Chapter Text
My emotions got the better of me that day. That is how it all began, with me getting upset. I got upset and caused all the windows in my mother's house to shatter.
The day after the incident, there was a knock on the door.
Four men and a woman stood at the door, wishing to speak to my mother and me.
They told me what I was. A wizard, capable of doing things that I could scarcely begin to dream. One of the men was the headmaster of a school in Massachusetts and that I was being offered a place there, despite how unusual it was that my powers showed up so late since they usually started showing around the age of seven. It was an opportunity to learn to use and control my powers, and be around people like me. After drilling them for an hour on certain aspects of the Wizarding world (like whether or not it was safe to be openly gay in the Wizarding world, to which I received assurances that it was) I accepted gladly.
Ilvermorny. The North American school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Considered around the world to be the best school only behind the UK's legendary Hogwarts and Japan's Mahoutokoro. When I first saw the castle, on the top of Mount Greylock, I was in awe. A beautiful structure made of solid granite, where magic radiated from every nook and cranny. I was painfully aware that my circumstances were not normal. Normally, schooling for young wizards in America begins at eleven years old, and I was beginning at fifteen years old. Only a couple of people even gave me a second glance.
I stepped onto the Gordian Knot on the floor in the centre of the entrance hall, facing the large wooden statues of the mascots for the four houses. The carved statues stared at me lifelessly for a few moments and I awaited the reaction anxiously. The statue of the Wampus came to life after a short wait, and I was sorted into Wampus house. The house that it is said houses those with the potential of a warrior. Afterwards I was directed to a room where I would be chosen by my wand. I stopped in front of a box that seemed to be calling out to me. I opened the box, and extracted to wand, and I felt warmth travel through my whole body as I grasped it in my hand. The wand was towards the longer, at fourteen and three quarter inches. The core of my wand is Wampus cat hair. The body of the wand was made of Ebony, pitch black in color, with mother of pearl inlaid on the handle and soft ripples in the wood along the shaft.
I never expected another late start student to arrive, but they did so an hour later. I stood with my fellow students in shock, as the Headmaster introduced Jude Adams Foster.
Oh, how I never expected to see Jude there. In fact, I never expected to see him again. Not after everything that happened. Everybody knows the story. Of how Jude and I got together, and what we were to each other, as well as how it ended. So, I am not going to bother reiterating it. As Jude moved to join Wampus house after receiving his wand, a curved shafted mahogany wand of about twelve inches, we made eye contact. Later, after avoiding each other until the rest of our house was asleep, Jude and I met in the common room. We barely managed to say two words to each other before we burst into tears.
We stayed up the whole night, into the early hours of the morning talking, repairing the shattered remains of our former friendship. Things were awkward between us for the first few weeks of school, but by Halloween of first year, we had fallen back into our old close friendship. It was not until the summer after our fourth year that we decided to give our relationship another try. By that point, we knew that if we gave it another go, it would last.
For a total of seven years, we were educated at Ilvermorny, becoming the oldest students to ever graduate from there at the age of twenty. Right after graduation, Jude and I moved in together. A year later, in August of 2023, we got married. I became an Auror for MACUSA, while Jude became a spell crafter and researcher for MACUSA, putting his genius level knowledge of magic to good use. For two years, everything in our lives seemed perfect. We loved our jobs, and we loved each other. Our lives were at peace, but I know Jude felt uneasy at times; that he sometimes felt that the peace would not last.
He was proven right. In 2025, we wizards were exposed.
There was a classmate of ours at Ilvermorny. He was sorted in Wampus, and graduated two years before us. He was an introvert, somebody that held a constant air of sinister intent. He was an African American boy by the name of Dennis Collins. He started it all, after a group of white supremacists attacked and nearly murdered his younger brother Barry, the only person he cared about. He swore he would have his revenge, and the day after he graduated, he disappeared without a trace. For the next few years, we now know he was gathering strength, sinking into the dark arts, and gathering followers to his cause.
One day just months after the inauguration of the new President of the United States, the organization that hurt Collins's brother were holding a rally in Ohio, when Dennis exacted his revenge. In the middle of a bright April day, in front of news crews and countless No-Maj spectators, he disapparated onto the stage and drew his wand. He butchered every member of the organization present, and then fired upon the supporters. In an age of social media and instant communication across the globe, the news spread like wildfire. Shields and protective wards were raised around every magical government building in the world. The chaos in the MACUSA headquarters in Manhattan the next day was horrifying as the leaders of nearly every magical government apparated or floo'd in for a summit.
They quickly realized that they had no choice. We were exposed. The whole world had seen the videos and there were thousands of eyewitnesses, far too many to Obliviate. A press conference was held the next day, where the U.S. President introduced President Seville of the Magical Congress of The United States of America. As soon as Seville cast Expecto Patronum in front of the cameras, there was no turning back.
Two months later, Collins attacked the capitol, massacring anyone he considered to be on the side of the people who hurt his younger brother. It was only by sheer luck, and the bunker underneath the White House, that the President and his cabinet survived. He and his followers called themselves "the Revolution". He claimed that the government of the United States never did anything to demolish the organizations similar to the one that harmed his brother, and that he held them responsible and would destroy them if it were the last thing he ever did.
Collins's army of followers has led attacks on Britain and France, and the Wizarding communities around the world were preparing to fight back. America, once a land of light and hope, is now a land of darkness and fear, as magical people and No-Maj's alike all worry about where and when the Revolution will strike next. MACUSA and the Ministries of Magic in the United Kingdom, Germany and France had combined there Auror corps into The Coalition, a single massive task force, whose sole purpose was to defeat Collins.
Harry Potter, the legendary Auror who defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort in 1998, was unanimously named General of the Coalition. Jude and I joined the Coalition at the first available opportunity. We were tasked to set up a safe house for our division, which included General Potter's son Albus and his long time partner Scorpius Malfoy. We chose, or rather, Jude demanded, that the place be built far from any city, settling on a spot fifty miles from Las Vegas in the Mojave desert. Jude warded the area with every enchantment possible, including several dozen enchantments that he had invented himself.
Today, I went to Manhattan with Albus and Scorpius to meet with General Potter while Jude chose to stay behind and continue with his work. When we arrived back at the safe house, it was well after sundown…