Chapter 142: Arc 4: Chapter 30: Essinus and Crow

"Wail"

In the stunned gaze of the three young wizards, the formerly advantageous deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic, the proud yet strange Miss Umbridge was tangled by crimson red tentacles that stormed from behind her in less than 2 seconds.

In her sharp, ugly yet horrified howling, she desperately tried to cast a spell to save herself, but under the binds of Goose's purple energy, she couldn't even release magic before being swallowed entirely into the orange cat's belly.

One had to say, even after spending more than half a year with Goose, Merlin still gets frightened by how Goose eats.

Those strange yet terrifying tentacles with suction cups and bone spikes looked to be extremely dangerous at first glance.

And according to what the alien Talos said before he left, Goose's real form, the Flerken, is a monster born in space; it had a belly that was connected to a black hole, and could control cosmic energies; it was a very dangerous creature even to the Kree Empire.

Supposedly Goose is currently still juvenile, and it can even swallow some small planets once it matures.

But that's a very long process, at least, Merlin won't be able to see Goose mature in his life.

"Meow"

Goose seemed to be nauseous after eating the despicable old witch, it seems that the witch was not a tasty one.

Merlin walks forward and taps on Ginny and Erik with his wand, dispelling the spell cast on them using Finite Incantatem; the freed Ginny was terrified, she held onto Merlin without letting go.

The young girl was trembling all over.

Merlin strokes Ginny's hair to calm her down.

Erik's reaction was much better, the black kid looked back at Goose with fear while Goose also looked at him; it meowed and scared Erik into hiding behind Merlin.

"Hell! Hell! Goose is a monster! I fed it every day, even grabbed its tail...my god!"

"So you best not grab its tail in the future."

Merlin tells Erik:

"It's still Goose, got it? It won't hurt you...now go prepare cat food for Goose and Crookshanks, along with that kitten...quickly!"

Erik walks into the kitchen unwillingly under Merlin's request, the other children also approach with fear and curiosity.

The young wizards had all learned about fantastic beasts and they've seen more fantastic beasts than muggles; Hermione looks at Merlin and looks at Goose, she lowers her tone and says:

"Merlin, is Goose a fantastic beast?"

"Err, sort of."

Merlin answers vaguely. He knew not if a creature like Goose was considered a fantastic beast in the eyes of wizards. He did know one thing, Goose was far more dangerous than most, if not all, fantastic beasts.

"Is Umbridge dead?"

Ron's attention was on something else, he squats next to Goose and cautiously stroked on Goose's tummy with a finger, this made Goose let out a satisfied expression.

Ron rubbed Goose's tummy while looking back at Merlin and asking:

"Has that old witch been digested by Goose?'

"Probably not yet."

Merlin lifts his wrist and looks at the time, saying:

"With my estimations, Goose may need 2-3 hours to fully digest living beings. Umbridge is a witch, so she should last longer. Why? Do you want to release her?"

"That old hag held Ginny hostage!"

Hermione screamed:

"She deserves what she got!"

"But Umbridge is the deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic..."

Harry says to Merlin worriedly:

"If she goes missing here, it'll bring you trouble, Merlin; the Ministry of Magic won't give up so easily."

"And that'll be something for me to worry about, Harry."

Merlin crosses his waist and moves his hips, he tells Harry and the young wizards:

"Ah, you should be hungry after a night of work?"

Merlin smiles:

"Come on, let's head out for dinner. We'll take care of this mess when we come back."

Merlin gives Fury a call and confirms that those Aurors have been delivered into the specialized prison cells, he then takes the young wizards and Erik to the fast-food store not far from home.

Merlin ordered three pizzas and some snacks while chatting with the children to ease up their tense emotions.

These children were all gifted kids, but they've never experienced something like tonight before; they must relaxed with a delicious feast after the battle ends.

But just as Merlin expected, this affair was not over yet.

Because a force that's supposed to show up has yet to appear.

1 hour later, the kids return home to wash up and rest; in the quiet night, Merlin stands alone on the balcony wearing loose pajamas while the satisfied Goose and Crookshanks lay next to his feet.

That misfit kitten lies in Goose's nest, which was weird, as Goose forbids Crookshanks from touching its nest, but is much more tolerant towards the kitten.

There was an ashtray on the table in front of Merlin, in it were multiple burnt-out cigars; he closed his eyes and seemed to be resting, but was also waiting for the guests that would come anytime.

"Here they come!"

Merlin picks up a magical energy reaction at the edge of the dark senses spread out by Merlin, seemingly two people have arrived near his house using Apparition, they should be the 'guests' he's waiting for.

Moments later, as Merlin took out a bottle of wine and two wine glasses, two figures, a tall and a short, appear at the edge of the balcony.

They wore black coats with a small tophat usually worn by gentlemen of the last era, in those coats were straight suits with black gloves.

They were dressed up slightly different than the Aurors of the Briitish Ministry of Magic, but they're generally the same.

On the edge of their waist was a small wooden box, supposedly with their wands in them. But Merlin also notices old-fashioned revolvers on the other side of their waist, looking like cowboys.

Mmm, this should be the unique appearance of American Aurors.

"Gentlemen."

Merlin shakes the wineglass in his hand and says without looking back:

"Mind having a drink?"

The two American Aurors looked at each other, the short and slightly fat one shrugged and says to his tall and thin companion:

"You see, I told you that these muggle agents are tough to deal with, I hate dealing with them."

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"This is a mission!"

The tall and thin Auror replies simply.

The two Aurors did not hesitate for long before sitting on the chair in front of Merlin, Merlin poured them a glass of wine before pouring one for himself; he holds the wine glass and raises it to the two people in front of him, saying:

"This is my first encounter with the secret agents of the American Wizarding World, I hope that we may become friends."

But the two guys didn't raise their glasses and simply looked at Merlin; moments later, the slightly fat Auror says:

"Alright, Mr. Merlin, let's cut to the chase. I'm Essinus, senior Auror of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, this is..."

"Crow!"

The quiet, tall yet thin Auror says firmly:

"Senior Auror of the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

"Crow?"

Merlin looked at the indifferent Auror and says:

"That can't be your real name?"

"You can treat it as a real name."

The talkative Essinus shrugs, he places both hands on the table and tells Merlin:

"Crow doesn't like talking to strangers, he always does things by the book. Alright, what I mean is, we may not have much time to waste now. Mr. Merlin, please release Miss Umbridge."

"The disappearance of a few Aurors can be cast away as accidents, but the death of the deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic can cause a really serious diplomatic conflict."

Essinus tells Merlin:

"The Magical Congress wishes not to conflict with the Ministry of Magic, although we do hate the guys that came to our turf for trouble."

"Oh, you're here to ask me to release a crazy and dangerous woman."

Merlin nods, he shakes the wine glass and looks at the two senior Aurors in front of him, saying:

"I'm a kind person who always considers the requests of his friends, which, unfortunately, you are not, So, this..."

"No."

Essinus' expression freezes with Merlin's direct answer, Crow stands up and tries to take out his wand, but Goose opens its mouth behind him and its tentacle touches on Crow's leg; in the flickering purple energy, the senior Auror's magic is locked and he stops.

Merlin looks at the two senior Aurors, he extends his finger and taps it on the table, saying:

"I'm a level-5 agent of SHIELD, I do not know what this level means in the structure of your magic department, but if he's only sent two senior Aurors to deal with such a serious affair...isn't your superior underestimating the capabilities of the muggle world?"

"Either become my friend."

Merlin points at the two wine glasses on the table and says to the two American Aurors:

"Or...get your boss to come to talk with me!"

The atmosphere on the balcony tenses up like the air had stopped flowing.

This suffocating atmosphere continued for 10 seconds, and while Essinus was still hesitating, it was the indifferent Crow who made his choice.

He looks at Merlin, picks up the wine glass, and finishes the cold wine.

"Bam"

Crow places the empty wine glass onto the table, he wipes the wine stain off the corner of his mouth and says:

"Now, are we friends?"

Merlin nods and glances at Essinus, the slightly fat Auror grits his teeth and finishes the glass of wine.

Merlin waves his hand, Goose retracts its tentacles and frees Crow's mana.

"Alright, now we can talk."

Merlin lights up a cigar and looks at the two new friends in front of him, saying:

"That old hag Umbridge brought the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic all the way into New York in an attempt to cause mass panic, even resorting to using dangerous irregulars like Dementor to attack me and my temporary guardian...I don't know how you normally handle such a situation, but in SHIELD, such acts need to be judged."

Merlin flicks the cigar ash and says:

"The Aurors will be locked into SHIELD's prisons to await the response of the Ministry of Magic."

"As for Umbridge, she's a dangerous lunatic, she clearly is an obsessive yet dangerous control freak, highly arrogant, and careless towards the lives of the normal people...this is a dangerous psychological disorder that may bring harm to others, thus she needs to be contained and corrected; constant monitoring is required even after release."

"Of course, I can release them, as long as the officials of the Ministry of Magic reach an agreement with my superior. So in other words, this isn't a conflict between me and her, but an affair between SHIELD and the British Ministry of Magic...are you sure you want to interfere?"

Essinus sighs, this experienced Auror says in a low tone:

"I knew things wouldn't be so simple."

"But listen to me, Merlin; from ancient times, the affairs of the wizarding world have been handled internally without implicating muggle government organizations, this is tradition..."

"This is your tradition!"

Merlin interrupts Essinus' explanation and says:

"Not mine, in fact, even until now, I don't see myself as a wizard. In your eyes, I'm more of a squib, perhaps even more of a muggle. And I also prefer staying in the muggle world."

He stares at Essinus and says:

"What I mean is, enough of the meaningless official talk."

"I know that you've been authorized to freely use Obliviate to force me to forget about everything...but you're one step late, all the data about this has already been uploaded into SHIELD's central network."

Merlin says:

"Either we reach a constructive agreement and begin cooperation..."

"Or you wipe my memory, then barge into SHIELD headquarters, break through the armed forces of nearly 3000 SHIELD field agents, and wipe the memories of the hundreds of thousands of staff there."

"Alone I may be an insect the Magical Congress can just sweep away."

Merlin breathes out a smoke ring and says calmly:

"And luckily...I'm not alone, my organization is not weaker than yours, and the ones who should be afraid aren't me."

"Also, may I remind you... there are less than 2 hours until the total disappearance of that old hag Umbridge. So you, or your boss, may have to hasten your decision-making."

 

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