[Percy Jackson/Dresden Files] Deep as the Sea

crazyfoxdemon said:
How is Simon Cowl?
He seems to be the go to for Cowl in plenty of peoples minds. Some other suspects I've seen people mention are Justin, Merlin, Gatekeeper, Ebenezar etc.
 
NuitTombee said:
crazyfoxdemon said:
How is Simon Cowl?
He seems to be the go to for Cowl in plenty of peoples minds. Some other suspects I've seen people mention are Justin, Merlin, Gatekeeper, Ebenezar etc.
That seems weird to me, since Simon died without ever making an actual appearance in the novels. He was the Council member in charge at Archangel and his death was the big hubub that made Ebenezar get on the Senior Council. Plus if Cowl was a Senior Council level wizard, Harry would have been in much deeper crap.
 

sworded

Well-Known Member
Dark Schneider said:
Plus if Cowl was a Senior Council level wizard, Harry would have been in much deeper crap.
Even if Cowl isn't Simon the guy was still a student of Kimmler and in Harry's opinion has more power than Ebenezar. The guy is definetly somewhere in the top 20 possibly top 10 wizards on the planet.
 

Ryuugi

Well-Known Member
XxXXxX

Chicago was about a million degrees that summer and they were waiting on the pavement for the wizards to arrive. Getting to Chicago had been easy—while Edinburgh had been a place that they’d previously marked under ‘And we would go there why?’ it wasn’t unusual for demigod quests to take them all across the country—and given that the camp was still in a state of scrambling around and figuring out what they didn’t know but probably should, large groups of them were now travelling from place to place, something that was dangerous for demigods at the best of times.

In case it actually needed to be said, this was not the best of times. Certainly, they’d had worse days—in fact, Chiron had become somewhat depressed thinking about how many worse days the Camp had had—but things weren’t good by any stretch of the imagination. So in a move that even Annabeth had applauded, the Hermes Cabin had taken it upon themselves to search out pathways to most of the major cities and important areas in America. It was still a work in progress, to be sure, for they had to find not only Ways, but ones that could be travelled safely, in short times relative to Earth, and which could be relied upon not to suddenly change.

There were a lot of areas that needed to be mapped out, but the Hermes Cabin had been working based on the size of the cities and after New York, which served as their starting point, they’d found paths to Los Angeles, Chicago, Huston, and Philadelphia, and several were testing the path to Phoenix to make sure it was safe to travel. If nothing went horrible wrong—which Percy had a hard time imagining, given their line of work, though maybe it was just that he, personally, had horrible luck—Travis and Conner said they thought they’d be able to map out routes to the top fifty states in America by the end of the year.

He had to say, he was definitely looking forward to not getting chased halfway across the continent every time something important was going on. This whole ‘safe travel’ was an incredibly novel concept and one with which he would be happy to grow more familiar with. The Hermes Cabin was more than pulling their weight in all this—he was going to have to think of something nice he could do for them at some point.

None of which changed the fact that it was hot out here and that they’d been waiting for nearly half an hour, due to the Way to Chicago having proven especially quick. He was doing the best out of the group due to being able to ignore the humidity, but ADHD demigods and long waits in the heat didn’t mix well, period.

“Simon, how is this supposed to work exactly?” Annabeth asked, sweating heavily but not seeming particularly bothered by it. It must have been a California girl thing.

Simon wiped his brow with a handkerchief. He was dressed in his heavy black robes, which Percy imagined must have sucked, but he bore it without complaint.

“The Wardens will arrive first and make sure the area is clear before giving the go-ahead to the others. After that, everyone else will gradually trickle in, depending on how cooperative the designated Ways allow. Well, not everyone. There will be many wizards who can’t attend, for whatever reason, ranging simply not caring to life-threatening events. But the majority of the Council will attend and the Wardens and Senior Council will discuss the situation and inform everyone of what they should do for the time being. Should anything come up that requires it, there will be a simple, majority rules vote, unless three members of the Senior Council move to make it a closed vote, in which case the seven Senior Council members will decide instead. It’s relatively rare for that to happen in peace times, but most of the Council are not trained to do battle or wage war, so it’s not uncommon for such votes to be called when swift action is needed or panicked decisions must be avoided. Near the end of the meeting, representatives from allied groups will stand and confirm that they will give their aid to the Council as a whole. All meetings are conducted in Latin, as it’s a dead language and equally a pain in the ass for everyone involved to learn, regardless of their country of origin, or at least that’s the explanation for it now. Originally, it was probably just spoken because the White Council had its roots in the Roman Empire, but it serves its purpose well enough nowadays, I suppose, and doesn’t favor or discriminate anyone in particular. Regardless, I will be sitting with the rest of the Senior Council, but I will have someone translate for you during the meeting.”

“That’s all we need to do, then?” Percy asked. “Sit through the meeting and say we’ll help out at the end? I figured we’d probably have to give some kind of speech or explanation or something.”

“You’ll realize this quickly regardless, so I may as well state it outright.” Simon said, turning to face him. “We’re wizards. We never explain anything.”

“Like Mary Poppins?” He said, before pausing as he wondered if Simon would get that reference. The wizard nodded without skipping a beat, however.

“Yes, precisely. In all likelihood, the Merlin will wish to speak with you prior to the meeting to get an explanation and a feel for you—after that, I imagine that any information would be granted on a need-to-know basis to ensure your security, keep you a secret so that you can retain the element of surprise, and to satisfy our wizardly desire to keep secrets. The Senior Council will know everything before the day is out and select members of the Council and the Wardens will also be told; the one’s that will most likely work closely with you, who will inform their associates and subordinates as it becomes necessary. Knowledge is power and all that.”

“The Merlin being the leader of the Council as a whole,” Annabeth said. “What will he want to talk to us about?”

Simon made an expression somewhere between a smile and a scowl, but before he could reply, a voice interrupted.

“Many things,” said the man who’d appeared out of midair. His hair and beard were long, white, and well kept; his eyes bright blue and alert. He wore formal robes of midnight black and a stole of purple, decorated with symbols and medals signifying who-knows-what. “Given the circumstances, I would say we have much to discuss—and I think we can all agree that it would be best to act quickly.”

The man, who could only be the Merlin, looked calmly at Simon.

“I hope you haven’t told them anything too awful about me, Simon.”

“Of course not, Arthur,” Simon replied inclining his head in a brief nod. “I was just about to discuss the good old days.”

“Then I arrived just in time. If I may steal them away from you for a moment, Simon?”
 

Ryuugi

Well-Known Member
XxXXxX

“I suppose the first thing I must do is express my gratitude,” The Merlin began. They’d gone inside, which meant they were out of the sun, but none of the air conditioners were on due to how wizards tended to mess up technology, so it was still kind of miserable. “If not for your timely intervention, many great wizards wound now be lost to us.”

He inclined his head toward Simon, who nodded shallowly in return.

“You’ll be happy to know that the rest of the Brute Squad is largely intact,” He told his fellow wizards. “They were forced away from your tower by a sudden invasion of Reds, but weren’t caught completely by surprise thanks to the information we received prior—another thing I believe we have our guests to thank for. They were forced to retreat towards Edinburgh when it became obvious that fighting their way back to you was unfeasible and arrived shortly thereafter, though the Red Court harried them all the way to our gates. I must admit, when we first heard how many had come for you, we’d feared the worst, but we did not even have time to formulate an appropriate counter before you contacted us. I must admit, the method you used was quite intriguing. If possible, I would like to speak to you about it when possible.”

“I’m sure Annabeth would be happy to explain it to you,” Percy replied, sliding cleanly out from under the responsibility before it had a chance to settle upon his shoulders.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but nodded.

“It can be an expensive way to communicate, but often worth it as well. If it could help you, we would be happy to share the method.” She replied.

“Then you have my thanks once more. Sadly, the time before the meeting is short, so it shall have to wait. It is my understanding that you are the leader of your group?” He asked, returning his attention to Percy.

“Yeah, at least during times like this,” Percy nodded, feeling somewhat surprised at how used to the position he was starting to get. “This is Annabeth, my second in command.”

Well, technically, no one had given her that position—but really, it’s because no one had bothered. Everyone had pretty much assumed she’d be his second in command, including him, and she’d stepped into the role without having to be asked.

“As you are likely aware, I serve as the leader of the Senior Council in my role as the Merlin. If possible, I would like your permission to forgo pleasantries and speak frankly to you, as one leader to another.”

Percy sat up straighter in his chair, knowing that this was important. This would be the first time he’d really acted as the leader of the camp in a political situation, rather than a military one.

Which was to say, the stakes were the same, but it was a field of battle he had no experience in. Thank God Annabeth was here.

“Of course,” He said.

“Simon has informed me somewhat of your goals and as such I feel it is only proper to tell you of my own. I’m aware that you may not agree with them, but I would like you to hear them from my own mouth, rather than from someone else’s, and I would like a chance to explain my reasons.” He paused for a moment, whether for dramatic effect or to give either of them a chance to interrupt. Either way, they said nothing and he continued on a moment later. “If at all possible, I intend to pursue peaceful negotiations with the Red Court.”

Percy’s eyebrows lifted high at those words and even Annabeth blinked a few times, though that was the only indication of her surprise. But Simon just closed his eyes and sighed.

“Um…I have to be honest; I’m pretty new at this and there’s a lot I don’t understand. But…they just tried to kill Simon and a lot of other wizards. Is pursuing peace really the best choice?”

“Oh, of course not; a peaceful negotiation is hardly ideal.” The Merlin calmly shook his head. “I have hundreds of years of experience with the Red Court and I’ve seen first-hand the horrors they’ve inflicted upon humanity. They are monsters, responsible for the deaths of countless innocent lives—in theory, the ideal solution would be to wipe every last one of them from the face of the Earth. Sadly, there is often a difference between the ideal and the actual and such a solution…I would not say it’s impossible, for it quite possible. But a number of factors keep it from truly being the ideal solution.”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked, honestly confused.

“I firmly believe the White Council is more powerful than the Red Court. Should it come to an all-out war, I believe we shall triumph in the end. But it would not be an easy fight, by any means. It will require great effort and focus and even then, heavy losses are inevitable. Tell me, how much experience do you have with fighting monsters?”

“A lot,” He replied immediately.

“Then perhaps you can understand what a battle of attrition can be like against them.”

Percy paused at that—because, yes, he could understand. How many times in the war had he killed a monster, only for it to come back? Sometimes in a week, sometimes in a month, sometimes it took years, but so many had returned and had to be fought again. That’s just the way monsters were; they always, always came back.

But demigods didn’t. All the friends he’d lost—they stayed dead. They’d won in the end, but their losses had been actual losses; on the other hand, he was certain he’d probably find himself face to face with the Minotaur again, some day.

“Yeah, I can,” He said quietly. “It wasn’t fun.”

“No,” The Merlin agreed. “I rather think not. The Red Court is worse than most; if it comes to a war, casualties would be heavy, and not just on the Council. As the tide turned against them, they would undoubtedly begin to draft more allies from the mortal population, which would result in just thousands and thousands of deaths if we were lucky. They breed quickly, birthing new members in mere days and training them in short order, whereas teach a wizard to control his powers takes years. A battle against them would be drawn out and gruesome, most likely leaving hundreds of wizards dead. But even so, I believe we could do it. But it would be a Pyrrhic Victory.”

“How so?” Annabeth asked and Percy could all but here gears turning in her head as she weighed the options and compared the numbers.

“A part of it would be the casualties of the war, of course. Another part would be all those people that would be left to die while the Council’s limited numbers are drawn away from protecting people and monitoring areas of the world to take part in the War—something which, no doubt, many creatures will take advantage of. But the biggest reason is because of what would come after. In my role as the leader of the Council, it is my responsibility to look not only at problems, but beyond them—to not only come up with a solution, but to see how that solution would affect things and if it would create new problems. The Red Court is…massive. It is a nation, unto itself. They all but control South and Central America, with holdings all over the rest of the world. They hold power in the mortal world as well as the supernatural one—property, stocks, entire corporations, and more. More than a few members hold positions of political or economic power. If we successfully destroy them, it would create a vacuum of power such as the world hasn’t seen for centuries.”

“You’re talking about a vacuum of power,” Annabeth said, realization filling her eyes as the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place. “If the Red Court disappeared, it would be like an open invitation for everyone else. Nature abhors a vacuum and something would try to fill it.”

The Merlin nodded.

“The Red Court, for all its horrors, serves at least one use—it defends its territory and fights against any new party that seeks to gain a foothold in the mortal world. Its motivations are purely selfish, but if it suddenly disappeared, there would be an entire continent left reeling in its wake and free for a thousand creatures to come rushing in. Small groups will try to horde power and set the foundations of empires, larger groups would shift their attention to seek out the Red’s holdings. The areas they leave behind will be open to yet more newcomers and as the larger groups come in contact, they will fight over power and humans will suffer in the process—as food, slaves, recruits, or what have you. The Council will need to respond to protect them.”

Even Percy could see where this was going.

“You mean another War,” He said. “As soon as the fights with the Reds end, another one will begin.”

“Precisely. More battles, more casualties—the time it takes to train wizards means we won’t have time to replenish our ranks and each battle will reduce us more and more. We’ll be whittled away, piece by piece, until there is nothing left. The truth is, the White Council is limited. We are powerful, but there are so few of us in the grand scheme of things, whereas our enemies are beyond counting. We can win against one of them, but what does it matter when there are a hundred others in the wings? At the end of the day, what we are, what keeps Mankind safe, is a threat—we’re a gun with an unknown number of bullets. Everyone knows that we cannot fight every monster. Everyone knows that if they ganged up against us, we would quickly fall. But we could take at least some of them with us, and so they hesitate to be the one to go first. And as long as no one knows how many, we can hold on that threat alone—but once we start firing, everyone knows it’s just a matter of time before we click empty.”

Percy didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never had the entire story spelled out for him quite like that. Was this why their parents had hid them away? Was this why they’d never seen all these monsters before?

“I tell you this, because you and I are in the same situation—leaders of groups that exist to protect Mankind. And yet, the eternal conundrum we face is this: We will protect no one if we are dead. So I will try to resolve things peacefully, if I can, even if I hate vampires with every fiber of my being. Even if it means putting up with them, I must do what I feel will save the most lives in the long run, even if it requires me to do things I once never thought I would have to do.”

So spoke the Merlin, leader of the White Council of Wizards.
 
. If we successfully destroy them, it would create a vacuum of power such as the world hasn’t seen for centuries.”

“You’re talking about a vacuum of power,” Annabeth said, realization filling her eyes as the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place.
That doesn't make Annabeth sound very bright imo. I could see it working if Arthur hadn't just mentioned if himself.
 

Ryuugi

Well-Known Member
Woooo~ Another chapter done. And next chapter opens with Harry finally appearing!


______________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Then what is the plan?” Percy asked. He wasn’t happy with the knowledge that he might have to stand by and let monsters do as they please—but he didn’t think the Merlin was particularly pleased by it either. It didn’t really make a difference in the end, he supposed.

“Envoys have already been sent to the Red Court and will be returning to attend the meeting. They will present the Red Court’s initial terms and the Council will vote on the matter. If needed, we will send a counteroffer to them and they will likely deliberate over it before sending another one back to us. If possible, we will come to a compromise.”

“And if not?” Annabeth asked.

The Merlin sighed.

“And if not…we will fight,” He said. “I deeply wish to avoid that, but it may not be possible. If it does happen, we will simply have to try and find a way to survive what is to come. In any case, it is in our best interests to prolong negotiations for as long as possible to give ourselves time to prepare.”

“Won’t that give them time to prepare as well?” Percy asked.

“Yes—but no benefits from having extra time as much as wizards, I assure you.” The wizard replied, nodding towards Simon. “After this meeting, we’ll begin preparations to counter the vampires. Of course, they know that as well as well do, so I suspect we will only have a short time to try and settle things. Beyond that, we have also sent envoys to the Winter and Summer Courts, in the hopes of securing permission to pass through their territories. If we can gain at least that much, we should be able to counter the Red Courts mobility and convince them a peaceful resolution is in their best interests—and, failing that, it will be of enormous benefit in battle.”

“We can aid you with that,” Annabeth said, not skipping a beat. “Simon can confirm that the Children of Hermes have a knack for finding safe Ways through the Nevernever—it may take some time, but we can find paths for you to, at the very least, any important locations. If nothing else, we were originally searching for a safe Way from our position to Edinburgh, so that we could get Simon back to you; I’ll have the Hermes Cabin continue to look for one and then you can use our base as a nexus point to make use of all the Ways we found. We’ve primarily searched for Ways to other places in the Country, but we can broaden the search if it would help you.”

The Merlin smiled and nodded.

“That would be most helpful indeed.” He glanced at Simon again. “If you would be willing to stay nearby for a day or two, I will speak to the Senior Council and the Wardens present and put together a list of major positions we would Ways to and from. Even if we manage to secure an alliance with the Faerie Courts…well, they wouldn’t agree to pact they couldn’t worm their way out of if need be and it would be reassuring not to be forced to rely solely on their good will.”

“We can probably help with that, too,” Percy said. “We haven’t managed to contact anyone major in either court—if you can arrange for that, we can throw our lot in with yours, though. If your envoys can’t convince them, it might help if we spoke to them, too.”

The Merlin seemed to muse over that for a moment before nodding.

“If it comes to that, it would be most helpful. Before you meet with any of the Fae, however, I would recommend speaking to several of our resident experts on the subject. The Fae cannot lie, but it hasn’t hindered their ability to deceive and I think you would find it helpful to receive some advice on what to look out for before attempting any negotiations, lest you find yourself wrapped up in a bargain you come to regret. If our envoy fail, I’ll arrange for several of them to meet with you.”

“Travis and Conner are coming back after the meeting, right?” Percy asked Annabeth.

She nodded.

“I’ll speak to them about it—I imagine it help to tell the entire Hermes Cabin about it before they get themselves hurt and we’ll take the Twins along on any negotiations, besides.” She replied. She turned back to the Merlin before continuing. “Travis and Conner are in charge of the Hermes Cabin, so they’ll be the one looking for Ways through the Nevernever.”

“Once we arrange for a proper Way between our respective headquarters, we’ll both be able to benefit from each other’s established Ways. For the time being, we can make due by using the Way you took to bring Simon here and the one I took to travel from Edinburgh, though that Way can be a bit…tricky, at times. When your companions arrive, I shall give them the details.”

“Once we establish a safe Way, we can determine how else we can aid each other. Percy’s siblings are the Cyclopes, who are exceptionally skilled at building just about anything, as are Hephaestus’s children. The Camp could always use some additional defenses, as well.”

“If its wards you need, I would be happy assist you; I have some small measure of skill in the art,” The Merlin said with modesty that his expression revealed was probably false. “It shall have to wait until after the meeting—at which point I imagine we will have a great deal to discuss. For the time being, however, let us go; have you arranged for a translator for our guests, Simon?”

“I intended to ask Warden Marcus; he has enough experience at it,” Simon replied, smiling at some inside joke. The Merlin inclined his head.

“Very well. I shall show you to your places and Warden Marcus shall be with you shortly.” He told them. “Will you be joining us Simon?”

Simon shook his head.

“I’ll be along shortly; our mutual friend asked to speak to me.”

The edges of the Merlin’s lips bobbed downward for just a moment before he nodded.

“Of course.” He said coolly. “This way, my friends.”
 

Ryuugi

Well-Known Member
Deep as the Sea
Magic Tricks

There comes a point when you just have to go ‘You know what? This day is shot. It sucks so far and it’s not going to be getting any better.’ For a lot of people—well, the people who are wizards—having to go to a meeting of the White Council to discuss a war would be enough to do that, in and of itself. While most people don’t have as bad a relationship with the governing body of wizards as I do, it would still mean being looked in a stuff room with a bunch of people you barely knew for hours and hours. The amount of magic that would be gathered meant that no air conditioning system in the world would have a chance in hell, so the entire meeting would go uncooled—which meant, in the middle of Summer in Chicago, that the building would feel approximately the same as being on the surface of the Sun. And since standard attire were formal black robes…

Well, even the most hardcore zealot was probably not going to enjoy this meeting, even before we got into the matter of the war. So a lot of people would have chalked the day up as pretty bad when they knew that was what they had ahead of them.

If only I were so lucky, Harry thought. If only I were so lucky that that would be the worst part of my day.

As it was, his day had started off bad and simply gone continuously downhill. It had started off with a largely sleepless night and a resulting dismal morning of completely fruitless labor where curing vampirism was concerned—another day to add to months and months of failure where finding a way to cure Susan was concerned. Following that, Billy—the head of the Alpha’s, Chicago’s resident I was a Teenage Werewolf group—had called him and risked him to come out and examine some weird events—namely, it had been raining frogs. Real ones, not the fake kind some bored fairies might cause for a laugh; the type that meant something was seriously out of whack on a massive scale. To punctuate that bad news, a ghoul with a shotgun and a group of kids with machine guns had tried to put him in the ground and would probably have succeeded, if not for Billy.

Then, his supernatural and mundane problems had decided to double team him while he was down. He’d gone to attend an appointment—as in with a paying client, the type of thing he hadn’t had in a long, long time. If he didn’t get a job soon, he was going to lose his office and his apartment and then he’d get to see how much wizardry he could do in a cardboard box. He’d been so distracted trying to help Susan, that…well, he needed the money, desperately.

Too bad his client had turned out to be a fucking Faerie Queen. A Faerie Queen who happened to be holding him over a barrel by his balls, magically speaking, having bought his debt from his Faerie Godmother. Long story short, he’d learned the hard way that a Faerie Queens and letter openers, when mixed, resulted in pain, had been essentially forced into a deal that he was already regretting, and, to top it off, he still wasn’t getting paid.

And now, here he was. At a White Council meeting, where, to top off all the other general unpleasantness he’d be in store for, he’d get to deal suspicion, anger, and blame. Also, his cat had thrown up on his official robes, so he was dressed in a bathrobe instead. And he hadn’t cut his hair or shaved in months, though a failed assassination attempt via the old bomb in a pizza box had managed to burn away a few patches of hair on one side, to make him look even less professional.

As a result, he felt he could be forgiven for having a pretty short temper that day. It may have been a little egotistical to think that the Universe was out to get him specifically—but the evidence speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Essentially the only good thing that had happened to day was meeting his old teacher—the good one, not the one that tried to kill him—and even Ebenezer McCoy couldn’t offset this horrible day.

But credit where it was do—he might actually manage to get him through it.

Harry ran a hand over his mouth, nearly grimacing at the wiry beard covering it, and looked unsurely at the two wizards Ebenezer had introduced him to. Martha Liberty and Listens-to-Wind—two members of the Senior Council. He’d always known his teacher was strong; the strongest wizard he’d ever met, for what that was worth. But the fact that he was close to members of the Senior Council had never come up.

Not for the first time, he wondered what his old teacher did in his free time.

“Now where’s the Russian?” Ebenezer asked. “We haven’t got all day.”

Martha frowned, glancing at Listens-to-Wind before speaking.

“I would have thought he’d told you,” She said. “He contacted both of us…”

Ebenezer frowned.

“What happened?”

“The Red Court attacked Archangel,” Listens-to-Wind said. “They blocked the Ways and laid siege to it from this side—it was hours before we could even get through.”

“Are they mad? I’ve seen Simon’s tower. They couldn’t get through—“

“They could,” Martha said, voice low. “They did. By the time we were able to get through, the place was a ruin. But Simon escaped, as did many members of his squad.”

“He made it out, even after they got through the defenses and closed the ways?” Ebenezer asked, surprised. “How?”

“I’m afraid I can’t claim all the credit,” A voice interrupted and the four of them turned to look at the newcomer. Old eyes nearly met Harry’s own, before turning just enough to the side to keep from a soulgaze. The Old Russian man nodded to the other three wizards, but his attention seemed to be on Harry.

“I owe you an apology, boy; I’ve caused you a lot of trouble.” Simon said after a moment of considering silence.

Harry frowned. Despite his words, he didn’t think he’d ever met the man.

“How’s that?”

“You were adopted by my old apprentice,” Simon explained. “I trained Justin and Justin trained you.”

Harry said the first thing that came to mind.

“Your old apprentice was a dick.”

Simon gave a surprised laughed.

“I suppose he was,” He mused. “I’d like to say I knew all along, but…”

“He kind of took me by surprise, too.” Harry admitted.

“Simon,” Ebenezer interrupted, the gruffness of his voice nearly masking his relief. “What’s all this about an attack? Why am I always the last to find out whenever something interesting happens?”

“I’m afraid there wasn’t time enough to call while a bunch of vampires were trying to eat me,” Simon smiled. “And then afterwards, I ran out of change for the phone—you know how it is. Anyway, it’s your fault for living out in the middle of nowhere, McCoy—if you stayed in touch, you probably would have heard some rumors by now.”

Ebenezer snorted before clapping his fellow wizard on the shoulder—an easy, familiar gesture.

“It’s good to see you safe, ya’ damn Ruskie.” He said.

“You said you had help escaping,” Martha Liberty interrupted, frowning. “But all the ways we had to Archangel were blocked—what happened, Simon?”

Simon took a deep breath, an easy smile settling on his face—the expression of someone who had been waiting for something that had finally arrived.

“Semi-divine intervention,” He replied.

XxXXxX
 
Last line is gold.

I suppose "demi-divine intervention" is just twisting English too much for the sake of a pun, huh?


First couple of paragraphs and any further example of Harry's thoughts should probably be italicized.
 
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