Miranda wiped her tears quickly as the sudden collapse passed, she noticed a peculiar wording in the second half of the message and put her attention on rereading the letter, the hall abuzz with whispers pitying the girl.
“Mr. Toll disappeared? In what way?” Luca asked remembering the details of their family, Henry Toll working as an enforcer, a magical policeman, his office mostly responsible for catching egregious Rappaport’s Law violators and keeping tabs on magic items they leak to the no-maj world.
“Don’t be insensitive…” Nadine whispered behind Miranda’s back to him now driven by concern standing there on his tiptoes and trying to read the letter over her head.
“It’s strangely worded… First, they say that Dad disappeared, then not to worry because he’s confirmed to be safe, I don’t get it…” the letter’s contents were different from what she assumed when reading about no trace found of her father at the beginning, she hesitated to hand it over to Luca for opinion.
Meanwhile, at other tables, there was a commotion as students stood up and shouted one by one to share similar news: “My uncle and aunt were kidnapped three months ago while going to listen to a ‘Cats’ musical on Broadway!” a third-year boy revealed, “My mom loves no-maj chips and crisps, she scours supermarkets all over the States to find uniquely packaged or flavoured ones, Ministry also sent our family a letter that she disappeared!” a girl in sixth grade shouted over the tables in Miranda’s direction, “My cousin is a smuggler, well, maybe I shouldn’t out him like that, but either way, he got snatched by someone too as he tried to exchange some Sickles for gold in a no-maj jewelry shop!” a boy from seventh grade added wavering in the middle, “My Grandma too, my older brother went out and didn’t return!” dozens of students shouted, so far they kept it to themselves and closest friends, now because of Miranda’s outburst everyone realized the phenomenon to be so widespread. A commotion arose, those affected gathering in the direction of Miranda spontaneously, where Luca finished reading the letter frowning in doubt.
“They know who did it but can’t get your father out of whoever's hands, sounds like a hostage situation. Not the worst case scenario, at least he’s alive.” Luca concluded, making up possible events in his mind, like the exact plight he’s been in, a group of vampires openly catching wizards for their blood, the government too incompetent to rescue them so far. He wondered yet again, this time during daytime, what happened to the wizards ambushing in the Blanco’s family manor since he could be sure Catherine was fine due to the crest still hovering above his heart. It just occurred to him that his teacher had a great probability of knowing that, or getting the information easily, so he decided to ask Fontaine at their next lesson.
During the time Luca fell into his thoughts, Miranda got surrounded and learned as others present that they are not the only ones whose family members got ‘disappeared safely’ according to the government, a group of twenty-five gathered to share their circumstances. They all got a weird letter from the ministry assuring them their kin are fine every week with an attached scrap of paper containing a line handwritten by those captured, presumably permitted to communicate their well-being in that way. All cases occurred to folk that had a habit of going out the barriers frequently or semi-frequently, sparking an argument if they broke the Secrecy Law and it was MACUSA’s ploy to jail those wizards that got bolder as they had no time in the last decade to crack down on separation from no-maj, many other conspiracy theories abound and spreading out to teacher’s table and the rest of the castle through an always ready to gossip flock of ghost’s hovering here and there.
More eagles brought letters to Miranda from her family, now permitted to contact her as it turned out they were in house arrest for a day that took Aurors to investigate, they insisted the girl be notified by an official statement up front. From her mother, Irene, describing Mr. Toll going out of wizarding barriers to investigate a possible mass-enchanting done as a prank in a no-maj fireworks factory, upgrading them to a superior standard Luca had the pleasure of watching up close at new-years, resulting in Henry’s missing for a day and Miranda’s mom getting a knock on the door from a seemingly well-prepared rapid response team. Her sister sent only a few sentences that boiled down to stop worrying, Sis will go and bring Dad home, wait for further news, Miranda’s brother and sister-in-law mailed a notification that Mom will live with them, told her not to worry again. Luca went through them, carefully searching for a possible clue that could cheer up his friend whom he could previously not imagine crying at all, who shed tears immediately when her family was involved, and now stayed focused on the cases presented in the impromptu conference hoping to gleam the truth of the matter from her fellow affected children.
“My parents were both killed in Canada by those damned Sasquatches! How many more do we have to lose before actually banding together and exterminating or enslaving the vermin!? Why are we even here, when we should go and make them pay!?” a spell-enhanced roar came from a student of Thunderbird’s house standing on the seventh year’s table, his eyes bloodshot, wand sending sparks as he waved it, his face twisted in a grimace of hatred. His confession ignited the spirits of youths that joined him in creating another group shouting how their friends and family died, vastly outnumbering the twenty-five young wizards that gathered to put their heads together about the inexplicable kidnappings.
The panic and chaos as only now the upcoming wizards and witches realized how many of their peers lived in pain, only putting up a daily facade that nobody cared to notice, the sheer volume of deaths and missing cases in the wizarding world stunned especially those coming in from the no-maj society like Luca and Bryce. The boys exchanged concerned gazes while Nadine visibly trembled hiding her mouth behind her hand as she for the first time heard about death of anyone having lived a sheltered life. The mini-riot eventually resulted in Fontaine’s action as the highest ranking staff member, requested repeatedly to take care of it by Juno that didn’t know what to do, silencing the crowd by a quick spell that produced a ‘bang!’ loud enough to make the hall temporarily deaf, and after the effect wore off, ordered them to not spread misinformation, he explained that the appropriate services are on the case 24/7 and the missing will return intact, condolences to those departed forever, their sacrifice worthy. Sadly, everyone could hear in his flat voice, poker face, tired eyes, and formulaic speech that their vice-headmaster didn’t really believe the things he said, too used to sending away his coworkers over the years. The students cooled down and returned to their seats, powerless to change anything except vowing in their hearts to train and learn harder, the grim eyes of the Thunderbird’s boy and a hundred others shining with desire for revenge as they went with big steps to their classrooms. Slate, the giant, sunny Wampus prefect that fought with Luca every week, progressively improving the boy to become capable enough to completely draw with him, one of them. This Saturday, even Luca had to push himself to the limit withstanding the furious training plan and the duels all Knight’s suffered through gritted teeth.
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The affair too big to end like that, a support group for people whose families were missing members proposed by the new head teacher of philosophy got approved, uniting the two hundred grieving students. The news generated by another incident in Ilvermorny had MACUSA statement printed in the ‘Daily Seer’ that any wizard leaving the barrier does so at his own risk, and if you stay on wizarding grounds nothing will happen, so stop breaking the Secrecy Laws if you don’t want your relatives to attend your funeral. Heroic Aurors and enforcers saving the whole population of Canada from being turned into slaves by the dark creatures were commended again, the pensions increased, and posthumous Medals awarded in the summer ceremony on the fourth of July, the fields of Iverstead, inviting all wizards to unite and persevere, the enemies hanging onto their last breath.
“You think what magical government said is legit?” Bryce whispered to Luca after turning his head around to check for possible listeners when they were in the library.
“No way.” Luca recalled the ease at which the Blanco family operated and categorically doubted the narrative, Connecticut black market right between Ilvermorny in Massachusetts and the Woolworth Building in New York prospered unprecedently when the boy was taken there, no signs of ‘hanging’ for the paranormal world anytime soon.
“...what about Mr. Toll?” Bryce was also worried about the smiling man that funded the boys' holiday expenses just because they were friends with his daughter.
“We can only prey, but I don’t know if there’s a place in Heaven for freaks like us.” Luca answered quietly with what was his personal doubt since learning from Dean Dietrich’s history books that nobody that wasn’t a pure human could gain even a sliver of power from the ‘light dimension’, Bryce falling silent at that.
Sunday evening in Fontaine’s office, Luca was forced to do what he considered an eccentric thing under his teacher’s and Abigail’s close scrutiny.
“…I have to ask, why am I cooking without magic?” asked Luca while kneading dough with his shirt stained with flour, a multitude of ingredients thrown all around his workstation.
“Hopeless dream to cook with your magic, it’s a miracle already that I came up with a way to gigantify your casting. Don’t ask for impossible from your old teacher, this lesson is exactly for you to not die of hunger someday.” Fontaine happily fiddled with a no-maj oven he nicked from somewhere and wanted to provide electricity for by using his wand, but couldn’t come up with a way to do it for now.
“Add more sugar, what does that little teaspoon do.” Abigail chimed in, very involved in the process of making a pizza that was taking place.
“That’s what is in the recipe, now throw all the stuff on top of it…, put the final sausage in…, and it’s done. Now bake the thing at 375 degrees for fifteen minutes and make sauce. Teacher, can you teach me to summon flames of that temperature, doesn’t look like we can eat if you insist on using the oven?” Luca rose his brows in doubt as Fontaine’s wand sent an electric arc into the cable, appliance came to life for three seconds during which Fontaine sent him a smug smile, then abruptly emitted black smoke and flickered to shut down for good.
“Reparo!” the annoyed vice-headmaster fixed it for the eighth time this hour, and said with a sour face and voice, “Don’t even try to summon heat or flames with your tentacle, no need to confirm what is visible on a look lasting a millisecond.” he flicked his wand twice, once to create a pocket of flames in the air, second to send the pizza in.
“So… is Zuri okay?” Luca asked observing his teacher’s face.
“Who’s that?” Fontaine drew a blank at him, making the boy put his unwashed hand to his forehead, dirtying himself completely.
“The Auror team that recovered me, I remember Captain Wilkinson being the leader, one-handed...” Luca continued until a light of recognition lit behind his teacher’s glasses.
“They are fine, why ask?” Fontaine moved his gaze away maintaining his expression.
“Well, I know Catherine is alive, right? They failed…” Luca didn’t elaborate further, waiting if he could hear something.
“Nothing you can do, kid.” the Professor awaited the pizza calmly.
“...what about Miranda’s father?” the boy exhaled with wide-open eyes, he finally realized that his saviours could meet bad fate after they brought him into the Wizarding World, previously even during his most depressed nights he thought they could teleport out of there as Zuri did with him if they encountered danger.
“Nothing you can do, kid.” the Professor repeated with a sigh. “I guess we should talk about those matters starting with why I did fight in the hardest possible way without compromising my faction to kill your would-be victim, but it feels pointless, there is literally nothing you can do as a mid-sized kid.” the pizza ready, they sat down and tasted it while Abigail watched with envy mixed with concern, Luca thought it was quite delicious despite the put-down he received alongside.