Chapter 143: Arc 4: Chapter 31: Reaching an Agreement

It was midnight at Merlin's house, the children had already fallen asleep, as Merlin sensed the children's calm breathing in his dark senses. The only ones awake in this entire house right now, were him, the two American Aurors, and the orange cat Goose.

Oh, wait, there's one more.

That small kitten Goose picked up was currently lying on the edge of the cat nest while gazing towards the balcony.

Wonder why it's still so energetic.

"Merlin, we know how you act, and we trust that you're not one to kill innocent people."

The slightly fat Auror places his finger on the table, he lowers his body and persuades:

"Release Umbridge, I know she's spiteful, and as much as I wish for her to suffer a setback, she cannot die here."

He says to Merlin with a serious expression:

"Our peers in the British Ministry of Magic have their arrogant ways of thinking, and it's clear that they have internal problems right now; if you kill her, that'll put you in trouble, your family and relatives, even your organization may become implicated."

"It may even concur another hostility war between the wizards and muggles. A lot of people will be implicated, there'll even be blood and death, you don't want to see this happen, right?"

"Oh?"

Merlin blinks his eyes and looks at the gentle Auror Essinus in front of him, a few seconds later, he says:

"Sounds like you know me quite well."

"We do."

Essinus glances at Crow, the latter nods, so the slightly fat Auror lowers his tone and tells Merlin:

"We've been watching you for a long time now, longer than you can ever imagine."

"In the secret archives of the Magical Congress, you've been listed on the watchlist not long after you encountered the demon's contract 6 years ago. From what I know, your archive is personally managed by the current president of the Magical Congress, the grand wizard Samuel."

Merlin frowns at what the Auror had just revealed.

He contemplates for a moment, then says to the two wizards in front of him:

"If the truth is as you said, and you've known of my existence for a very long time now, then why...why didn't you appear? In the eyes of official wizards, I should be seen as an unstable factor that should be monitored. Yet I'm certain that I didn't sense your presence...not even a trace. This makes me suspect the validity of the things you're saying."

"Don't be tangled in this."

Essinus makes a stop gesture and explains:

"We act different from the British Ministry of Magic's way of having everything under their control, we're more inclined on maintaining the order of the peace between the muggle world and North American wizarding world. Compared to our isolated peers in Europe, American wizards are freer; they live in the muggle world, and we do not support that ancient yet foolish pure-blood theory."

The Auror says straightforwardly:

"In fact, I live in Brooklynn, and I run a bookstore there. Crow lives further away, and he's a hard rock fan despite how he looks."

Essinus pauses, he looks back at Merlin and says:

"What I'm trying to say is, Merlin, our style is different from England's. We didn't sit back and watch you suffer, the Magical Congress began to hide behind the scenes once the muggle organizations began to look for you, our presence should not be known by normal people."

"More importantly, there are powers beyond our comprehension affecting you."

The thinner, more silent Auror Crow says simply:

"The grand wizards have yet to understand how you escaped the hunt of a great demon. It's risky for us to recklessly get in touch with you."

"This is why the Magical Congress didn't come looking for you when you used magic in front of muggles or made a door key."

The fat Auror shrugs:

"Believe me, Merlin, we've been kind enough to you."

"But I can't just simply hand over the old hag to you, I won't be able to report on my mission if I do so."

Merlin's tone becomes gentle, he makes a cooperative gesture and tells the Aurors before him:

"The muggle world has its own order, and I belong in a strict system if you want to take away a lunatic wizard that disregards the life of the normal people. then you'll have to give the organization behind me a proper reason."

He extends his hand and waves it in front of the Aurors, saying:

"Send a representative to contact SHIELD, and this affair will be easily solved."

The two Aurors didn't reply, they conversed in some way Merlin could not detect.

A minute later, Crow stands up; the tall and thin Auror walks to the side while holding an odd device, seemingly contacting someone.

Essinus picked up his glass and poured himself some wine, he tells Merlin:

"Your boss requested you to do so, right? From what I know, Mr. Nick Fury has been trying to get in contact with the wizarding world over the last few months. You're not his first try, that disdainful second-rate wizard Constantine has tried multiple times now."

The Auror reaches out and takes off his cap, revealing his slightly bald head, he says in a low tone:

"I don't get it, why is he so bent on searching for secrets he shouldn't know of."

"Because he senses a threat and he needs help, my friend."

Merlin explains:

"The Kree war a few months back frightened a lot of people. The civilians let down their worries after knowing of our victory, but the higher-ups have to consider more. I trust that even you know how much luck was involved in our victory that time."

"Every time a disaster happens, some people always think that, I should stand out...Fury's that type of person."

Merlin sighs, he takes a sip of his wine and says:

"He learns a lesson from war and makes preparations for the next possible war. The wizarding world, you, including me, are a very important node in all the preparations that he's making."

"He needs help, I can understand."

The fat wizard Essinus shrugs and says:

"But he's trying to become the bridge between muggles and wizards...I'm not very positive about this thought of his, because it's hard to do."

"You're a wizard too, you know that essentially, we are a group of people guarding secrets, much alike you muggle agents. Even you don't easily believe in a stranger with a goal, how can you ask the wizards, that already disliked muggles, to accept SHIELD's invitation willingly?"

"This is not our business."

Merlin waves his hand and says somewhat helplessly:

"Fury's a stubborn person and I can't reject his request. I trust that he'll figure a way to deal with all this, this is something between my boss and yours; we can't interfere, nor should we."

"Speaking of which, I'm more curious about something else."

Merlin places the wine glass in his hand to the side, he picks up Goose by his feet, and while stroking on Goose's fur, he looks at Essinus and says:

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"Are you guys aware of the fact that the British Ministry of Magic sent people to New York to look for trouble?"

"Of course."

Essinus nods, this fat Auror says indignantly:

"They entered North America through normal diplomatic means, using the Floo Network in the Magical Congress' headquarters. But they kept their mission a secret, saying that they're simply here to North America to hunt for a dark wizard that had escaped from Europe; such things are common on this land."

Essinus explains:

"The muggles made this nation well-developed, but when the light shines brighter, the shadows it causes becomes ever more worrying. The situation of the North American wizarding world is about the most complex in the world; evil that's extinct on other continents still resides in the shadows of this continent."

"The Vodoo cults from the Mediterranean and South America, the Indian Religions native to North America, all kinds of cult groups, and those demons and devils that want to smuggle out of Hell, some seamy dark wizards...you can find pretty much all the bad stuff in the world here."

The fat Auror used a near-desperate tone to say:

"We deal with these troublesome affairs every day, you may not know this, but the sacrificial rate of the North American Aurors is the highest in the wizarding world."

Sacrifice has practically become our tradition, what's worse is that the inheritance of warriors that uphold the good is on par with those of evil; from the founding of the Magical Congress up until now, we've yet to see any hope of this battle against the darkness."

"Merlin, we've seen what SHIELD's been doing in New York."

Essinus raises the glass and says meaningfully:

"The acts of you and your team, along with that disdainfully Constantine over the last few months have granted me and Crow some long-needed downtime. Your boss is trying to become the bridge between the muggles and wizards, but he seems to have overlooked...that you are the best neutral bridge between both sides."

"Alright, back on the topic."

The fat wizard looks back at his colleague who was contacting headquarters, he looks back and throws a cigar to Merlin, redirecting the topic to the British Ministry of Magic:

"Anyways, Umbridge brought four Aurors into North America through normal means. No one had suspected her at that time. She was a big shot, after all, the deputy minister of the Minister of Magic, exactly 3 levels higher than me and Crow."

"Without grand wizard Samuel's approval, we can't even search what they've brought along. Muggles have a term that fits this situation, what was it called? Oh, right, diplomatic immunity, you get it?"

"Mmm."

Merlin nods, Essinus lights his cigar and continues:

"At that time, no one could've imagined that this woman would be crazy enough to bring 5 Dementors with her. In fact, we realized that Umbridge may have gone mad after your children were attacked at St Matthew's Church."

"We had a team of 12 Aurors on stand by back then that was ready to hunt them, but the operation was stopped by grand wizard Samuel, who was the president of the Magical Congress."

Essinus blinks at Merlin and says:

"The president seemed certain that you and your organization were fully capable of handling this affair, thus we weren't sent to join the fight, but were sent to clean up the mess."

"Mmm."

Merlin nods, he was certain that the gentle yet smart Auror in front of him had kept some secrets.

But this explanation should be true overall.

This means that the old hag Umbridge had risked offending the Magical Congress to bring Harry and the other young wizards back to England...this made Merlin more suspicious.

"Being able to become deputy minister of the Ministry of Magic shows that this woman was not a pure lunatic. So I'm curious as to why she did such a crazy thing?"

Merlin asks in a low tone:

"You'd just said it yourself that there's an internal problem within the British Ministry of Magic. So, what exactly is this problem?"

"Well, it doesn't matter now, so I'll be direct."

Essinus extinguishes the cigar, his expression becomes serious and he tells Merlin:

"We suspect that the British Ministry of Magic has now been infiltrated by Death-Eaters, and it's a mass infiltration. But we have no evidence, which is why we must bring Umbridge back; president Samuel needs to check her memories as to find out how dire the situation in Europe is right now."

Merlin glances at the Goose in his arms and says:

"You mean that Umbridge may be one of Voldemort's followers? One of the Death-Eaters?"

"No, I didn't say that."

Essinus denies so:

"From Umbridge's record, it's unlikely that she's a Death-Eater."

"But just because she isn't one doesn't mean that the others are not, news of the mystery man's resurrection has reached North America last year; we may not interfere with the mess in England, but we have to make preparations beforehand, once the British wizarding world falls, North America would surely be threatened."

Saying so, Essinus says in a worry:

"You've never experienced the dark times 14 years ago, Merlin, at Voldemort's most savage times, we had to accept the protection requests of hundreds of wizards every month; that dark lord is dangerous, England would become a living hell should he be put in control...muggles are no different to wizards for him, and he will kill any who would oppose him without hesitation."

"And the dangerous dark magic he controls can help him finish a clean massacre, maybe London, maybe other cities. But the muggles now won't just sit back and wait for death like their foolish ancestors, they have their ways of retaliation, just as you said!"

The fat wizard grits his teeth and says:

"All it would take is 10,000 fully armed muggle soldiers, and it would break through any magic set by any wizard. And once muggles and wizards begin to fight, it won't end until one side falls."

"Wizards would become extinct."

Merlin says softly:

"If they force the muggles' hand in this era, it's only a matter of a few nuclear warheads to kill off just three million wizards. Voldemort's digging his own grave, and he's dragging the entire wizarding world down with him."

"So you too understand the seriousness of the problem, right?"

Essinus pats on his belly and tells Merlin:

"Release Umbridge, I can assure you that she won't come looking for your trouble as long as the Voldemort problem isn't finished."

Merlin looked at the fat wizard for 10 seconds before nodding:

"I'll give her to you, but you see, my house was nearly destroyed, and the children were terrified."

Merlin shrugs:

"I'll need some compensation to act as the ticket fee for you guys just watching."

"What do you want?"

Essinus asks, to which Merlin smiles and says softly:

"Not much, just a spell..."

 

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