HP (AU) : Wizard with a Mutation

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP. 

Gringotts London Branch, Magical Britain [1980]

–Scott Winters–

"Hello, I would like to make a deposit to this account please," He quickly handed over an enchanted card that he made sure to keep on his person anywhere he went. The GOblin made a face at the card but took it all the same and quickly scanned it on this table, which was not in his vision.

That card was an initiative by the various bankers around the Magical parts of the world to create something akin to a central Bank account. It was not there yet but with the help of that card, any branch could quickly create an account as the card had all the details required and was periodically verified by all the banks connected to the initiative on a turn-by-turn basis.

None of the Goblins or Gnomes or even some of the wizard run banks around the world were eager to create something akin to a central account repository as they were deeply untrusting of each and every one of their competitors and opening up their accounts ledger would mean giving up some of their advantages, which was a big no on in their business. Thus, this compromise was born. Sure, President Seraphina made it possible, coming out of her retirement to become President once more because there were no other candidates but most of these days, all she did was sign documents that her team prepared for her. This initiative was a brainchild of a lovely woman named Jill, who travelled around the world and made it possible and also made sure that MACUSA was the first customer of this initiative, giving them an edge in global cooperation. 

It helped that Jill, just like him, grew up in a mixed environment. In fact, both of them were the first generation to get the privilege to grow up aware of the people with whom they shared the planet. It also helped them borrow the creative ideas from the people not blessed with magic but blessed with magical reproductive capabilities and marvellous creativity.

Jill probably saw the level of cooperation that countries around the world had and wished to replicate that level of cooperation, at least in terms of banking and foreign currencies. At Least the Galleon was universally used because of its gold composition, something that all the bankers around the world agreed on, something of a rarity.

"Your credentials have been verified and a temporary account has been created. How much would you like to deposit and in what currency and denomination?" The Goblin's voice was scratchy and the glasses on its eyes, which were not in use, were amusing. He swiftly answered, wanting to get this over with so he could get in touch with his family.

"I would like to deposit 10 thousand dollars in 100 dollar bills. I would also like to withdraw 100 Galleons right now."

The goblin didn't stop looking at him while his hands flew under the table, out of his sight, "Hmm. The first two withdrawals of the month are free. The rest are charged. Deposit the money on that counter, give him this receipt and he will give you your Galleons." The aged Goblin handed him his card and a piece of paper that had something written in 

Gobbledegook on it. He thanked the Goblin and went to the Goblin that was pointed out to him, in a corner of the room. The floors were all white, with high ceilings, and yet, somehow, the corner seemed to darken the moment he crossed an invisible threshold.

The Goblin at the station didn't even look or speak to him, just thrust his hand forward. He too handed his receipt over swiftly and removed his pouch, the one that was enchanted to be a spatial holding bag. John liked his to be a fanny pack, which was hilarious. He tried for a wallet but something about that shape didn't work so a small pouch it is.

"Here." he handed over the cash as well. It disappeared under the claws of the Goblin in an instant. He could hear nothing but with the motions of the goblin's hands, he knew that he was counting the cash. 

"Fine. Here," Within a minute, his cash was counted, and a bag was thrown on the counter, "100 Galleons. The bag is free on the first transaction. The next one will cost you. Thank you for doing business with Gringotts."

"Thank you." 

He exited Gringotts, 10 grand lighter and a 100 Galleon heavier. He knew logically that the only reason Gold was used in the currency was because it was the only metal that couldn't be affected much using magic, even of the highest caliber. IT was somehow an immutable law of magic that Gold could be used in magical rituals or for transfiguration, only that it would use exponentially more magic and the effect will wear off as soon as the magic holding on to its form is over. Nothing else can actually be converted into Gold using any magic.

He didn't believe, even for a second, that the Philosopher's Stone from Flamel actually turned anything into gold, it just couldn't. If it could, Nicholas would have solved the puzzle of what magic actually is where it comes from, and how to manipulate it without being a wizard. All things that would have either catapulted him into being the God Emperor of Mankind or insane from the knowledge. Since he was neither, and the knowledge had not trickled into the research community, he knew that there was some other trick to turning anything into Gold part.

And he had met Nicholas Flamel, the man was an avid researcher and was a huge blabbermouth. He couldn't even imagine the man holding on to such phenomenal research and not jumping around everywhere, bragging about his discovery.

Shaking his head, he banished those thoughts and was about to head to the Knockturn Alley, to see if anything interesting had hit the markets. Magical Britain was host to more than a few lowlifes who always imported all the poisoned and tainted magical crap from Africa which usually dealt with human, blood, or soul sacrifices. Something all three at once. It was nasty business but since they couldn't actually force other countries to adopt their rules, he couldn't do much about it. If he encountered one though, it was fair game to kill it, after buying it, of course, it wouldn't do for him to create an incident on his first day, before even meeting the Winters.

Sighing, he paid his bill and exited the ice cream parlour. As he turned around, trusting his senses to tell him where the largest gathering of dark magic was, he froze as he came face to face with the WInters Family Head.

Nathaniel Winters. With his two sons, Rick and Morty Winters.

All three of them looked like they were on a shopping spree, with all three of the giants holding onto a ton of bags, manually for some reason.

His confusion must have been evident because Rick, the younger brother, spoke up, "It's punishment. Mom thought it would be appropriate to get us all shopping."

"Ah.." he made that sound and hesitantly walked towards them. He couldn't feel their disdain, anger, resentment, or any other cold feelings from their magic or from their faces, although their faces did seem as if they were carved out of granite, especially Nathaniel's face.

"Why are you here, Scott?" Speak of the Devil. The Devil being an 8ft giant in this case, made him rather jittery for some reason.

"Uh, I heard some bad things and decided to come see you guys." 

"I see. Now that you have seen us, you can go back to America. I hear you have a great job there, don't mess it up. Come on boys."

"Uh.." He stood there, flabbergasted at the cold reception. He saw mamma Winters joining them with yet another dozen bags. She dumped the bags and skipped away, the three of them following her.

He saw various people looking at him. Feeling conscious and not wanting to create a ruckus by teleporting, he cast a charm on himself and quickly exited the Alley.

"To Brown's Hotel, please." He told the cabby as his mind felt numb about the whole thing. He needed to reevaluate his priorities, if that was what they thought of him.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, leaned on the backseat, and thought back on his encounter with them. The entire team, Nathaniel, didn't show an ounce of emotion. He could feel the bite in Nathaniel's words but not in his magic. The brothers were fine, they didn't have much of an opinion of him, probably because they never interacted before. 

For some reason, that interaction didn't feel right to him, as if it was incomplete. And why did he even leave? He should have followed them and snapped at them. Something. It was not like him to flee.

His eyes snapped open as he all but shouted, "Wait! Take me back!"

"What?"

"Take me back!"

"Alright Alright, man. Christ!"

Soon, he was back at the entrance. Hurriedly doing the whole wand pattern, he opened the wall and expected to come face to face with the vibrant and chaotic yet somehow orderly Diagon Alley.

Except, all he heard were screams.

His instincts took over as he hurriedly cast multiple charms on himself, took out his wand, and cast multiple spell chains at the nearest mask wearing assailant, dropping him in an instant.

That was not enough, his senses told him of dozens of magical wizards but only 14 of them had some sort of identical Dark Energy magic cast on all of them.

Taking that as a cue, he began targeting them. The man near the entrance was solitary, it would seem because he did not find any for seconds.

Sprinting, he abruptly froze as he heard a bloodcurdling scream before he shook out of it and ran towards the sound, towards the direction of Gringotts. The bank would be fine bu—

His eyes widened as he saw a single wizard, writhing and screaming on the ground as four wizards surrounded her, casting the Unforgivable spell.

His wand fired spells almost instantly, disarming all of the wizards and then knocking the poor woman out as well.

"Wh-What?"

"What is this?"

"Who are you?"

"Unhand me! I demand it!" For the last one, he simply tightened the conjured ropes around his neck, shutting him up.

"Who do you work for?" He asked the first one, the one who was trembling the most and also had the weakest magic yet the strongest Dark Magic taint.

"Shut up! Don't you dare–Mhmmm" He shut up yet another one of those as he gestured for the portly man to speak up.

His instincts blared at him as he ducked, dodging a nasty curse that hit one of those wizards, going through the man's torso, and gouging a huge hole into it.

He turned around and saw a dozen other wizards wearing the same get up. Worst of all they had hostages.

"Release them! Or I will release her." The man said in a slimy voice that instantly didn't sit right with him. The other three were still captured but the one most likely to speak was the one who was dead, killed by his own people.

His mind tried to think of something but he couldn't think of any way he could come out of this with both him and the hostages alive without resorting to some lethal means.

Well, time to get lethal then, he thought to himself as unbeknownst to the bastards in front of him, his hands began glowing red.

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