Chapter Text
“Gabe! Gabe over here!”
Jack ran up to Gabriel, heavy duffle bag over his shoulder, nearly knocking people down with it. His free hand was clutched tightly around two slips of paper.
“Is that was I think it is?”
“Yeah, the tickets. I don't know why they couldn't just mail them like normal. I had to fight these away from an eagle statue!”
“So?”
“So the statue fought back!” Jack gave an annoyed look, showing the scraps on his hand, apparently from a stone beak. “Not as bad as your owl though.”
“Hey now, Reaper doesn't mean to. He's good like that.” He checked the ticket again. Nine and three quarters. That sounded right. “C'mon let's get moving.”
“Right.”
Together the two teens pushed their way through a crowd of people. 'Muggles' they were called here if Gabriel remembered right. Non magical people just trying to catch a train and go about their day. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
They were catching a lot of stares, even from families Gabriel assumed to be magical (the robes were a dead give away, these people had zero tact!) Both him and Jack were clearly American from the accents. Both had bags like they were going away for a long trip and they had to look at least a little lost. And on top of Gabriel's trolley was a large barn owl who was getting more and more nervous with the crowds of people. Gabe reached a finger into it's cage and gave it a little scratch to calm it.
“Right here.” Jack paused. “The letter said here.” Gabriel stopped pushing the trolley. There was a large pillar in front of them for platforms Nine and Ten.
“I'm assuming that we just run between them.”
“You... assume that?”
Gabe grinned. “Been doing this a lot longer than you, Jackie. We should wait for a bit of a clearing though. With this kind of stuff, if they are watching, it won't work.”
“Ah, right.”
They sat for a bit, watched as passengers went about their way to various trains until they seemed to blend in a bit, at least to the point where no one was giving them more than a glance.
“Okay, now.”
On Gabriel's mark, they both rushed ahead, straight into the platform. And as Gabe predicted, they passed through through.
As they ended the new area the first thing that hit Gabriel was the smoke. The smell of smoke from coal filled the air, not like the motor, electric whatevers that were on the trains they just passed. His ears filled with noise of many people talking at once, both old and young. Lots of families.
He looked to his right. A large black train exhaled smoke in the air as many young people crowded around it and gradually made their way on board. Socializing, mingling, checking for lost and forgetten things, saying goodbyes to loved ones for the year. He looked up about their head. An old fashioned, red sign hung about 3 feet above their heads.
Platform 9 1/3
“This is it.” Jack said, looking between the sign and his ticket in his hand. “It says here there's a designated car for us. We should get on.”
“Yeah.” Gabe went back to pushing his cart, walking by Jack's side.
“Why are wizards so old-fashioned Gabe?! I've only seen trains like this in children's books! How have they not upgraded yet?”
“Jack, I think we both know they don't have much of a reason to turn to technology now.”
~*~
Jack and Gabriel were almost the first ones arrive in their cart. While the cars they passed seemed to be filled with booths and the like, this cart didn't seem built for comfort on a trip. It was for business. A round table was in the center of the room, light up by wax candles that didn't seem to melt. At one side of the room was a spot for their bags. On the other end was a trolley filled with food, drink, and various snacks and sweets. Jack supposed this was going to be a long ride.
“You two are early.” A woman was already seated at the table. Her chair was facing the entrance door so it looked as though she would be at the head of the table- even though there was no head. She had an air of professionalism about her. Her clothes weren't like other witches' robes Jack had seen. She not only wore pants, but was dressed in some kind of suit. Her lips were pressed thinly together, her face a mask of seriousness. Her red hair was pulled into a sharp bun and under a hat with a large feather.
The feather suddenly sprung to life and hovered over a piece of parchment, before scribbling down some notes. What were those things called again? Quick writing quills? He glanced over at the sheet. His name was on it, and a check was planted next to it by the quill. Taking attendance already?
“We couldn't really sleep ma'am. Timezone differences. Figured we might as well come early.” Gabe said, pushing his cart up against the wall. His owl was much calmer now, settling into it's cage like it was going to sleep.
“Well the train doesn't leave for another hour. You'll just have to wait for the other three students to arrive. Have a seat.”
Neither of them moved. Neither spoke for a moment. Jack broke the silence. “Umm, can we ask your name.”
“Oh apologies” She did not look or sound sorry to Jack.
“My name is Everly Smith. I'm with the Ministry of Magic, here to brief you on your assignment along with your new team. I can go into more detail when they arrive.”
Everly Smith. Yes he recognized the name from the letter. He grabbed a chair and sat, pulling the one near him out for Gabe to join him. “And where's uhh Petras?”
“Headmaster Petras is at Hogwarts, preparing for the students to arrive. He has a whole school to run on top of this. They are his first priority.” Jack sensed that Ms Smith was itching to add “but you should be his first.” to the end of that sentence, but was holding back.
“Sooo, when do we meet him?” Gabe asked.
“A meeting has been scheduled at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. He has requested you go through orientation, along with the other students.”
“What?!” “Huh?!”
Both of them yelled at once, causing Smith to flinch and her quill to scribble on the pad of paper in a nervous manner..
“Why orientation? We aren't students at Hogwarts. We're both students of Ilvermorny!” Gabe was sitting straight now, clearly upset. “Why are we going through orientation like a bunch of freshmen!?”
Smith adjusted herself. “They are called 'first years' here Reyes. And they are 11, not 14.”
“That doesn't exactly help.”
“And that doesn't answer the question. Why?!”
“Well-”
The door opened. All three turned their head to the noise.
Jack didn't notice the young man at first, he was so...short. Like a dwarf. He mentally corrected himself. Dwarfism. The kid had a medical condition known as dwarfism. He should know this.
“Interruptin' something?”
“No, no, just...answering questions early.” Smith composed herself quickly and her quill marked off another name. “Welcome Torbjörn.”
“Yeah 'answering'” Gabriel muttered under his breath. If Smith heard him, she was choosing to ignore it.
The short young man, Torbjörn, pulled out his own chair and climbed into it. He appeared equal height as everyone else now. He glanced to the side of the room where all the food was. He pulled out a wand and flicked it in the general direction. As commanded, a tray of sandwiches and water pitcher floated into the air and toward the table. So he was seventeen, old enough to practice outside of school. Lucky.
Torbjörn took a glass and poured it for himself. “Anyone else?”
Smith declined politely, as did Jack. Gabriel said nothing, arms crossed in his seat.
A few minutes passed. Jack grabbed a sandwich from the plate just to keep himself busy. The silence was driving him mad. And Gabe wasn't trying to hide that he was pissed. Pissed at not getting information soon enough, of being treated like a kid.
Apparently with the exception of Torbjörn, they were kids. Students at least. Jack and Gabriel were both 16 now. Normally they would be choosing which classes to focus on, which which careers they wanted as adults. It briefly occurred to him that if he were a normal kid, his father would be teaching him how to drive right about now. He would have probably been practicing on the tractor for years before the real thing. He thought of home and his stomach twisted in a knot.
Before he could think too hard, the door opened again. It was two teenagers this time, both their age but very different in their own way.
The girl stepped in first. She wore a blue uniform and had extremely long black hair going down her back. Part of it hung over the right side of her face and behind the bang, Jack could make out an eye patch. Under the other eye was a tattoo Jack recognized as an Egyptian symbol, but didn't know what it was called.
“This should be it. C'mon Reinhardt.”
Compared to the girl, Reinhardt was massive and her opposite in almost every way. He had long, blonde hair, a very athletic build, and towered above them by at least a foot, maybe more. He had to squeeze to get through the door. “Ah, uhh, miss Smith then?” He had a heavy accent that Jack had heard a hundred times in movies: German.
“Yes, I'm Everly Smith. Please have a seat. I believe everyone is here now.”
Reinhardt took a chair and sat, barely fitting in. The Egyptian girl took the empty seat and reached across table to snag a sandwich from from Torbjörn's plate, grinning mischievously as she took a bite.
“Are you going to explain to us why we're here now?” Gabe was getting more annoyed by the second.
“Yes, well.” Everly Smith stood straight and cleared her throat. She took a long wand out and flicked it in the direction of her parchment. The quill stopped writing on cue and the parchment flew up into the air. “Engorgio”
The parchment expanded in size to the point that it could almost cover the entire wall of the compartment. Another flick of the wand and images appeared on the parchment. Moving pictures.
Omnics.
They had all seen it before already, or at least Jack had. Technology was advancing far past the wizards and witches of today. People were building things, inventing, creating. And they had created life.
“As you know, the muggles have been advancing their weaponry and have created...arguably a magic of their own. A new lifeform. Robotic, cold, without a soul.” The picture changed. It was one of the omnics, one clearly built for war. A Bastion unit. It was attacking civilians, children included. Jack could see Torbjörn scowling in the corner of his eye, gripping the table. Jack couldn't blame him. It was a gruesome sight.
“When we first saw this, we ignored it. Muggles create new technology all the time.”
“Even in war zones?” Jack felt all eyes turn to him as he interrupted. He didn't care. “So wizards just turn a blind eye.”
“We're not heartless, Morrison.” Smith replied smoothly, “Throughout history many witches and wizards have used their magic to protect helpless muggles. But the important issue is always the statue of secrecy. We don't want muggles knowing how we work or they would come to us for every little problem- assuming they don't consider us enemies.”
Ana and Torb nodded softly. Jack didn't. Everly cleared her throat and continued.
“As I was saying, normally the Ministry of Magic does it's best to stay out of muggle affairs. They don't mingle with us and we don't with them unless necessary. However...the muggle prime minister insisted we look into the matter. Pleaded for help. So we came. Just an investigation at first. Gather information, see what they know.”
She scanned the eyes of the group, her next words echoing.
“We cannot obliviate, manipulate, or control these omnics. They will discover us. And some have already threatened our exposure to the muggle world.”
There it was. That reason all the adults were being so vague. They won't say it - Everly Smith certainly won't- but they were scared. Scared because there was a threat to their kind that their magic was powerless against.
“Have you tried curses?” The Egyptian spoke up, head quirked curiously.
“Yes Ms Amari, of all manor.”
“What about the forbidden ones?”
“Ana!!” Reinhardt, stood once again, looking taller than ever. “How could you suggest that!? The unforgivable curses aren't be used, not even war such as this!”
“Reinhardt, please sit down!”
Jack held his breath. It looked for a moment like Reinhardt wasn't going to, but he hesitantly sat back in his seat.
“As for the curses...” Smith looked the Egyptian, Ana Amari, in the eye. “We have tried everything.”
Everything they had power to do or they had used the curses and she legally couldn't say? Jack didn't like how vague she was being, but Ana didn't press the matter further.
“But the point is that this is a threat to the International Statue of Secrecy. The omnics have some kind of device... 'software'. And they use that to sent the information to a base they call a 'hard drive'” The words came out sloppy and foreign on her tongue.
“Aye, I've studied this.” Torbjorn nodded. “It's not a physical base. It's a mental link between the omnics. Any one of them can view the information with the right access.”
“Yes exactly.” Smith nodded. “And we don't know how much information they have. Though we can approximate they know that there's something 'different' about us. That we aren't like muggles. And as soon as they find out about magic, it's likely that they'll wage war against us as well.”
“Perhaps they'll want to be wizards too.” Torbjorn snorted.
“Or they could want to kill us all.” Smith added softly.
“At any rate,” She muttered a quick spell and lowered the large parchment behind her back to it's normal size. “You all received your letters. You know the rest but I'll explain it again. You were all selected among young students to train against this new threat. Now I know what you're thinking. 'Oh we're just children, we can't fight against this'.”
Jack was not thinking of that all. And neither was anyone else judging by their expressions. Hell Torbjorn was a legal adult and Gabriel would also be in a couple months. They had volunteered for this!
Smith continued. “However, at this point it is a significant risk to send Aurors. The muggles have informed us that they have a 'facial recognition system'. That is, they now know our spies look like and have it ingrained in a perfect memory. If any of our spies get too close again, they will be seen as a threat and immediately shot down with 'guns'. That is, a stick like weapons muggles use to kill eachother.
“So we gathered the brightest from the corners of the earth. Youngest that the smarter omnics would recognize as children and would not suspect. And among them the 5 of you were chosen.”
She turned to Reinhardt. “The strongest-” to Ana “the adventurous,” to Torbjorn, “the most innovative” to Jack “The boldest,” and finally to Gabe “And the most clever.”
“You five have been selected to form a strike team against the omnic uprising.”
“I understand that ma'am.” Gabriel leaned forward in his seat. “We accepted the ministry’s offer to fight in our letters. But I believe you haven't explained one more thing. Why Hogwarts?”
“Hogwarts has been selected as a training ground for the five of you. You will need to develop new skills to specifically fight machines. You will also need to train together in order to work as a team. Though you may end up in different houses-”
“Houses?” Ana cut her off, “We're being sorted into this school?” Torbjorn and Reinhardt looked just as surprised. So it was news to them too.
Smith exhaled and answered. “Yes. This mission is being done under the guise of an international outreach. Brotherhood among fellow wizards. And we do not want the other students or the public to be aware of your true intentions. What leaks out to them may leak out to others and may leak to the omnics. So during the months you'll be staying there, you're to go to class and study, along with your training. You will also be bonding with students in the name of 'outreach' and 'brotherhood'.
“Headmaster Petras will greet you at eight am tomorrow after your first night at school. He will give you more information regrading training times and any additional questions you have.”
After saying this Smith pulled a pocket watch out and checked the time. She picked up her parchment and her quill flew back into her hat. “I should be going. The train departs in ten minutes and I can't be on this ride. I'll meet you at Hogwarts to guide you along. I recommend you take this time to get to know each other.
“Have a lovely ride.” And with those final words, she vanished out the compartment door.
As soon as the door closed, Ana spoke up. “Well that was bullshit.”
The group immediately burst into snickers and murmurs of agreement. At least they all agreed on one thing.
“You have to be sorted in the name of brotherhood and bullshit” Ana continued, now in an airly, mocking tone. “You can't just be representing your schools, you have to go to an entirely new one. No need to tell you of course.” She waved the air is a condescending manner that made the group burst out into more laughs. Reinhardt laughed loudest, banging his hand on the table so hard, the dishes shook.
“Hey kids! Don't you know the muggles are creating more omnics! Go play school before the grownups send you into battle.”
Torbjorn was unfortunately in the middle of drinking as Ana said this and nearly choked, causing the drink to come out his nose. This made Ana break character and laugh, leaning over the table as she did. Jack instinctively covered his mouth, breaking down laughing himself. Even Gabriel was in a better mood now, gripping his stomach with one hand, Jack's shoulder with the other as he laughed. Even Torbjorn was chuckling when he lowered his glass.
This could work out well. They could actually do this.