Wizards vs. Muggles (Free-form)

"They wont be so harmless when there's a metal slug in your skull." Said Lita, she could tell they didn't believe her. "Now I'm sure you don't have a bulletproof vest."

She rubbed her forehead with her hand, thinking of all the things that implied.

"If they're so weak, why do you need to use us as bait?" She new no answer would come, that man liked to feel as if he was above other people, but he wasn't. In the back of his head, in a little corner of his consciousness, there was doubt. It's not like he would admit it, though.

edited 30th Dec '10 9:11:44 PM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

-Jack, who has been watching the discussion with mute interest, speaks up-

"And where, do you purpose, wizards are going to get these 'bulletproof vests' from? Surely not the muggles, they have declared war against us, and besides, I think you'll find the wizarding world has had the decency of producing protective spells and charms for moments of war. Also, I think he needs to use us as bait for something called 'a trap'."

"... Right, because they can't use trained aurors who are probably stronger, and with better reflexes than random people on a bar as bait." She sighed.

"Or, make bulletproof vests, or apparate inside a police station and steal them? And seeing as how you didn't know what a gun was two hours ago, I somehow doubt any protective charms that work against them are common practice, or perfected, for that matter"

"You know what? Since I'm just some random seventeen year old and my opinion wasn't requested, I'll shut up while you big strong men kick-start '9/11:The Wizard Edition'."

"I never thought I'd be bait..." she sighs "Any orders, It feels like we've been standing here for hours already."

edited 2nd Jan '11 2:28:21 AM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

"Young lady, calm down." Jay said. "No need to rush these things."

Despite her words, Jay was also getting impatient.

"It's not like our charms are completely useless," Jamie spoke up. "We might not have any bulletproof vests, but if it gets right down to it, you can always Transfigure your robes into somethig that offers a little more protection."

She paused to consider her words for a moment.

"Uh, considering you know how to, of course," she amended sheepishly. "Because I don't."

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

"What, you fail Transfiguration?" Jay joked.

"Shut up," Jamie scowled, flushing.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

"I'll take that as a 'Yes.'" Jay smirked. Inwardly she feared though. How could she expect to keep herself alive, much less those around her if her new friends weren't up to snuff?

Jamie stood back once again, letting silence fall.

Inwardly, she was worrying. She hadn't graduated from school all that long ago. What if she wasn't up to snuff?

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

"... I'd go into detail about how bulletproof vests have a specific consistency which uses several layers to slow down the bullet and that certain bullets nowadays can go through thin layers of metal easily so turning your robes into steel could end up useless anyway. But as I said before, I'll be shutting up now. I'm a musician, not a strategist." She grabbed her iPod and started fiddling with it.

edited 3rd Jan '11 1:27:07 PM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

"Seen, not heard. So glad you prescribe to that train of thought". Jay plucked the iPod from Lita's hand and placed it into her robe. She adjusted her glasses before reaching into hr pocket again and pulling out her wand.

"But now is not the time to not hear others. Come on, lets get this show on the road. We have a train to catch soon."

edited 3rd Jan '11 3:23:53 PM by Scholastica

"So Price; how'd you get roped into this?"

"Any suggestion on what to do while we wait, Ma'am? Since we should avoid not listening to others. Do you have a particular topic in mind, like what kind of torture they'll use on the uncooperative? Sodium Amobarbital is overrated and can create fake memories, so they might resort to blunter methods. Maybe temporal paralysis that doesn't remove the sense of touch, making one unable to fight back, or move for that matter..." She put her wand in her pocket and closed her backpack. With enough time, the ideas grew more unpleasantly vivid.

"...While they use one's body as a knife sharpener?"

edited 4th Jan '11 6:58:39 AM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

-Jack speaks up again-

"Well, there is something called 'getting prepared'. You said we needed bulletproof vests right? Well, if you can explain there material and density in more detail, I could perhaps transfigure some. Oh, and seeing as I'm clearly not the muggle expert, to avoid any mixups with appearance, I suggest you tell me what they look like.

We could also discuss what we're going to do when we get out there, our lives depend on what we plan to do, after all, what use would just standing there be?"

-Jack starts flipping his wand in his fingers, a habit he got accustomed to at hogwarts-

"If you're worried about apearance, the first thing anyone has to do is lose the tunic, or robe. No one wears them unless they're graduating. Wands, keep them out of sight. Normal people don't carry a wooden stick around. Casual clothes, like mine, will do, if you want to hide your face, use a cap, or hair, or just transfigurate it before going in the station. Hoods will get you questioned by cops because you'll look suspicious. No Boots, since it's not winter yet." then she took a deep breath and emphasized her next words as much as she could.

"And please, for all that is good and happy and currently alive, 'do not use any wizard lingo'. That means the word Muggle, or Mudblood, or Aparating, or Hogwarts, or any famous wizard name is out. No speaking about blood purity, or how muggles are atrocious from your point of view. For that matter, don't have a point of view, be as apathetic to your surroundings as possible. Don't look around and act like everyone else, you'll look like you're hiding something if you're looking around all the time. If that place is bugged, we could probably get away with looking a little weird, but they'll be listening. Anything suspicious will set them off. Anything that has anything to do with magic is to leave your vocabulary unless, um.. until it gets messy."

"All topics of conversation are to be reduced to music, art, geography, math, or anything that happened over one hundred years ago in muggle history, or movies, but I somehow doubt you've seen many. No controversial topics like religion, or war. If one of them approaches us, either let me do the talking, or respond to questions with "I don't know man, what do you think?" or "How should I know?". If you end up in a hostile situation that doesn't involve people with guns, remember to keep your wand out of sight, or it will involve guns."

"A bulletproof vest has tons of layers compressed on it. The point of the current ones isn't to make the bullet bounce off, it's to make the bullet slow down, and maybe get stuck there. Less accidents. To make one you'd probably need a normal vest, and then just add layers of strong fabrics, and compress it, and add layers, and compress and so forth. It should be pretty thick and with little to no air between the layers, extremely compressed. If I knew how to create carbon fibre, it'd probably be one less thing to worry about. There are new designs that are less bulky. But I'd need internet access to look for them and how they work. If you CAN transfigurate them, we'll need something to cover them. I'd recommend a trench coat, that way we'll look like we belong together. Which is a perk because every war create tiny cliques with a specific opinion of it, all the time"

She groaned, a headache was starting to settle in."Regarding a plan, I assumed that it was to walk toward platform 9 3/4, and survive. Since we're bait, and all."

"...Does that help?"

edited 4th Jan '11 7:54:05 PM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

"Can I get the cliffnote version of everything youu just said?" Jay joked.

edited 4th Jan '11 10:19:01 PM by Scholastica

"Sure, stop all... this" gestures to everything.

"Don't wear robes, or wizard hats, or boots. Don't do or say anything about magic, don't call attention to yourself, don't think twice about the millions of electronic devices around you, don't ask a strangers for help, don't comment on the customs or society, and don't let anyone see your wand." She looked at the people around her, feeling somewhat inadequate. "If you have any questions about anything there, don't ask them until we're in the train... Anything else I can help with?" she rubbed her forehead again. Major headache.

edited 4th Jan '11 11:24:01 PM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

"Take a breath, honey. You're talking a mile a minute."

Jay looked around and met the eyes of everyone else. "She's right though. Everyone, normal clothes until we get to the safe side of the platform."

As she was saying this Jay slipped her own dark blue robe off her shoulders and scooped it up into her arms. The bag that was part purse part back-pack opened up on the ground and she folded her wizarding garb into it.

Without the robe she stood wearing a white sleeveless blouse and matching pants held up by a blue belt. The neckless and the golden ring that dangled from it swayed around her neck as she patted down any wrinkles on herself.

"... I'd recommend you hide that one ring, people might ask you things in black speech if they see it" She joked. Of course no one would get it. "Never mind"

She pushed her wand deeper in her pocket. "Also, if your bag has an extension charm It'd be better if you don't take things out of it." She rubbed her left temple, massive headache.

edited 4th Jan '11 11:33:02 PM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

At the ring comment, Jay shot the student a look that said, Don't go there. She then pulled a suitcase out of her bag and out of the suitcase pulled a blue jacket the same color as her robe. After putting it on, she put the case back into her bag. Before she closed it she looked around.

"Anyone else need to use this?"

"No thanks... Well, at least we're not walking into mordor" Sure, no one would have any idea what she meant, but she needed some humor to cope with the whole situation. "Are there any other questions I could answer? Under these circumstances I'm not feeling optimistic about leting my imagination run wild during the quiet moments." She rubbed her forehead again. If she was captured, the headache would cause more trouble.

edited 5th Jan '11 12:08:12 AM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

-Jack puts his wand into his shoulder bag, then turns to look at Lita. As he moves his bag swings and the echo of books hitting each other and falling can be heard-

"Oh crap, ok, does anyone remember mute charms? I didnt really pay attention back at Hogwarts. Wait I think I remember."

-Jack quickly takes his wand out then waves it at his bag, he twists again to test if his spell worked. As he swings the noise is amplified 10 times over, he quicjly puts his hands over his ears-

"No, no, I don't remember. Would anyone mind helping me slightly?"

edited 5th Jan '11 4:45:39 AM by bamack1

"Um... ugh... I had this one on a test last year... Muf-something.... Oh! Muffliato. That's the one."

edited 5th Jan '11 6:13:36 AM by Faramir

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you can't sell him fish anymore. http://thoughtfulspurts.wordpress.com/

Charmdrummer turned his glare upon them. "Merlin help me, I've been assigned a team of complete amateurs." He took a breath and flicked his wand; a map materialized midair in front of him.

"It's a bit of a walk from Diagon to King's Cross, so pay attention. This house is the designated Apparition point. Anyone who can't Apparate, you're going side-along. There's going to be a fresh batch of new wizards and wizard-want-to-bes who wish to attend Hogwarts; you're going to be their escorts. They'll be dropped off at this house. With the wizardds, get into King's Cross, get into Nine-and-Three-Quarters. Questions?"

---

Customs was quick and easy for the commando team. Price chuckled at the formalities and the way the customs officer regarded him. "I've news for you, lads. It looks like HQ has decided to requisition us a ride, so you're not walking. This way. We're staying out of the public concourses for now." One of the security officers unlocked a side door, leading to a whitewashed maintenance corridor.

edited 5th Jan '11 3:02:59 PM by SabresEdge

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

"Are we getting paid for this?" Jay muttered sarcasticaly. Before Charmdrummer could reply she waved her hand. "No, we get it. Get the wizards and kids, get to the station, get on the train."

Truth be told, Jay had a sinking feeling in her stomach. A sense of dread she only felt when something bad was going to happen. But she couldn't just shirk off now. One of her future students was right here and even more on the way. She had a responsibility to look after them. And by God, she was going to keep them safe.

"You all good?" She asked her companions.