bottom is the name of the professor over the Watcher trainees at the traditional college." He grinned and left them to talk.
"Ladies, I believe we have a bedtime," he called to a group in baiting clothes. "None of you are able to handle a New York club hunt. The local girls won't do those because it's a lot more dangerous than the ones anywhere but Miami and LA's." The girls groaned.
"If not, take one of the McDougal watchers with you. They're military trained and can save you from human idiots." One ran to get one of those two and went off with him and the local slayer. Xander patted her on the arm, getting a grin from her. "I'm out of clubbing practice," he quipped.
The younger McDougal nodded at that. "We went with the LA slayer a few times," he admitted. "I never want to see another minor actor turned." The girls asked him about that. They loved gossip.
The magicals in the rooms shared a look and went back to figuring out how to work things out with this new information.
***
The British auror stood up in front of the entire Ministry personnel and the heads of the major schools of magic in their kingdom. "All right. Just been to the conference those Council people sponsored so we could share information." He clapped his hands together then smiled.
"We've been blown open longer than we thought thanks to some books we didn't know were out." He looked at the Muggle department, who looked clueless. "Yeah, about a certain Boy." One winced. "Also, we're wrong on a lot of stuff." He presented all the information he had learned. Both about the other magical communities of theirs and the covens. About the demonic communities and the differences between them.
He also told them about the UK Demonic Council, their version of the USDC. He told them about the Council sorts and their issues, including that they had a rip that wasn't a full hellmouth up-country and that the Devon coven guarded it. That got a lot of frowns as he went over what a hellmouth really was and what it did and didn't do.
The Minister stood up at the end. "So you're saying that magic is more known than we thought." The auror nodded with a grin. "That we've got demonic presence in our countries but they're peaceful for the most part." The auror nodded again, still smiling. "And that the Council people know how those rips form but can't stop them?"
"No one can stop them. They described them like stretchmarks. Like our wives got with our kids." The minister sat down with a sigh. "I did stop by to talk to our demonic council in the area earlier before I got here. They keep this area very peaceful and the local slayers only have to handle new vampires. Which is nice since she's over here to go to college.
"Also, the coven was most amused that we've limited ourselves by learning a wand." He turned on the video from that talk, which he was running by magic. They watched it and the demonstrations and the measurements they took.
The Minister hopped back up. "Hold on." He paused it. "First, how are you doing that?"
"Mirroring spell from the tv since it's so small. Basically projecting it. I learned from the MaCUSA head auror. They use it in court cases."
"They can do that regularly?"
"We could do that regularly. It's not a use we thought of for the mirroring charm."
"Oh." He blinked a few times. "How did they record that?"
"Camera. They have all sorts of taping abilities. Magical and not. That's from the magical tape system the USDC actually set up so everyone could download a copy of everything to bring home." He grinned. "Gringotts was amused too. They have some of this stuff but not all of it."
The minister looked confused. "There's a lot more like that?"
"Yes." The minister slumped again, looking at him. "We can go over that later." He went back to the film for them.
"Who's the redhead?" one of the lesser aurors called.
"Rosenburg. She self taught through stolen books." The head auror grinned at him. "She's in treatment for her magic addiction. Fighting it hard. But we were all told she does not measure a single blasted thing. Not a potion, not a recipe, not a single thing." He went back to it and then showed another incident. Some yahoo had tried to break in to remove the unholy slayers from the hotel.
Rosenburg had been reading in the lobby and had casually floated them and kept them up there while they screamed, cried, and begged to get down. She had actually seemed to forget about them until some guy came out, sighed, and called out for her to let the idiot down so they could have him arrested. She went 'oops', flicked her hand so he fell, then went back to getting her lunch. The head auror smiled at his people. "We are not going to bother any coven members. We can learn to get along with them."
"They're scary and powerful," the minister agreed with a nod. "Can they all do that?"
"Yeah, probably. There's some levels of abilities going on but yeah, the top ones can. They're also complaining that they're tired of going to pounds to find changed people thanks to jealous teenage girls. Peterson, how's your sister?" he asked, smirking at him.
"I beat her so hard she's given up even using a wand, boss," he quipped. "Dumb little quim deserved it and Mum said she couldn't get her to see reason because she's a teenage girl. Is she the only one?"
"Nah," he said with a smirk. "Two others among us. Another few among theirs. Mostly teenage girl things." A few nodded at that. "We figured out how to tell their magic from ours and we have a pebble that'll read it. We're going to assign someone to go to each pound at least twice a week to get anyone changed so they can be changed back by someone, us or them." That got a nod from his aurors.
He tossed one the stone, getting him to look at it and make copies. "Thank you." He looked at his boss again. The minister was looking upset again. "We and they feel and use the magic differently. They feel it around them, in them, all that. Like babies will play with the magic glowy things they can feel around their cribs? They never quit doing that and can draw on that.
"They try to get them all to use some sort of natural force but not all people are drawn to it. Some are naturally drawn to chaos. Without being evil. As pointed out, chaos is a part of the natural life, the same as decay is." A few slumped at that. "Basically we're working out how to tell theirs from ours for schooling. They don't do a formalized school but will train skills if theirs need it or want it. Though no one can apparently teach Rosenburg to measure anything."
He clapped his hands and smiled again, turning on another section. "We can have slayers born among us. Hasn't happened in a while though." He let them watch that. "No one's sure if those ones can use magic or not. It might stunt their growth magically. No one's sure what the slayer spirit does to 'em when they're that young. They showed off how to do the locating charm and the nearest we have is from a coven related family up north by that thin spot that's not quite a rip that the coven watches over."
"So they're powerful enough to do major magical works," the head of the Department of Misuse of Magic said as she stood up. The head auror nodded at that. "And we never find out?"
"Nope. Apparently not. Unless you've seen them doing things like working circles?" She shook her head and sat down. "Then again, our measurement devices are ages out of date. The Americans gave up using them but the ones in Germany are aces and within ten years old. Ours are their granddaddy's version." That got a sigh and a nod. "We might also want to look at the education stuff. We're behind."
The minister winced at that. The head of the Department of Education glared. He held up a hand and tossed him a book. "From your counterpart in Germany, who came for the talk, and the one from the US when I asked. They asked and I asked to get a copy too. They wanted to compare to the US's schools. We're at least two years behind them."
He read it and moaned. "Oh, no."
"Oh, yes. And their schools use regular tech that's been changed to run on magic. The main US school has computers." The headmaster winced at that. "So does Canada but they use a lab room full of them that the students can use as needed instead of personal systems like they do in the US." He smirked at them. "The idea of quills made them all shudder in horror. So did handwriting papers. Even the ones here at the Ministry are done by typewriter. We should upgrade the students to that standard?"
"Computers use the same keyboard design," one of the junior people said. "It's the earlier form of computers. Which were built on the back of weaving styles with their cards." He grinned at one, who huffed and paid him for that bet. He pocketed those coins. "They have computers that can run everything."
"They have a system in their phones that you talk to and it turns things on and off or looks up things for you," the head auror corrected, making a few wince. "I had one of the teachers there pull out hers to look up a deli for lunch yesterday. I asked. Their virtual assistants can look things up, start your car, start your oven, your washer, your lights, all that stuff if you want to upgrade everything.
"We here in our magical community are living in the early parts of the twentieth century. It's the twenty-first. The US is still a bit slow on technology things but they're about a decade behind instead of a century." The minister whined again, shaking his head. "I'm not saying we have to upgrade but we need to look at these things and plot a course at least.
"Also, their WWN has merged with a tele station in most of Europe. Radios are for music mostly. Not news." A few winced. "We're behind and we knew very little about some things we assumed. Also, we're wrong on history." A few stared at him. He nodded. "Real wrong. The Council people had written records in some of the first languages about how the slayer line got started. Including demon cities. Which archeologists are finding again.
"Harris led them to a few in Africa so they could go over them and announce it so people wouldn't panic when this got out." He pulled out a copy of those reports to hand to a few people. "I asked, they had a file on Merlin. Called him a snotty nosed little bitch." He grinned at the head of the history archive. Who was looking horrified.
"He was their sort, not our sort. The grandson of one of the coven that became the Devon coven via her adopted daughter." He went back to the stage. "People are going to freak out and yell. They've tried to yell at the Council sort and had to get put back in their places." He waved a hand at the prior video to end that spell. "That's why they held the conference."
"So we'd quit assuming and others would quit freaking out," one of the under ministers sighed. The auror nodded. "Everyone okay there this weekend?"
"We had a few people that Harris called yahoos. One of them let me ask him about what that tube thing he had did. They have weapons that can destroy a whole building and it's hand-held. Shoulder mounted, but carryable." His aurors all stared at them. "Harris doesn't know all about them but he's had to use a good bit in Africa. They have bigger ones too."
He looked at the Minister. Who waved a hand. "We should ask about those to see if it's something we need to come up with wards against." The minister waved a hand again, rubbing his face with his free hand. "We need to liaison with our counterparts in England's governments. Their chemistry stuff has at least sixty elements ours don't.
"The Watcher program at Oxford is willing to talk to us, and willing to let some of us train to be watchers if we want. I asked our person up there if they knew that professor. Then I got them together. They both thought the other was a crackpot until they found out what they were over. They're talking and drinking for days probably."
The minister stood up again. "So we need to look ahead, make some plans, figure out how we're going to manage being so far behind, see if things will work for us or if we need to figure out whole new solutions the other countries don't use yet, and deal with things that the muggleborns see daily that we don't?"
"Yup." The head auror nodded with a grin. "Sure do, boss." He looked at one he knew was muggle born. "You?"
"Oh, I saw most of it and I laugh each time the Muggle Department people think about things that're basic and came out over a century ago," she admitted. Then she smiled. "And yes, I do adore my home computer. I can type a whole lot of notes within a few minutes and save it multiple places that no one will ever find." The others in her department looked at her. She shrugged.
"I grew up with a PC for doing homework on. Looking up anything interesting on the internet, all that." She smiled at the head auror. "I've suggested ours actually go visit some muggles more than once. Even let them go see my mother and father because they were used to hearing me complain about hand-writing papers."
"We were very confused about many things but I felt it was rude if we asked what things were," one of those said. "What is that thing they were staring at at night?"
"Television or tele," she said with a slight nod. "It shows programs, like radio programs, but they're in pictures so you listen and watch. What he was doing the mirroring charm off of. Been around since the 1930's to show Wimbledon. Showed the Queen's first address and coronation." She shifted in her seat to look at someone. "If we're going to upgrade we need to look at the issue of electricity. Everything runs on electricity." She turned back around. The head auror was nodding at that. "How was the hotel?"
"Very nice. Not one of those high class places they talk about in mags but nice. Nice restaurant, nice people mostly. Confused people who cleaned the rooms but very comfortable beds and tubs. Very nice place. Not a single house elf in there either. All human employees."
A few looked startled. "They're not real common in the US at all. They're protected so if they show up at your house you take them in but once they're yours they're the ones who have to want to leave to go and you can't harm one. It's against the law. You can't hit them, throw things at them, or yell at them."
"That's insane," one of the magical creatures people complained. "Seriously?"
"Seriously. They protect household animals with anti-cruelty laws and house elves too." He shrugged. "We can meet with the ones in the US so you can see what they're doing and other countries too if you want to arrange it. I'd suggest it. We all need to do one for each department. Including with Canada."
He grimaced. "The Canadian aurors showed up for the second day of the talks so those of us who were guards or aurors talked to them. They had been invited and blew it off." He smirked. "They seriously think we're backwards."
The minister nodded. "I agree, we should hear what other countries know that we don't. Especially with the security risks thanks to tourists." He looked around. "Find some way to hold a conference for each department. Either a call, a meeting, whatever. Bring back a list of differences, a plan to look at why they have them and how they had to change things from what we have. See if there's anything we're ahead on."
"We have more potions people," the head auror quipped.
"Beyond that?"
The head auror shook his head. "We have nice librarians. Even Rosenburg praised good English librarians, which made a few of the coven blush. Guess they are in their normal lives. We have bigger estates sometimes. Countries have differences but some of them...we're behind. We barely have zippers."
"The clothing ones?" someone asked. He nodded. "They do?"
"And other fasteners. Including this stuff that merges together." He showed them on the new knife case he had found and bought. "That's called velcro. It's woven that way to hold cloth together. Including some shoes having it instead of tying." She looked disturbed. He nodded. "They don't tend to go to places that hand-make clothes like we do. Madam Malkins would be a rare treat for those who're wealthy, not regular folks. It's got its drawbacks too but even their magical community's healers work with regular doctors for things like organ transplants. Do we?"
"I've read up on them but no. We don't work with a muggle hospital." The head healer for the ministry nodded, smiling at everyone. "He's right. I've been keeping up with my fellow trainees and the ones who went to muggle medicine had to nearly go all the way back but they can do some great things. We can heal a cut almost instantly and they use stitches but they can do things we can't. A lot of things we can't. And a lot that take electricity." He looked at him. "Did you have to talk about any of my area?"
"Some of the witches did go over healing things with each other. Not with us. There were a few covens, and some internationally. They shared recipes and news on things like new designers and those who make them altar stuff. Plus some fashion stuff. Most of them wear muggle clothes. They have working robes for magical stuff."
"I change when I get home too," the healer decided. "Potions heavy I'm betting?"
"And teas." He nodded. "They were mostly at least parent aged."
"That figures. Are they having a problem keeping the younger involved?"
"Not really. They seem to float about more and if they're interested they'll practice with the coven and if not they can practice at home or not at all and come back to it when it's important."
"That figures," he decided. "Some of our muggle borns do the same thing." The minister looked at him. "There's not a full place for them here."
"I'm realizing that." He looked at his head auror. "Your people are going to talk as well."
"We're doing it in February with some of the ones down south so it's somewhere warming than we get or DC gets." He smirked. "We're thinking Mexico. They'll set it up and let us know."
The minister smirked. "That's not a bad time to get away from the snow." He looked at the teachers, who were all looking upset. "Is there an education conference?" One nodded. "Let us know when and give us a report about what you find out. Maybe it'll lead to new classes and new paths. Or doing student switches if they want that sort of program and we don't have it."
"Maybe," the headmaster of Hogwarts said quietly. "Do the covens use wards?"
"Yes. Rune wards. Fairly strong. It kept Rosenburg from sneaking out to go to a club. They decided it'd be a bad thing to show off. Harris had to go after a few slayers that had went clubbing because the watcher with them got into a bar brawl with something. He had to go help him get to an ER, help the girls get the problem, then get them back to the hotel without nagging them a lot.
"Clubs there are much different than ours. Even the muggle ones in London." His eyes went wide and then he cleared his throat to clear his expression. "Their city offices are linked in with their police departments and they wear usual uniforms but wear a special pin to identify each other." He coughed again.
"Tell us what you learned this weekend in a report and what you learn from other meetings," the minister said with a nod, looking around. "That goes for the rest of you. We'll start going over ideas next month. Maybe they have some good ones we can borrow and tweak to fit our needs." They nodded. "Can that coven rune Diagon?"
"Yes they can and they'll be here tomorrow morning to do so."
"Excellent! I like that." He got up. "Everyone go have your headaches in peace. Call around to your counterparts, set up friendly relations again." They all nodded, walking off talking to each other. The teachers still looked upset. He went to his office to have a fit, have a drink, and have some headache potion. In that order. Then he settled in for a nap. He had a lot of work to oversee.
***
Slayer Catherine followed Xander's written directions with the archeologist with her. "Let's see, he said to stand here," she said, looking around to make sure. She stepped onto the same spot, hearing a grinding noise. "He said that'd happen, I'd find a stone that fell in." She looked and pushed dead leaves away with her toes. She found it and knelt down to look. "Here we go, stairs." She smiled at the archeologist. "Like Xander said he found."
He knelt down to stare at it, then let her deploy the camera on a string so he could see what was down there. "It's got a marking that usually meant human slaves," he said. "Hmm." He let her take out a sharpie and draw that on her hand, the usual spot for them. She felt drawn to a pole on a nearby archway that was decorative and put her hand on it. That opened the actual doorway so they could go see. He helped her erase it once they were down there safely. It was a storage area for slaves to live in. It had a lot of drawings. She sighed in pleasure, going to look at them. "Don't touch them," he warned.
"I know." She held up her phone to use the flashlight. "We have...looks like rituals?"
He came to look. "That is a ritual. Hmm. I'll get proper lights and cameras to take information from down here." He hurried off to get what he needed and his assistants.
She smiled and nodded, moving to look at another section. The first student came down. "The goddess figure is pointing at the dark haired ones and then all the dark haired ones were taken to a temple looking place. It looks kinda sacrificial, Professor."
He came to look. "I've heard myths of that. They prayed to their goddess to mark the ones who were worthy and sent the others away." She grimaced. "So that's why they were here as slaves maybe." He lit up the rest of the area to look at the whole story mural. Including some later ones. "That's...Elemite?" He got out of one student's way. "Wayne?"
He looked then nodded. "Yeah, Prof, that's Elamite or Susian." He frowned as he read it over, skimming a finger just above the surface. "That's stupid. Their goddess decreed any with dark hair were unworthy but she couldn't hold many more sacrifices so she let her friends take some as slaves, or her highest priests got some." He backed off. "That's a language from third millennia BCE though."
"Late for that sort of religion," Slayer Catherine said with a slow nod. "From what the lessons said, most of them were banished or quiet by then." She looked at the professor.
"There were a few closed in enclaves," he admitted. "But mostly they were banished at least a millennia before then." He frowned. "Are we possibly looking at two different time periods?"
"Can we see if Xander knows about that goddess to see if she's got someone still around so we can ask?" Catherine asked.
The professor stared at her oddly. "Are there that many still around?"
"Xander knows about eight. It doesn't hurt to ask. They might've left books or something." She looked at the one who could understand that language. "Do we have a name?"
He frowned as he read over it. "My...it's been trimmed out mostly. It starts with my and looks like it ends in an o sort of sound. Oh."
She sent that to Xander, who sent back he'd ask since he was near the library anyway. "Give him a few to write the librarian he knows."
A few minutes later she got a message from an unknown number and two possibles. She wrote back that they had human slaves and something about dark haired humans. That one sent back the myth that involved that and said that no one could prove that it existed. She let the professor see it with a grin. He identified himself when he sent one back to them. They sent him a message of scanned in sheets and he sent pictures of those symbols and the writing.
They figured out who it was, that she was dead now, a slayer had ended her early on in her reign. She had been trapped by a stupidly granted wish to someone who had won one in a contest, and she had mostly farmed them out to others without sacrificing them because she felt her people were shallow. The professor showed them all and they all groaned but nodded at that information.
He noted that they had found the slave quarters under that garden thanks to Xander finding a staircase. The librarian said a lot of beings thought Xander was cursed to prove all sorts of beings inferior by being himself and chaotic. The professor laughed but agreed he did do a great job of it. The slayer nodded, going to look at the other walls. Xander was good at that.
***
Xander got told that thought by the librarian and snorted. "I am not a moron finder," he complained quietly to his phone. He sent back a pouty faced emoji to that librarian, getting a patting one back. He sighed, putting his phone back. "He found the staircase I found by accident," he told the goddess near him. She stared at him oddly. "The librarian at the research desk up-country said I'm cursed to be able to prove a lot of beings inferior by being myself."
She patted him on the shoulder. "Yes you were, Xander." She walked off giggling. "You prove it each time you run into people with ideas or plans and make them figure out they're not worthy."
He blushed, walking the other way shaking his head. It just happened around him, it really did. He didn't try to do that. It really just happened.
The End.
Coming Out of the Closets.