At New York's international airport, Sullivan was dragging his suitcase, getting ready to board the direct flight from New York to London.
Of course, he could've just hopped on his flying motorcycle and zipped across the Atlantic, but that would've made him an illegal entrant. To avoid any unnecessary headaches with the Muggle world, Sullivan figured the plane was the smarter choice.
Just as he was about to head through security, two people came walking toward him—one guy, one woman.
The guy was just… a guy. The woman, though? She stood out. About five foot nine, dressed in a sharp business suit with a black trench coat over it, and she had a killer figure.
From her features, she looked like a mix of Asian and Western European heritage—long, wavy black hair, arched eyebrows that gave her a bold, confident vibe, and a beauty mark at the corner of one eye that added a touch of sexiness.
The two of them walked straight up to Sullivan, one on each side, eyes fixed ahead. As they passed him, they suddenly reached out and grabbed his arms.
The next instant, space warped around them. The three of them turned into a beam of light and vanished from the spot, as if they'd never been there at all.
"Sullivan, why are you leaving?" In an alley not far from the airport, the woman stared into his eyes and demanded an answer.
"Yuna, come on, I already submitted my application to MACUSA, and they approved it. How'd you end up chasing me all the way to the airport?" Sullivan explained, feeling a little helpless.
The woman everyone called Yuna. She currently served as an Auror squad captain for the Magical Congress of the United States of America, and she was Sullivan's closest friend in America—the kind you could occasionally get very close to.
Yuna was clearly upset. "If you want to be a professor, you could teach at Ilvermorny. With your skill in alchemy, why do you have to go all the way to Britain to teach some Muggle Studies class?"
"And… didn't you think to talk to me about this decision beforehand?"
When he heard that last part, Sullivan finally realized where he'd messed up. He shot a pleading glance at the guy standing next to them.
The guy just shrugged, as if to say: I don't even have a name in this story—what do you expect me to do?
Sullivan rolled his eyes at him, stepped forward, and pulled Yuna into a hug.
She resisted at first, trying to push him away, but Sullivan held on tight. Little by little, the struggling stopped, and soon he could hear quiet sobbing.
He let go, gently stroked her hair, and glanced triumphantly at the nameless guy, basically saying: See? I've got this.
The guy gave him a thumbs-up and a bunch of exaggerated winks that clearly meant: Dude, you're impressive—you even tamed our captain.
Sullivan ignored him and spoke to Yuna in a low, magnetic voice:
"Yuna, you know why. Twelve years ago, they chased me out of Britain like a stray dog. I have things I need to go back for—I have to take back what's mine."
As he finished, he tilted his head dramatically toward the sky, putting on a deeply wounded expression.
It worked. Yuna leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered, "Then I'll quit my job and go with you."
"That's not necessary… I mean, don't rush into anything. I haven't been back in over a decade; I don't even know what the situation's like over there anymore."
"I'll go first as a Hogwarts professor and scout things out. Once everything's clear and I actually need help, you can come join me. How's that sound?" Sullivan suggested.
Yuna thought about it for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Fine. But you have to write me at least one letter every month so I know you're okay. If you run into danger or I don't hear from you for more than a month, I'm coming to find you."
Sullivan smiled, reached into his suitcase, and pulled out a palm-sized black slab. "Letters are too much hassle. Use this instead—it's my latest invention, still in the testing phase, but way more convenient than owls."
Yuna took it, turning it over curiously. "What is it? How does it work?"
"Just channel a little magic into it. There's a user guide inside—figure it out when you get home. For now, get me back to the airport so I don't miss my flight!" He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.
"You can Apparate yourself there. You're not bad at it," Yuna teased with a mischievous grin.
Sullivan's face darkened instantly. He thought to himself: My Apparition skills are probably on par with old Stewart's—loud as hell and leaves you dizzy for ages. If I tried Apparating into the airport right now, I'd get arrested by Muggle security on the spot.
Seeing he was about to lose it, Yuna finally took his arm, Side-Along Apparated him back to where they'd disappeared from, and then gave him a quick peck on the lips.
Holding the black device, she watched his plane take off. Following his instructions, she fed a bit of magic into it. The slab lit up, revealing a screen.
Right now there were only four icons: an owl labeled "FlyMessage," a black circle labeled "Camera," a "Photo Album," and a document titled "User Guide."
She followed the guide, opened FlyMessage, and saw only one contact—Sullivan, of course.
Curious, she typed into the box: "Can you see this?" and hit send.
With a whoosh, the text burst into green flames and flew into the chat window. Yuna felt a faint magical ripple, kind of like the sensation of using Floo powder.
At the same time, aboard the plane, Sullivan's pocket vibrated. He pulled out his own device and saw her message.
He typed back: "Of course I can. Pretty cool, right?"
"Oh my God, how did you do this? Real-time communication? When can we get these issued to MACUSA?" Yuna asked, stunned.
Sullivan felt a little awkward. "It's still experimental—right now it only works point-to-point, and it's way too expensive for mass production."
"That's a shame. Does it have anything to do with the Floo Network?" she pressed.
Now it was Sullivan's turn to be surprised. He'd based the design on future Muggle smartphones, but the functions were still limited—right now it could only handle text and images between two devices.
The alchemical techniques he'd used were indeed built on the principles of the Floo Network, though he'd made tons of modifications: drastically reduced magic consumption, transmitting information instead of physical matter, and so on.
Even so, Yuna had picked up on the connection right away. Sullivan had to admit—she really was gifted when it came to sensing and controlling magic.
The two of them chatted the whole flight, including some private photos from Yuna that left Sullivan practically drooling, until he finally landed in London.
The moment he stepped out of the terminal, a man approached him. He wore a bowler hat and a neat suit, and extended a hand.
"Mr. Sullivan? I'm Martin, from the British Ministry of Magic's Department of International Magical Cooperation. Welcome to Britain."
"We've received the letter from MACUSA. We just need to verify and register your information. For any issues you encounter while you're here, feel free to contact me directly."
Sullivan nodded, understanding immediately—this had to be old Stewart's doing. After all, the guy had just bought a big batch of Auror gear from him. If Sullivan couldn't get back into Britain, future maintenance and upgrades would be a nightmare.
With this official status, Sullivan effectively had limited diplomatic immunity in the wizarding community here. He was happy to accept it.
He wondered how far the system would help him grow before the Dark Lord returned.
If progress was too slow, he'd need to find other ways to speed things up—and this immunity might actually come in handy.