Castor stared at them. This was the closest he had ever come to out-right fainting. Magic. Was. Real.
He vaguely noticed a woman whispering to Miss Arrow.
“Excuse me, Your Highness, but three . . . men are coming up the street.” She lifted her eyebrows and tilted her head towards the stairs. She mouthed a word that he missed.
The Princess sat upright, and the others exchanged alarmed looks.
Mr. Yueshi walked over to him and said, “I think you need another stiff drink. I have a bottle of brandy in the kitchen.” He helped the dazed man to his feet.
“Magic?” Castor said wonderingly as they left the sitting-room.
They had no sooner entered the kitchen than he heard someone knock at the front door. Mr. Yueshi guided him out the back door, grabbing a bottle from a cabinet in the kitchen as they passed, as well as two glasses. The solicitor closed the kitchen door. They settled on chairs at a patio table. He poured them both a rather large helping in each glass.
“They call it ‘magic,’” Mr. Yueshi said. “But I think it might better be called telekinesis, the ability to move and manipulate matter with your mind. And they do not have telepathy — mind-to-mind communication — so you needn’t worry that they can read your deepest darkest secrets. Nor make you do things or forget things you have seen or done.”
“Telekinesis?”
The solicitor nodded.
Castor sat, thinking, sipping his drink.
۸- ̰ -۸
Emerald Arrow escorted three wizards into the room. “Twilight,” she said, “These men are asking if there is a Hogwarts’ student here.”
Twilight smiled a bit nervously. “I am Twilight Sparkle,” she said, introducing herself. “And there are actually four students who live here who will be attending Hogwarts come September First. However, none of them are here at the moment, they are all over at the Weasley residence. Arthur Weasley. You might know him? He works at the Ministry?”
The three exchanged glances.
“Yes, I know of him. He’s the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office,” said the lead wizard. He sighed. “I’m Arnold Peasegood, this is Koios Pamiec and Làidir Cuimhne,” he pointed to them as he spoke. “We’re here because we picked up magic in use. And this is a muggle neighbourhood.”
Twilight nodded. “Oh, yes, that would be me.” Her teacup floated off the table to her hand.
“And me,” added Blueblood, his teacup copying hers in action. As did Rarity’s.
A moment later, each of the Equestrians had a tea cup floating in front of them. Pinkie Pie was going cross-eyed looking at hers.
The three wizards stared at them. Finally, Peasegood said, “And your wands?”
“Oh,” said Twilight brightly, “I have a wand!” her wand floated out of her bag on the floor.
Both Blueblood and Rarity shook their heads. “I have no need of such a crutch,” Blueblood said in a snooty tone as he looked down his nose at them, even though they were standing and he was sitting.
After a moment’s pause, Peasegood said, “Well, thank you for your time. I’ll inform the Magical Oversight Department that this house has wizards and witches in residence and to ignore any magic from this immediate area.”
He gave Blueblood a stern look and swept it across all the people in the room. “Remember, you must not let any muggles see you doing magic! If a muggle does see something they shouldn’t, inform us immediately so that we can take appropriate obliviation action to protect the Statute of Secrecy.”
Twilight smiled, “Oh, that won’t even be an issue, Mr. Peasegood. We own all the houses you see around here. In fact, we own the one-hundred and forty acres around this house.”
He stared at her.
“Emerald Arrow,” Twilight said, “why don’t you show these gentle-wizards the boundaries of Wisteria Estate, the woods, and the farm?”
Nodding, the Guard led the three men out the front door and down the street. It was over an hour later that they made their way back to the house.
“I explained to Mr. Peasegood,” explained Emerald, “that to allay the . . . muggles’ suspicions, we told them that the vacant houses and land are scheduled to be replaced by a large international business park.”
He nodded, a bit sourly, “I suggest you put up muggle-repelling charms around the perimeter to direct the curious away, if you haven’t already. In the meantime, I’ve marked the edges of your holdings so that my office, as well as the Magical Oversight Department, will ignore any magic inside that area. And, as I said before, don’t let any muggles see you using magic, and if a muggle does, inform us immediately.”
Twilight nodded agreeably. “We will be sure to inform you should anyone accidentally see us casting magic. And we will see about putting up those charms.”
The wizard sighed and signalled his compatriots that they were leaving. “Well, as I said, sorry we bothered you. We’ll be going now.” He turned to leave.
“Would you like to use our Floo?” Twilight asked.
Startled, the three wizards looked back at her. She pointed to the fireplace, and the Floo-powder pot.
Mr. Peasegood smiled. “Why, thank you,” he said. “That will make the return to the office a bit quicker.”
And knowing they were on the Floo-network made Twilight wonder why that office hadn’t informed Mr. Peasegood of the presence of wizards and witches in this location. Was the ministry truly that incompetent? Or was this merely an example of something falling through the inevitable cracks in communication that bedevilled every government?
After they left, Emerald explained, “It was a bit unusual. As soon as we reached the end of the street, they pulled out shrunken brooms and expanded them. I rode behind Mr. Peasegood, and we actually flew around Wisteria Estate and the farmland purchased. He cast a spell he called ‘disillusionment’ so that no one could see us.” She paused. “It was a rather unique experience for a unicorn. Perhaps we should see about adopting their use while we are on this side.”
The ministry now knew exactly where they were. Twilight wondered how long it would take for them to realize that “here” was where the rumoured Atlanteans were living?
۸- ̰ -۸
Wednesday, four cars pulled to a stop in front of number Eleven Magnolia Road. The lead vehicle was a standard Little Whinging police car, the next three were, clearly to Castor, unmarked government Landrovers, a Jaguar sandwiched between two Landrovers. Three well-dressed men jumped out of each of the Landrovers. Four took up positions at each corner of the Jaguar while the other two moved to the front and rear of the lead and rear Landrovers, respectively. From the passenger-side front seat of the Jaguar another man stepped out and opened the back door.
A distinguished-looking man with slightly greying hair and wearing dark-rimmed glasses climbed-out. He straightened his suit slightly as he glanced around at the nearby houses. He saw that each house had a woman or man standing at the nearest corner, all well-dressed. Each nodded to him as he glanced in their direction. His lips compressed slightly as he saw them. Behind him, another grey-haired man exited the car.
The three men started up the pavement to the front door where Miss Arrow and Castor were waiting.
“Thank you for coming, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister,” Castor said, nodding to both. “I realize this is a disruption of your schedules, but as I told you yesterday, it really is important.” He took a breath, adding softly, “Perhaps the most important meeting of our lives.” He turned to the M.I. 5 agent. “If you’ll wait here, please?”
The man looked at the Prime Minister, who nodded. He sighed and took a position to the side of the door.
Miss Arrow opened the door and stepped inside. Castor led the men into the sitting-room. Both newcomers stopped and stared at the room that was much larger than it had any right to be. They both turned and looked at the front door at the end of the short hallway in which they still stood, and then back into the expansive sitting-room. The exterior wall and front windows were clearly farther away than the front door in the entry way, which should have been impossible. The windows gave a good view of the front yard and the houses across the street. However, while the windows from the outside had looked to be of normal size, in here they were huge, taller than the people in the room and clearly a good five meters wide — wider than the entire wall when seen from the outside street.
The room, which shouldn’t have been more than four by five meters in size was easily seven by nine meters, with a ceiling that towered a good six meters above them. They looked back at the staircase beside the hallway that went no higher than three meters. The sitting-room’s ceiling was higher than the house’s roof.
Castor leaned a bit closer to the two men and said, “Yeah, it’s real, you aren’t imagining things. I checked it three times, myself, this morning, when I first got here. The room is almost as large as the entire house without changing the sizes of any of the other rooms. And, from the outside, it looks no different than the other houses on the street.”
A series of armchairs were placed around the room, each with a small table beside it. There was more than enough room to accommodate the large number of people gathered there. Eleven people in a siting-room for a house of this size should have felt crowded. In this room, however, there was plenty of room for triple that number.
Six of the people were already seated. The seventh was the solicitor and he was standing near the newcomers. Lady Dash was lazily flapping her wings, holding station over the middle of the room, almost at the ceiling, and snickering at the gobsmacked expressions of the two officials.
“Your Highnesses, Ladies,” Castor started, “I would like to introduce the Right Honourable John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Mr. Michael Heseltine, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.”
“Gentlemen, I would like to present Princess Twilight Sparkle . . . ,” and then he introduced everyone present.
Almost as soon as the introductions were over, Princess Sparkle said, “Would you like some tea before we get down to business?”
Major nodded jerkily, saying, “Yes. Yes, please,” with his Deputy following suit. Both were still looking around the room, taking in the fact what they were seeing was, indeed, actual fact and not just a stage illusion of some kind.
Castor pointed out the two empty armchairs across from the Princess and Prince. As they were seating themselves, another woman came into the room with a tea service cart.
The teapot, barely large enough to hold three cups, lifted into the air, which drew their attention almost immediately, the server’s hands still on the push-bar of the serving cart. She smiled at the two men as she started filling the cups. Only when she began pouring the fourth cup did the two men begin to realize that there was more going on than just the floating teapot.
The pot settled back on the table after four cups. Cubes of sugar rose from their bowl and dropped into two of the cups, which then lifted off the table and floated through the air to the Princess and Prince. Twilight murmured a “Thank you,” as the Prince merely nodded. The cups, on their saucers, remained floating to one side of each Royal.
The server turned to the two British men and asked, “Sugar or cream?”
Both watched intently as the cubes of sugar dropped into their cups without a tong or hand touching them, and then the creamer poured a small amount into the cup for Heseltine. The cups and saucers floated over to the tables at their sides and gently set down. Four more cups and saucers floated up from the lower shelf on the cart, and she again poured them full from the same pot that shouldn’t have been able to hold more than it had already been dispensed. After serving the four Ladies, Lady Dash had refused any tea, she poured two more cups, one each for Mr. Yueshi and Castor. She then bowed to the Princess and Prince and left the room, leaving the serving cart to one side.
For a few minutes no words were spoken as they took their tea. Princess Sparkle had told Castor in advance that she would wait for a short while to give the two men a chance to regain their equilibrium.
She took a final sip, put her cup back on the saucer, and floated both down to the small table beside her chair. She cleared her throat to get the attention of the two men. “As Castor told you, Prime Minister, what we have to tell you is very important.
She smiled happily. “First, I want to thank you for allowing us to establish an embassy, and to place our chancery in Little Whinging,” she said sincerely.
Prince Blood nodded his head in acknowledgement, murmuring softly, “Yes, thank you.” The Princess gave him an exasperated look, but said nothing to him.
“We have already established a protective perimeter wall around the portal, itself, and begun clearing the forest debris from the site,” she continued. “Our architects have already started adapting our chancery plans to fit your building codes, and we will begin approaching the architects you provided about building the compound later today.”
The Prime Minister nodded to her, “It was my pleasure. I’m sure both worlds will benefit from having your embassy here, in the United Kingdom.” He glanced over at Castor. “I’m sure Detective Inspector Searle will be happy to act as your guide in London.”
Castor nodded agreeably. It was his job, after all.
Prince Blood smirked and murmured, “Better an Embassy here than in a country you aren’t on good terms with, I’m sure.” He paused. “Or even on good terms.” He quirked an eyebrow, “Correct?”
The Princess gave the Prince another stern look, which he ignored, and then huffed. She turned back to John Major. “Castor told us of your desire to establish an embassy in our world, which we would like to see happen, ourselves. However, there are things you do not know that make that a difficult proposition.” Lady Dash gave an impressive yawn and drifted over their heads to the windows. Lady Rarity and the Prince both gave her disapproving looks.
“As your agents no doubt informed you, the portal is responsible for our appearing to you as people instead of ponies. It took us a bit over two weeks to figure out how to reverse that at will.” She gestured at Lady Dash, who was now sitting upright with her hooves crossed, slowly flapping her wings and looking at the cars in the street, and the men positioned around them. More than one were staring back at her.
Seeing everything you thought you knew about flight binned was more than a little disconcerting.
“And it works in the reverse for someone from this world going over to ours, as your agent, Mr. Carroll, demonstrated.” She frowned. “That forms part of the problem. In pony form, your people are at the functional level of a foal, a child, even though they have an adult pony’s body. Talking, thank Celestia, is not an issue.” She sighed.
“Intellectually, you are unchanged, but you must learn how to walk all over again. Based on experience, it will take several weeks before you master that skill enough to move around without tripping or falling down when just walking or going up and down stairs. Complicating that, of course, is that while you are learning, you will be subconsciously expecting things to be the same as how you walk here, which won’t work well because you’re a quadruped. Your ingrained reflexes will actually work against you.
“And for those that are fortunate enough to gain wings, you must also learn how to fly — a skill that takes years to truly master.” She looked away for a moment, “As I have discovered.”
“Experience?” the Prime Minister said before she could continue.
The Princess blushed slightly. “Yes. While I told Castor,” she nodded in his direction, “that we ‘found’ the portal only recently, we have actually known of its existence for about fifteen months. We just didn’t know exactly where it was.”
The men sat still a moment, considering that.
She smiled wryly. “You see, someone came through the portal into our Everfree Forest from your world a year ago in the spring. They travelled through it about half-a-kilometer before collapsing at the edge of AJ’s family orchard.” She nodded over to Lady Jack. “They had been viciously beaten, and when we found them we rushed them to the local hospital. While they recovered, Guards followed their trail in the Everfree forest. Unfortunately, while that led them to the general area, there is a trick to using the portal that they did not know, preventing them from immediately finding it. I, myself, searched for it quite diligently, several times, without success.” She shook her head, chagrined. “And I am sort of an expert in finding hidden things.”
“This person, when they had recovered enough, declared they did not remember where the portal was, and, in fact, had not realized they had even transformed until they woke in the hospital.”
She frowned as she said, “That was not quite the truth, we recently discovered. They did know where the portal was, but were afraid to tell us. Their situation here was rather unpleasant and they much preferred to stay in our world for reasons I completely understand.”
She gave them another quick grin. “Which is also the reason I have not mentioned either a name or gender. They have been perfectly delightful to be around, and adapted well to our world. They now consider themselves to be Equestrians, and have been granted citizenship by the Princesses.”
The two ministers exchanged concerned looks.
Castor, on the other hand frowned. He knew of someone who was from this area and had allegedly disappeared about fifteen months ago — the Dursleys’ missing nephew. Add to that that Mr. Yueshi, the Equestrians’ solicitor, had mentioned a child being abused at the Dursleys. It wasn’t difficult to connect the dots and figure out who this mysterious “they” was — Harry Potter, a child, now eleven.
“We knew it was only a matter of time before we discovered the portal,” Princess Sparkle said, “and thus we put together a series of plans on what to do when that happened. Which included practicing how to walk as a biped.” She looked over at Lady Jack. “Would you demonstrate, AJ?”
“Shurely,” came the quick response. She stood, pulled off her dress, transformed, and started clomping about the room on her hind legs.
If they were startled that she had disrobed so nonchalantly, and that she hadn’t been wearing any underwear, the two men disguised it well.
“As you can see, it’s a bit awkward, but it worked quite well in preparing our people. Just for your information, the entire length of her leg on the floor, from hoof to hock, is the equivalent of your toe-nails-to-heel. If you were to transform into a pony you would actually be walking on your middle fingers’ and toes’ nails. I was told it takes a while to get used to that feeling.
“Through interviews with this person over the last year, we learned much of what to expect in your world, and adapted our plans on what to do if we found this missing portal, accordingly. So far, things are going much better than we had anticipated.”
“Yes,” interrupted the Prince, “One of our scenarios included a situation much like your video ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still.’” He smiled a bit grimly, “At least there aren’t tanks and guards surrounding the house.” He smirked. “At least, not obviously so, correct?” He again raised an eyebrow while looking at the three men.
They smiled back, their expressions carefully blank, but not denying the accusation.
Lady Jack hopped back up on her armchair, remaining a pony.
“And this person’s experience is why we know it will be difficult for you to adapt to walking if someone is transformed in our world.
“And then there are the problems with writing — the skill you need most when operating an embassy. While we do have a quill-holder that can be attached to a hoof, it will still take time to master using it — our transformed friend likened it to writing with the palm of the hand. The quill-holder is actually an invention of this person’s.
“Some of that can be mitigated with typewriters, of course, but it will take a few weeks of practice to master that skill with hooves.”
“However, we discovered when Mr. Yueshi went through the portal that he remained a human.
“And that is where the real problem lies.”
She paused a moment, apparently to gather her thoughts.
“We know why Mr. Yueshi did not change, and why Mr. Carroll did. What we cannot do, just yet, is accurately predict who will and who will not transform when going through the portal. I think I know of a simple solution, but it needs verification. With a dozen or so volunteers, we can easily remedy that problem.” She burst into a bright smile and wriggled slightly. “It will be so much fun doing that research, I can hardly wait.” She sighed happily and stared out the windows for a moment.
“Twilight!” Lady Rarity said sternly. The Princess gave her head a shake and turned to give both men a long look.
“The basic difference between the two men who went through the portal is one of . . . magic,” she said seriously.
Both men raised their eyebrows at this bold, to them, statement. Castor nodded when they looked at him. “That’s why I called you yesterday to arrange this meeting. This is, literally, world changing,” he said softly.
“Magic is real,” the Princess said, “both in our world and in this one. Magic is responsible for this room being bigger on the inside than outside. Magic made it possible to put fourteen cups of tea in a pot that could reasonably be expected to hold only three. Magic made it possible for us to move our cups and saucers around without touching them.” She paused, floated her cup up, and took a sip of her tea to give them time to think.
“Magic is different here than at home,” she continued. “In Equus, magic is everywhere, and it affects everything. And everything on Equus has magic in it. Even the plants. You cannot escape it, or its influence.
“Not all creatures or plants can manipulate magic, obviously, but they still have magic in them.”
She stopped and called out loudly, “Spike! You can come in now.”
All three men stared in silent amazement as a small purple and green bipedal dragon walked into the room from the kitchen.
“Finally,” he said, “I was about to fall asleep in there.”
Their jaws dropped open.
“Spike is my number one assistant!” the Princess said proudly as the Prince rolled his eyes.
“She’s my mum!” he added. “Hatched me from my egg ten years ago!” He trotted over to her and leaned against her leg as she leaned forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Yep, you sure are. And I couldn’t ask for a better son!” She nuzzled the dragon, then turned back to the men. “Here, magic is around, we can feel it and use it, but it is not nearly as intense and pervasive as it is at home. And few creatures here either have it or can manipulate it. So few, in fact, that in our explorations around Little Whinging we have yet to come across any creatures that naturally have or use magic. Or, at least, none that we can detect easily.
“Mr. Yueshi has no magic capability at all, thus he went through the portal unchanged. Mr. Carroll apparently does have some small amount of magic, and thus the portal changed him.” She paused. “When I scanned him after he went through the portal, I found that he had some magical talent, the ability to use magic, but not enough for it to have ever shown itself in your world, except as occasional and random ‘odd things happen around me’ situations.” She smiled. “That’s why we need volunteers. I can scan them for magic and see at what point there is a trigger level for our world’s magic to react to your world’s magic.” She wriggled happily in place. “I can hardly wait!” Then she sighed.
“The problem I alluded to is for those who do not have magic. We have no idea what the implications are for a completely non-magical being to suddenly appear in our magic-saturated world. Will this person gradually adapt and start to develop magic? Will this person suddenly, one day, transform while in our world? Will they remain the same but gradually become able to use magic like we do?
“Or will their body reject the magic around them and make them sick? Will the magic reject them and make them sick? Will the magic flow into them, trying to fill that vacant space, gradually filling them up and then not stopping? Will it pour more and more magic into them until they explode from the stored magic because they cannot do anything to expel the magic as the creatures in our world do naturally just by living and breathing? Or, having never had magic, will they become dependent on it, and thus become ill or die when they come back here, home?
“And while a few hours seem to have no effect, what about longer exposures? Will these symptoms take days, weeks, months, or years to manifest? Will symptoms occur in our world, or only after the person returns home, here? Is there a time limit, where if they return home before that limit is reached, nothing happens?
“Or will nothing at all happen?”
“We simply do . . . not . . . know. And until we can determine what will happen, we cannot, in good conscience, allow your people to come to our world unless they already have some magical capacity. And even then we need to run periodic tests to see if there are cumulative effects that might harm them.”
She leaned back in her chair. “And if we simply refused to let your people set up an embassy without any sort of explanation, we would never be able to establish the level of trust we wish to have with you. You would always wonder why we allowed so little information to flow from us to you while taking as much from you as you will allow.” She sighed. “Hence, our revelations today.” She leaned forward again.
“Complicating everything, however, are your cultural taboos regarding magic. I’ve read in your history how your religions have hunted down and killed those who you thought could do magic. Your official religion here in this country, and several others, even exhorts its followers to ‘not suffer a witch to live.’ According to the newspapers I’ve seen, there are some countries where there are ongoing witch-hunts to this day. Killing people simply because their neighbours are looking for a scapegoat for their own deficiencies. Or maybe those people really can do magic, who knows?” She shrugged. “Although any competent magic user could easily escape an unorganized mob. And in countries where they are not doing that, there are many who feel the same way. This makes us a bit nervous to proclaim that we can do magic. As well as allowing just anyone to visit our world — after all, I’ve read that you have made some of your nuclear weapons small enough to disguise as a standard briefcase.
“So, with those thoughts in mind, we require you to keep our abilities as a secret, to be divulged only to those who have a legitimate need to know. Yes, we know it will eventually come out, but we want to delay that for as long as possible — to give us a chance to establish ourselves as no one’s enemy.”
She paused and smiled. “Naturally, I don’t expect you to immediately agree. And you can, of course, completely ignore our request.” She stopped smiling. “That would, obviously, hinder our relationship quite a bit if there are antagonistic reactions from your people.”
۸-_-۸
9130465
You mean he couldn't disapparate like the Death Eaters do when the Aurors appear? And given that in all accounts of both wars, the Aurors are ALWAYS late to an attack, you're saying that in theis ONE specific instance they managed to actually respond in a reasonable amount of time -- like instantly? 'Cause it only takes a second to execute the disapparate charm.
So, when's the PM gonna say he already knows Magic exists? ;p I imagine he can now, what with being able to say it without looking like he belongs in an Asylum.
9130478
They were late, they only knew where to go because of the explosion. I imagine the reason Peter used an explosion was because he knew it would draw the attention of nearby aurors.
I don't know how many times I can say this but SIRIUS WAS OUT OF HIS MIND!!! He wasn't thinking rationally if he had been he would have just explained what happened, it wouldn't have gotten him off the hook but it would have helped to convince people like Lupin and Dumbledore that he had been framed.
Oh, how clever of you.
Man, she is really laying it all down. The next chapter's going to be an interesting one.
Bloody fast mate. Lots of world developing here too. I like this little subplot
the wonderful ways people can misunderstand each other.. The ministry of magic means is muggles see any magic at all and I think at least Twilight if not a few others realize this.. They are taking things literally they'll report it if someone accidentally sees magic being used
9130498
No, actually, I checked. According to the map I downloaded, noted as the official map as published in 2015, it's Dragons Lair.
It was right about then that Castor realized but he was in over his head and was in for a whole heap o' trouble.
9130507
thats questionable as there are muggles who operate with knowledge of the wizarding world to a degree, amongst these would be the parents of the growing number of muggleborn witches and wizards.
it's also of note that the international statute of secrecy doesn't apply to equestrians yet as they have no status within either the wizingamot or the international association of wizards.
I saw quite a number of users on here debating the need for the protection spell on Harry, and how him leaving the Dursleys would affect the timeline. Here's the thing. Harry didn't need the spell until the end of the fourth book, and even then it would have only become useful at the end of the fifth. Before then, the Death Eaters were either imprisoned, on the run, or in hiding. They wouldn't really be looking for Harry until Voldy came back, and even if by some major stroke of luck, one did find him (a near impossibility in itself due to Harry being in the Muggle world with arguably the most anti-magic family in existence), killing him would draw so much attention that its a useless feat in itself. And even aside that is that Harry is a damn Horcrux which has been previously shown to be high undestroyable by regular means. Granted, Harry does come into contact with quite a few of those methods in his journeys, but only in the Wizarding world. And then there's old Ms. Figg who is watching Harry for Dumbledore and would most certainly tell the Headmaster if something was amiss.
In short, Harry had so many safeguards that until the seventh, there was barely a time where he was actually in mortal danger.
9130496
actualy it's completley possible that a trial could have gotten sirus off the hook. there are literally dozens of ways to prove he didn't do it, off the top of my head, Veritaserum could be used and them simply ask him what happened with James and lily potter and on sight of the explosion.
they could have him use a unbreakable oath that he did not kill the muggles pettegrew or James and lily potter. he could submit to be legilimenzed, there are countless ways they can force the truth from someone. not having a trial seemed more to be that fudge wanted to look good, not that he believed sirus did it.
I wish I could give you more thumbs so you would post a bonus chapter...
9130545
All of those could have been beaten, they are not definitive proof and noone would use the unbreakable oath as a lie detector that's just stupid (it doesn't even work that way). Plus none of that would explain why all the witnesses saw Sirius kill all those people.
Also Fudge wasn't Minister at the time he was just the first person to arrive on the scene to see Sirius laughing like a mad man in front of the carnage.
The no trial thing was the fault of Crouch Snr. who had no interest in allowing the Death Eaters to weasel out of their punishment as others had.
Hmmm this chapter has appaarently been up for at least an hour going by the comments wonder why it didn't show up here. Oh well now to read it.
9130496
Which is exactly my point he was out of his mind. This is the person who EVERYONE KNOWS is the secret keeper for his two friends that just got killed, he was perfectly fine the last time anyone saw him and now on the night of the attack he's suddenly gone completly insane. This doesn't say to you "Tortured and forced to reveal something he didn't want too." or "fighting against an imperius curse that made him do something he didn't want too." Its not the least little bit suspicious that this wizard who appraently went insane on the night his friends were killed also got sent to straight to jail with no trial and no evidence ever shown that he was actually involved? Or again why he killed Peter + 12 muggles + NO aurors? That's not the least bit suspicious?
9130554
Could have yes but not even attempting them is like going "Well he could have faked the bloody handprints on the knife the other guy was holding so we didn't bother checking for them."
To quote Mordin Solus from the Mass Effect series, "Too many variables! TOO MANY VARIABLES!"
9130566
This is false, the only ones who knew Sirius was the secret keeper was James, Lilly and Dumbledore. Sirius however believed that Voldemort would suspect him so behind Dumbledore's back Sirius, James and Lilly decided to make Peter the secret keeper while Sirius acted as decoy.
A loophole if ever I saw one.
I question how the sensors in the MoM work? Where they tripped the day before when they showed Castor due to the location and they are only checking up now? Is it because the sensor detected a large number of non magicals in proximity to the spell casting to demonstrate to the PM and his colleagues? Or some other method of detection?
The chapter needs a bit more reaction from the human representatives on some of the information revealed in my opinion. It does should the thinking behind many of the Equestrian’s diplomatic move in both the magic and non magical world.
It looked like they gave both groups the same opening to find them but only the mundane government actually followed up on it enough to be dealt with openly while the magical don’t confer with each other (Dumbledore keeping secrets and the flue department not notifying the misuse of muggle artefacts [though Twilight acknowledges this may be a bureaucracy error]) or official question the Equestrian’s on why they are there. (Possibly due to the fact they are use to their own government being hidden)
9130554
YES! That's the answer! And no one every bothered, or wanted to bother, to see if anyone innocent was in jail. Plus, after the war, and a few years, anyone who might have been interested in the truth derailed the investigation before it could get traction.
The justice system in the wizarding world is hopelessly corrupt.
Well we see that the wizards are still unaware of what the Equestrians are doing and I like the idea there there is a possible way magic might have negative effects on on non magic uses. Still I wonder if Some of Dumbledor's theories might actually be true where there were ancient humans who had escaped to another dimension after a catastrophe that forces them to go and somehow also turned into ponies, my guess would be toward the end in the Bronze Age 500 year before the Greeks appeared?
9130572
It's not so much corruption as they were desperate to lock up the Death Eaters so they could finally bring an end to the war. However many Death Eaters were finding ways to avoid punishment so Crouch decided not to give them a chance to use a trial to escape judgement.
The fact that Dumbledore provided evidence to the ministry proves they made sure they were convicting the right people. The fact Sirius was innocent is more a testiment to Peter's cunning than it was the systems incompetence.
9128828
A scientist cannot advice on something he does not even remotely understand. Any scientist would need time to experiment with the portal before they can start advising. Or better yet, ask the pony branch of scientists, since they actually have knowledge of how portals work.
It's time to put all of you under experiments!
Pinkie, did you not hear anything I said?
Bla Bla Bla, Magic, Bla Bla Bla, more magic, bla Bla Bla, experiments, Bla Bla Bla magic
Pinkie, that not all... Right?
Bla Bla Bla magic...
9130566
And who should've investigated the crime and held a trial for Black? Why, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement (MLE) Bartemius Crouch Senior, and the Chief Warlock Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
But nooope - these two abrogated their duties and let him be illegally jailed without trial; escaping such is not a crime, by the way, so Sirius did nothing wrong by doing so in canon. White Bumblebee did this most likely due to his (unethical and illegal) plans surrounding "The Boy Who Lived" and supposed 'blood wards', while Barty Crouch was a hard-ass (who could not resist his dying wife's wish to free his jailed son - only to then place said son under constant Imperius from then on, which I highly doubt his wife would've wanted. Oops).
No-one thought of using Veritaserum on Black, or using Legilimency on him, or making him do a Wizard's Oath. Hell, in some fanfiction, being a 'sworn godfather' means you cannot harm your godchild without risking your magic. Did they even check his left forearm, since Riddle branded all his followers back then?
Dumbledore, as Chief Warlock, could've also helped Black get legal representation (either anonymously or not) after he broke out, but nope; that'd disrupt his plans. Just who cast the Fidelius Charm in the first place, and thus would've had to have known the Secret Keeper wasn't Black?
Man this twilights devious ... I like it .... using word play against the wizards. Plus now they know their being monitored somehow by the ministry... gives them the opportunity to close that security gap. To get the goblins on their side completely they should aim to be the banks number 1 account. Sad to say the world runs on money. They need every one up they can get. That way if the ministry tries some financial shenanigans to get the ponies to bow to their way of doing things the goblins would be more inclined to listen to the ponies.
9130603
There was no evidence to prove Sirius' innoncence and plenty to prove his guilt.
why didn't they use Veritiserum?
Dumbledore didn't help Sirius because he couldn't prove that Sirius wasn't actually guilty. It certainly didn't help that Sirius acted like a lunatic. If they had told Dumbledore that they changed the Secret Keeper you can be sure he would have done something to help Sirius.
9130582
If that alone happened, I would concede the argument. However, the fact that so many Death Eaters were able to BUY their way out of Azkaban DOES prove corruption.
9130623
That Changeling Sweetie Pie just keeps sneaking in!
9130627
Where does it say any Death Eater bought their freedom? All it ever said was that many Death Eaters claimed to be under the Imperius curse and they had no way to confirm who was telling the truth and who was lying which was most likely the reason Crouch gave up on giving Death Eaters trials.
The idea that they could buy their freedom is redicoulous. These were mass murderers who were killing anyone who wasn't a pure blood wizard. Who exactly could they have bribed?
It is not clear from the text - did Castor heard Twilight's and Arrow's conversation with the Ministry's employees or they hided him and Yueshi too far to hear?
Nicely played Twilight specifying if a muggle accidentally see's it you can always claim it was on purpose.
Also now they have a huge area in which they can use magic freely which is also sovereign soil that's handy.
9130570
So if only they knew he was the secret keeper and two are dead and one is out of his mind how did peter find out? How did the auror's? The only one left on that list is Dumbledore and he'd know he didn't tell Peter. Yet somehow Peter not only found out but tracked Sirius down within hours of the Potters death to confront him rather than asking for help from Dumbledore or Lupin. Even more suspcicious dont you think especially given how cowardly Peter normally is?
9130571
Rather odd reaction time too etiher they're responding to an earlier event and took a very long time to get there or they showed up within minutes of them revealing themselves to Castor yet felt a Flue would be easier to return by. Also they apparently merely assumed it was a child doing unsolicited magic but didn't know which one or that the kids weren't actually there so are they monitoring all magic use around the kids residence and just randomly blaming the kids?
9130582
Yes what evidence? That he was the secret keeper? The he DIDN'T tell Peter who apparently some how found out? The system is corrupt, this case has massive problems evident to anyone who looks at it and frankly I'd want the entire records from that time gone over by an outside authority because who know's how many other genuinely innocent people were just locked away without a trial because it looked like they were guilty.
9130591
"But you tied me up and did experiements on my pinky sense remember?"
"I DID NOT tie you up I left the restraints open because I didn't think you'd run away."
"Lets just move on."
9130485
It'll be interesting if he does.
9130603
Exactly my point and why you don't want anyone to accuse you of something in the wizarding world if your not noble/rich.
9130639
I thought it was clear, They are outside the house while the others are inside, behind a closed door, on the opposite side of the house. Fixed.
Oh I can't wait for the inevitable confrontation between the Ministry of Magic and Equestria. I just read the one Revoke the Charter fanfic and am thinking something similar will occur here... the world is going to change so much. Both Equestria and Earth.
9130537 you can argue that point with the ministry. They assume the Equestrains are humans and therefore subject to their rule. Their very actions tell us that they don;t investigate. They come in assume a number of things lay down the rules and leave
9130644
It was odd but it's not like they could question Peter to find out.
God I swear people are purposely ignoring facts now. There were a street full of witnesses who swore Sirius killed Peter. Sirius being the secret keeper meant he was the only one who could have told Voldemort where the Potter's were.
Yes it doesn't explain Peter's involvement but as far as anyone knew Peter was dead and Sirius wasn't talking.
I know it's easy to look back in hindsight and say it was obvious he was innocent but when you look at the facts objectively it's not hard to understand why everyone believed Sirius was guilty.
This Equestrian approched the human political world intelligencely, I like it! Trying to handle relationship between Muggle world and Magical world as a separate entities but not entirely unrelated. Good thing AJ was not the one that greeted those wizard agents, since she was not a liar and pretty bad at misdirection. But this proved that Dumbledore like to do things without inform any wizard authorities about his biddings.
9130643
Thanks.
Wow this just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait for the next chapter.
9130571
They didn't do any magic previously, they just transformed back and forth from ponies. Which is internal magic and not casting a spell. Hence, it is undetectable from outside.
9130644
regarding magic, children, and the Trace:
and
I can't wait for Major to come out and say "Yea, I know about magic. Turns out there's this whole other government that does the magic side of things. I should know, the Minister's a pretty weird guy."
9130569
Just imagine if the result was that living in Equestria improved magic potential... every Squib would go into debt to spend a vacation there.
Considering how popular "Dr. Who" is in England I was expecting a TARDIS reference in there somewhere.
Monday can't come soon enough.
9130660
Yes! But, as any lawyer will tell you, BELIEVED is not PROOF of guilt! That's why we have trials. As I said, the justice system is corrupt (Harry's treatment after the Dementor event is a good example--).
Dear T. Kepner, I was under impression, that Prince Blue Blood's behavior in previous chapters was dictated by his opinion of people that he previously met as "commoners unworthy of attention", but now he is openly mocking highest governmental official, that he will usually deal with in capacity of Ambassador. Your use of him in role of Ambassador in this fic is obviously inspired by the certain issue of "Friends Forever". In said issue, Blue Blood chat friendly with yaks, goddamned YAKS, who are neither can cast spell nor have any technology to make up this difference. Here you have him teasing much more profitable and powerful potential ally. Don't do this. At least make him whispering this, so only Twilight heard it.
9130711
It was war, the Death Eaters had spent 11 years terrorizing the magical world. They had killed and tortured people relentlessly. Everyone was afraid of them, was it wrong to bend the rules to lock them away? yes. But can you honestly say it wasn't understandable especially when dealing with a group of mass murderers who's ultimate goal was the genocide of everyone who didn't measure up to their definition of magical?
As for Harry's trial, Fudge was terrified at the idea of Voldemort coming back so he started acting irrationally. He did whatever it took to discredit Harry and Dumbledore. Harry did, in fact, use magic in front of a muggle so the charges weren't made up and once evidence was presented that he had a good reason for his actions he was found not guilty.
Also, he got a trial which shows the system isn't as corrupt as you claim. Though it certainly has problems.
9130711
Pfft! The justice system IRL is corrupt. More crooked than the leaning tower of Pisa.
9130701
no it can't
9130694
Yes in their vicinity which could be anything including as shown in the series a magical creature using magic triggers it. So how do they prove the child is responsible? They were there. They only checked Harry's wand rather than just expelling him because he had powerful figures pushing them to actually conduct at least a partial investigation.
9130660
9130711
Oh we aren't ignoring the facts, I'm not even saying he is innocent I'm just saying that there's enough issues with the case that its going to raise suspcions to anyone who actually takes time to look at it. No trial, attacked by someone who shouldn't have even known he was involved, apparently mad, unreliable eyewitness testimony, known ways to mind control people both directly and indirectly, transformation potions, the list goes on.
I've read fanfics that both have a genuinely guilty Sirius and where the wizards council has been brought down by this and other "convictions". I'm not actually arguing Sirius is innocent I'm just arguing that his trial is a shining example of problems with the wizards legal system and should be re-examined to determine if he is innocent or guilty ALONG with any other person tossed into Azkaban without a trial. Which yes will include actual death eaters.
9130699
Same on both those comments, heck I'd quit my job, sell my apartment and use the savings to move to Equestria as a test subject to see if prolonged exposure turned me into a pony or killed me. I'll take those odds.