-Headquarters of the ICW, Inquisitor's Retreat-
In a secluded part of the old castle complex that the ICW would use for its meetings a group of somber people were gathering. The Inquisitors, those charged with dealing with corruption within the Confederation's leaders. Sworn by honor and magic to serve the interests of the Confederation and never be swayed by loyalties to home or selfish desires. They sought out the truth and only the truth.
The room that the Inquisitors gathered was a completely circular. The edge was lined with identical chairs with the only exception being the larger chair that sat directly across from the door. That chair was reserved for the Grand Inquisitor, whenever he was called on to attend these meetings that is.
"If we are here we shall begin the preliminary report." One of the senior Inquisitors said, bringing the meeting to order. "This meeting is to determine if the claims made by the American delegation against Albus Dumbledore holds merit enough to bring before the Grand Inquisitor. The American delegation claims that Supreme Mugwump Dumbledore violated the agreement between the Goblin Nation and the Wizarding Confederation in regards to the Philosopher's Stone by removing it from its vault at Gringotts's Bank in Britain and placed it under his direct supervision at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, of which he is Headmaster. Inquisitor Ravia of the Pacific Islands your report please."
At this prompting, a tall Polynesian man stood, his maroon uniform barely fitting his muscular form. When he spoke, it was with an even tone of voice, not soft nor harsh but controlled.
"As per the assignment given me I researched deeper into the actual Flamel Agreement. The most public of information all members of this body are already aware. To prevent war and ensure a degree of continued peace between the Goblin Nation and the Wizarding World, the use of Nicolas Flamel's stone was limited to the creation of the Elixir of Life for the Alchemist's personal use just as long as he continued researching innovations in his field and all notes regarding the creation of the Stone were destroyed."
A few of the more academically curious in the room frowned at the mention of the destroyed notes.
"Since the time of the ratification, the Stone has been relocated seventy- two times. The last registered location of holding was vault 713 of the previously mentioned bank. As a note of interest, the Agreement was amended a total of seven times since its ratification."
The presiding Inquisitor scratched his chin in thought,
"Can you elaborate on those amendments?"
"Yes sir. Six of the amendments mentioned were passed to either expand or limit the access Master Flamel had to the Stone. The one exception to that was documented as the Emergency Relocation Power. It was ratified in 1814 after an attempt was made on the Stone while it was located in the Vaults of Prague. The thief's plot was discovered beforehand and the process was begun to move it. Under the law, the Stone's location and future destination had to be announced to the body of the Confederation. The thief was able to extract the information from one of the delegates present when the announcement was made and nearly pulled off a successful heist of the Stone while it was in transport.
"The amendment was passed thereafter to grant the Supreme Mugwump the power to move the Philosopher's Stone without publicly announcing it to the Confederation if the security of the Stone became threatened. With the conditions that Mr. Flamel is fully aware of the change in location, the temporary protections are equal to or superior of its previous holdings, and within five months of the emergency move the Confederation is informed of its new location."
Inquisitor Ravia sat back down, the pertinent parts of his findings finished.
"Inquisitor Müller of Germany, what were your findings?"
At the prompting, a German man in his middle ages stood,
"When I asked the Goblins of Gringotts's about the Stone they refused to comment. They refuse to answer questions without an official Declaration of Inquiry from the Grand Inquisitor, as is their right. One of the human workers however pulled me off to the side as I left and told me that the national paper, "The Daily Prophet," reported an attempted theft sometime last year. The vault targeted was emptied earlier the day of the attempted theft. The worker couldn't give a number without violating a worker's agreement with the bank."
The frustratingly short report finished, Müller sat back down.
"Inquisitor Malfoy of France."
The youngest member of the assembled body stood,
"I conducted the interview with Mister Potter as was assigned to me. The name Harry Potter was cited by the American delegation as the source of information leading to the allegation. He gave a first-hand account of the Stone being removed from vault 713 by one Rubeus Hagrid, under orders from Albus Dumbledore."
"And how was Mr. Potter able to witness this event?"
"Mr. Hagrid was apparently in charge of guiding Mr. Potter through Diagon Alley, as the young man had never been there before."
"Absurd." A sudden outburst came from one of the other Inquisitors. All eyes turned on the source.
"Inquisitor Abbott? You have information that contradicts your fellow Inquisitor?"
The Inquisitor from England squirmed a little in his seat, ashamed he had been so unprofessional,
"Fellow Inquisitors, the name of Potter stems from some of the oldest known families of the British Isles. While not one of the more prominent families in modern Britain presently, they are still considered to be minor nobility. There are protocols and traditions regarding a child that standing. One of which is a visit to the Alley when he turned eight."
"I assure my fellow Inquisitor that Mr. Potter's statement clearly indicates he was not even aware he was a wizard until his eleventh birthday."
"I apologize Inquisitor Malfoy. I did not mean to offend." Abbott offered with a nod of his head.
"Anyway. Mr. Potter went on to say that he and his friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, were able to piece together that not only that the Stone was there at the school, but also were able to beat the protections set up by members of the faculty. His testimony implicates several of the core subject teachers, one of whom was the one behind the break in at the bank."
The room fell silent after her summary was finished. The senior member was deep in thought, weighing out the next course of action. The facts had been presented, now he had the choice to dismiss the case, or call for further investigation which would lead to a trial.
"Fellow members of the Inquisition, we have heard the facts. Based upon them, I have reason to worry about the competency of Albus Dumbledore. If this body so feels, any investigation further is to focus on how well our Supreme Mugwump has fulfilled his oaths of office, in all his offices. All those in favor of investigation please manifest."
Hands around the circle went up. They too were interested in finding out the full truth, and that couldn't be done without approval here and now,
"All those opposed by the same."
Hands went down, and only one or two hands came up. Always a small bit of dissent.
"By the show of majority, and with the pending approval of the Grand Inquisitor, we are to proceed with the investigation. Inquisitor Mafoy, you will be charged with interviewing the two other young people that Mr. Potter mentioned to you."
"Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley." The tasked Inquisitor reemphasized.
"Inquisitors Müller and Abbott, the both of you are tasked in questioning the goblins of Gringotts's once we have approval. Once you are finished with that, you are to both investigate the actions made by Mugwump Dumbledore in his capacity as Chief Warlock of Britain. You are most familiar with traditions of your country, Abbott, make sure he has been acting according to them.
"Other assignments will come as the need arises. Let us go forward and what must needs be. May the powers that be have mercy upon us."
-Apartment of Colton Smith, DC Metro Area-
The theorist could barely contain himself as he sat at the roll top desk that had once belonged to his Grandfather. Off to the side of the desk was the written form of his part of the hearing that would happen tomorrow. Upon him rested a key part of making Canterlot a joint magic-normal school. Clerks under Saunders had already presented the proposed curriculum and the gradual growth of a community of wizards in the area. In the next day, he and the Secretary would be giving the case on how doing this was a proper course of action.
Secretary Saunders would be taking care of presenting how they would be keeping the new community within the bounds of the Statute of Secrecy. It was Professor Smith's job to show what measures would be taken to ensure protection. Truth be told, very little effort would have to be made on the part of the DoM in that regard. The portal to Equestria was doing most of the work for them.
To help him visualize what he would say, Colton pulled over his report and flipped through it. About three pages in, he came across the facsimiles of the symbols that were revealed at the site. Parts of the glyphs remained untranslated, but enough was known to show one of the greatest protections ever to exist in the history of magic.
It was not uncommon for places were magic gathered to develop their own protections. The dark cave that inspires fear when looking down its maw; the deepest forests where they say only the crazy would go; the mountains that seemed to fight back against hikers and explorers; especially the stretches of seas that sailors fear. The magic would work on the basest levels of the human mind or the natural world. It is easy to inspire fear of the unknown, or effect the weather. These natural protections were not always effective, but they did their job well enough. Some wizards could claim that these sorts of places were enchanted by their ancestors, but they didn't know how magic truly worked.
Man-made wards faded and warped with time without someone to maintain or power them. Professor Smith had a visual aid he liked to use with his students to demonstrate how it worked. He would take a composition notebook and write a few lines in pencil. He would then close the book and rub the pages together. Opening up the notebook again the pencil marks were smudged and blurred. Such was the case with long term wards. When protection spells are first established they are clear in purpose. With the passage of time their functions become blurred and unfocused, degrading in strength and perhaps doing more than what was originally intended. Much like the protections around Hogwarts school.
Though the school board would never admit it, it had been too long since the wards were disassembled and reconstructed. The magic of the children passing through Hogwarts each year helps keep the wards functioning, but over time the functions had become corrupted to an extent. Mostly, it was the malfunction of unprotected electronic equipment that was evidence of this. There was some debate that faulty wards were also degrading the mental capacity of the students as they went through school but no proof could be gathered.
The protections around the portal, however, carried traits of both. There was no historical model that could point at one particular civilization on this side of the portal. The idea that the protections had been established by those from the other side had crossed his mind. Problem with that idea however, the only Equestrian factors that Ms. Shimmer could identify were mingled in with what Professor Smith thought designated the portal's functions. The protections around the portal, themselves manipulated one of the harder levels of the human mind to coerce, normalcy. That was something you definitely didn't see in nature.
It was beautifully simplistic really. The greatest way to hide something was to make the abnormal seem normal. It was like having a neighbor who would wear rainbow stripped knee length socks take his dog for a walk. It wasn't the neighbor or the dog that was different from everything else, it was the socks. For a while, neighbors would comment to themselves at how strange the man's socks were, and his choice to wear them. After a period of time the neighborhood would get complacent about the sight of a man with such a fashion choice and eventually simply shrug him off saying, "He just does that."
The protections around the portal seemed to do just that, but at a much faster rate. He, himself, hadn't noticed at first, but the moment he realized that things were not right in the world around him the effort made against his mind was broken. At first, he didn't take notice of the unusually pigmented skin of the citizens of Canterlot, or of their even more unusually 'natural' hair colors. His mind simply did not compute that hair did not come in seven different colors on the same head.
The DoM was hoping that the power to make the abnormal appear normal would be enough to keep any mishaps with wizard magic on the down low. It wasn't an idea the isolationist way of thinking would agree to, but if it worked they couldn't complain. The existence of magic would be protected and the demands of the law would be satisfied.
A quick knocking sound came from the front door. His mind almost forgot that he was also expecting company this evening. The Professor left his study and crossed to the threshold of the apartment. Colton opened the door and greeted the woman who stood outside his front step.
"Hello."
"Professor Smith I am here to see; tell me, are you he?" The woman replied with a thick African accent.
"Madam Z, I know it has been a several years, but I haven't changed that much have I?"
Stepping into better light the person revealed herself to indeed be a woman with dark skin. A zebra skin draped around her shoulders like a shawl and gold bands rested around her neck. The thing that stood out about her the most were the white wavy lines that ran jagged through her black hair, making her head look like a zebra pattern.
"Grown with worry and care, and grey is forming in your hair." The woman said.
"Oh, very funny Madam Zecora. Come in, we have much to discuss."