Give It A Whirl

Monroe was carrying a large cardboard box as he made his way into the modest ballroom of the Buckley Inn.  A line of house elves followed him in, each similarly burdened.  With the way magic was behaving lately, he hadn't wanted to take a chance by conjuring cushions for the classes that would be taking place in here today.

"Thank you, Pesky," he told the Head Elf as he placed his own package on the floor.  "You can go now."

"Oh no, Mister Monroe sir! Elves must help sir unpack, sir!" Pesky replied, giving Monroe a fair idea of how the creature had earned its name.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Pesky, but I can manage by myself.  Off you all trot."

Ugh.  It was exactly that kind of worshipful, slavish air that had never endeared House Elves to Monroe, even when he worked with magical creatures.  At least werewolves wanted rights.

The elves winked back to SPEW headquarters and Monroe unpacked his boxes, piling up cushions around the room. This decision for the muggles who were showing magical aptitude to actually be taught was possibly the most sensible thing the Ministry had ever dreamed up.


Now, he just needed his assistants.  And for everyone's magic to work properly.  And for everyone to leave their school rivalries at home.  Perhaps he ought to have written a speech?  After all, Monroe was familiar with Muggles, but sometimes even the best intentioned witches and wizards could be unintentionally offensive...

Jack showed up with her halfbrother Kip. Both were still very uncertain on how they felt about muggles joining their world. The Dyllan family was predominantly muggle, with a few magical exceptions - Kip chalked it up to a great-great-great-great-grandmother being a powerful witch, but their genealogy was a bit wonky. The betterment and proper treatment of muggles had always been important, but Jack was personally a little offput by the immersion of muggles into their world stemming from an unexplained accident. Kip was even less certain of their immersion as a rule, but both had agreed that if they were going to be apart of their world, they deserved training. There were too many people out there who were going to be hell bent on taking muggles down.

They needed to defend themselves. That much was obvious.

The two showed up just as the house elves filed out. Kip smiled pleasantly at the little elves, tilting his head and saying, "Hi, everyone. How are we today?"

A chorus of "Thank you, sir, very good, sirs" chirped up as Jack approached Monroe. She put a hand out for him to shake, as she hadn't seem him in awhile. "Alright? What are we looking at?"

Oh, great.

It was his old boss.  Monroe didn't hate his old boss, but he wasn't fond of her, either.  She reminded him a little of Destrey, but Jack was more likely to warn you before she destroyed something.

He shook her hand.

"We've got a group of muggles coming in, the ones who've been located so far," he explained.

"This session is being held to see if they're capable of controlling the magic they've accessed.

"We may have some observers coming by as well," he added.

He looked at her friend.  Perfectly dishevelled hair (almost as though it was on purpose) and eyes blue enough to almost make him a part of the Ashcroft clan himself.  In fact, Monroe knew for a fact that Lusk, his baby sister, had spent her first and second years at Hogwarts daydreaming that this was the case after she'd found his name on a passing out award.  The same award she'd received herself three years later.


"Monroe Ashcroft," he introduced himself.  "You're Parsons, yes?  One of the few people to pass out of Hogwarts early.  My sister admires you greatly."

It was surreal. Real Men in Black stuff, although the people who'd brought him in wore scarlet.  

For his own safety, they'd told him, and there'd been a significant silence after those words where they politely refrained from adding "and others."  Elliot wondered how stupid they thought he was.

If he'd been a betting man - and he had been a betting man up until all of this unfolded; right now it seemed an unwise choice - he'd have bet that they simply didn't think muggles had brains.

Muggle was another stupid word.  Elliot detested it.  He loathed the way they referred to "the muggle" when he was standing right within earshot.  He knew they thought of him as some exotic creature, not as a human being.  He'd always tried to be a good ally, but now he really understood what feminists and gays were on about.

This morning there was some kind of get-together in the ballroom.  Elliot supposed that so long as he was failing his course - and he would be failing his course, he only needed to miss two classes to be under the eighty percent attendance requirement - he may as well make friends with others in the same predicament.  If nothing else, they could b¡tch about this stupid magical society that had abducted them all.

He shouldered his way through the heavy wooden doors and found three people on the other side, apparently having a pleasant conversation.  Magical or muggle?  Elliot raked a hand through his hair as he wondered.  

Oh well, he was going to have to get to know them eventually anyway, so with the same smile he used at the hospital, he breached the gap.

"Good morning, I'm Elliot," he refrained from offering a hand to shake.  If anyone said anything about it, he'd just explain that he was a med student and say something about bacteria.

Jack clapped her hands together, looking excited at the prospect of getting to meet these strange magical overlaps. She could deny that there was a part of muggle culture she missed. In comparison, the magical community seemed lazy, while the nonmagical community had to rely on their own labor to do what magic could. It was for this reason that Jack did so much of her tedious work without magic, why she enjoyed driving her car. It would be nice to hang out with some of her original people.

It'd be like hanging out with family. Except, not as cold and unwelcome.

Kip smiled pleasantly at the other man. "Pleasure. I'm sure I'd give her a great let-down were we to meet. But thank you."

The door opened and a man stepped in, introducing himself. Had to be a muggle, as Jack suspected anyone who would be coming in to help train would surely be a familiar face. Jack smiled, thrusting out a hand as usual. "I'm Jack." Kip nodded as well, saying, "I'm Kip."

Jack typically wasn't so welcome, but this was such an interesting, new experience. "So, you're a muggle?" Right into it, alright. "I'm actually a muggleborn, so I've been through the whole 'what the hell is this world' thing. Crazy, right?"

Kip slowly turned to look at his half-sister. Why didn't he get this Jack when he met her? He got a punch in the face, literally, as a greeting. He think he preferred the treatment he got, to this weirdly friendly Jack.

Hadley wasn't so sure about this whole training thing. James had told her it was a good idea, but she didn't truly think that he would be disappointed in her if she didn't go. However, the thing that really got her out of the door and into the training session was the fact that something was almost amazing about the fact that she was one of the few who seemed to have been taken in. Didn't they want her to be safe? Surely that would be one of the benefits that came from her agreeing to go.

And so, of course, she arrived. A bit later than perhaps she was expected to, but she had done her best. She pushed a section of her hair out of her eyes as she walked in, surprised somehow that she didn't see anyone she knew. That was ridiculous, though, and she knew James wasn't going to be there. Or, he hadn't said he would be. So it seemed that the only person she would actually 'know' would be one of the other so-called Muggles that had been walking around the Inn from time to time. At least, he looked familiar. At this point, she couldn't quite fathom how else to phrase it. Nothing in her life was genuinely familiar, and she wasn't sure if it was exhilarating or maddening.

She hesitated, mostly unsure how she was supposed to cast spells properly without a wand like the ones she had seen people use around Diagon Alley. Gosh, was ridiculous names these people had for things. Diagon Alley? Mental.

"Hello," she offered weakly, wrapping the fingers of her right hand around her left elbow as if it could make her a bit smaller and thus less different or in the way.

Teddy was running late. Oh, Merlin. He hated being late to places, especially important ones. And what could be more important than the first meeting in all of wizarding history to help muggles learn magic. Teddy had not yet fully decided on his feelings on the strange phenomenon, as there were far too many implications to just blindly accept the cultural change. He, as an advocate for muggles rights, obviously was not bigoted towards them and wished them all the best. He was merely afraid that if they joined the wizarding society, they would be in danger. And he did not want that, of course.

He arrived, seemingly moments after a woman in front of him. He saw Monroe and Kip, casting them smiles, when his eyes fell on Jack who gave him an eager grin. "Christ," he whispered. He locked eyes with the other woman and quickly smiled. "Erm, hi." He glanced about, before offering a hand awkwardly. "Teddy Lupin. Pleasure to meet you."

Everybody here was ridiculously on edge. Elliot was hardly a psychologist (hardly? Try not at all) and even he could tell.

He put his hands behind his back and stood at what he always thought of as doctor stance. The pleasant yet distant smile stayed on his face. He didn't know if he liked these people yet. They weren't like the ones in scarlet, but that was probably only because they were better trained. What did that say about him?

"Pleased to meet you, Jack and Kip," he replied. "Why do you call us muggles?"

May as well get straight to the point.

Two more people entered, demanding attention. Well, the girl wasn't, in fact. She seemed to want to curl up in a corner and be left alone. So... another muggle?

Hadley turned to look at the man who entered behind her, recognizing the fact that he must be one of the wizards who had offered to help out. He seemed to know the others, at the very least. He seemed nice enough, as far as Hadley was concerned, so she gave a sort of nod in greeting as she reached out to take his hand and shake it.

"Hadley Swan," she offered, trying to sound more confident than she really was. It was more her fear of failure than innate shyness. Typically she was very serious about proving that she was unafraid of difficult or frightening situations. But, in this case, she had no way to use any of her typical skills in order to help herself along.

She looked up in surprise, though, her hand still in Teddy's. That other man was quite direct, she realized, her eyebrows lifted slightly. Hadley did try to cover it up by looking back at Teddy and drawing in a breath as she released his hand. Her fingers curled into her palm and she turned back towards the rest of the group, tapping her heels together quietly as she waited for someone to get things started. In truth, she was slightly curious about his question, but she had sort of hoped it would have been explained along the way. This way, at least she would get the information in a timely manner, though.

More people arriving in the ballroom pleased Monroe, even if those people were one other muggle and "call me Teddy" Lupin. The more people could distract Jack, the happier he'd be.

Monroe flourished a brace of wands he'd obtained from the evidence locker. Ever since Voldemort's downfall, there'd been a brisk trade in black market wands, especially those with experimental cores.

"Nobody is quite sure where the term Muggle comes from, but most people agree the source refers to the foolishness of non-magical people. To be a mug or muddle about, something like that," he explained. "Most witches and wizards don't even realise the word's roots, though. They think it just means unable to do magic. If they want to insult you, they'll call you mudblood."

He looked enquiringly at the other man.

"If you have no more questions, I'd like you to each take a wand so we can get started."