Desmond's spinning vision has mostly evened out by the time Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Morgan show up, though their expressions make him wish he was less coherent than he currently is.

When he'd agreed to go bar-hopping with Miles, he'd been hoping for a relaxing evening out with a friend. And to start it actually had been - introducing Miles to fries, beer, and chicken wings had been pretty funny, and Miles' eternal enthusiasm and curiosity had actually managed to ease some of the tension Desmond has been carrying with him for almost two months now. Then that first run-in with Muggles who were less than happy about the integration happened, and Desmond began to feel uneasy, but he'd stupidly decided that the chance of it happening again were minimal.

Like his luck would be that good.

The second time he'd officially been tipsy, so he hadn't managed to see the jerks before Miles had already made contact - quite literally. Desmond had freaked out when the guy had punched his friend, and he'd impulsively thrown the microphone he'd still been holding at them and then dragged Miles out of the bar because he had no interest in getting into a bar fight. Not that running had helped very much, considering Miles had tripped and dragged them both down within a meter of the front door, and Desmond had been confident he was about to get beaten up.

Then Estelle had shown up, and despite how awful everything leading up to that moment had been, Desmond is most stressed about that particular fact. Why she'd been near Karaoke Network at all is beyond him - she lives on the other side of the Thames, and considering it had been nearly eleven at night when she'd shown up he really can't think of any reason she'd have been nearby. Unless, of course, she was following him.

Then the Muggle cops had shown up, and they'd all be brought in on charges of disturbing the peace. Estelle had gone quietly, and even surrendered her wand when the officers had forgotten to take it after using it to un-stun the guy who'd been about to stomp on Miles' head. She'd also grabbed Miles' wand and handed that over as well, and he was still too sloshed to resist. Desmond himself put up no fight and did his best to give as thorough a statement as he could when asked.

Now they're all sitting in a holding cell in silence, watching a fuming Mrs. Weasley sign the release forms as Mrs. Morgan talks in low tones with the guard on duty.

The silence continues as they follow the two Initiative leaders out of the police station and into the streeet, where Mrs. Morgan hands Estelle the two wands she likely retrieved from the guard.

"Miles, this one is yours." Estelle says, quiet and subdued to match the overall atmosphere surrounding their group.

"Estelle, can you side-along Desmond?" Mrs. Weasley's question leaves little room for Estelle to say 'no', so she nods sharply once as the Undersecretary pulls a potion out of her robes and shoves it at Miles.

"Drink it all." She tells him shortly, then returns her focus to Estelle. "Go to the Ministry visitor's entrance - we'll meet you there once Miles has sobered up."

Estelle offers her arm, and Desmond hesitantly takes it - and immediately regrets it when the world spins around them, taking his stomach with it.

He immediately yanks away from Estelle to retch into a street gutter once their feet are solidly back on the ground.

"Sorry about that - Apparation is no fun under normal circumstances." Estelle offers awkwardly. "I'd imagine it's worse when kind of tipsy."

Desmond just grunts - he's definitely not in a good headspace to talk to Estelle right now, especially when he's pissed about her apparently following him around.

At least she uses that ever active brain of hers to read the situation and actually stay quiet as they wait for the other three members of their group to arrive. It takes about twenty (very long, very awkward) minutes, but eventually the leaders appear together, shortly followed by a much more lucid Miles, who still seems like he's not fully up to speed on what happened based on his uncertain little smile.

The leaders are not smiling, and Desmond swallows hard as Mrs. Weasley unlocks the visitor's entrace and gestures all of them through ahead of herself. This is not how he wanted the night to end.

They don't go to the Initiative offices. Instead they head straight through the Atrium, and Mrs. Weasley unlocks the large wooden double doors that hide in the shadows below the farthest arches in the room. Desmond honestly has no idea what room this is, but both Estelle and Miles are looking nervous now so it probably isn't good.

The way Mrs. Weasley moves through the desks with practiced ease gives Desmond a good clue as to where exactly they are right now - and this definitely wasn't how he wanted to first see the Minister for Magic's offce. Heck, he'd have been fine never seeing the office, but now it's permanently going to be etched into his worst memories, which is too bad because it's actually a very nice room.

Mrs. Weasley settles at a large desk, which is just in front of another pair of ornate wooden double doors - this is her desk as the Undersecretary for the Minister.

"Sit." She says shortly.

They sit.

She leaves them in tense silence for a moment, her fingers steepled in front of her, brow furrowed in thought.

Finally, she speaks. "Do you know where I was when I got the call that you three had been arrested?" She asks.

Miles shifts slightly, and Desmond elbows him hard to prevent him trying to answer a hypothetical question and piss of their boss even further.

"I was at dinner with my in-laws. Specifically, we were at the Granger-Weasley household, having our weekly Friday night get-together. It is the one day of the week that my husband and I get to relax, especially right now." She pauses, tapping her pointer fingers together. "Do you realize how bad it looks for the Initiative when I get a phone call to come bail out two of my employees out of jail in front of the Minister for Magic?"

Desmond swallows hard again, and he feels Miles beside him shrinking back into his chair. The other man is probably just realizing exactly how much trouble they're in, which Desmond supposes makes sense - Miles was probably too pissed to actually recognize what was happening prior to this. He doesn't envy the younger his lucidity - Desmond certainly wishes he wasn't aware enough to feel the guilt piling up in his gut courtesy of the Undersecretary.

"It doesn't look good, I'll tell you that. So enlighten me - why were two of my employees stumbling around drunk and getting into bar fights in Muggle London?"

"We were just relaxing." Miles offers meekly after a moment of silence, and Mrs. Weasley huffs out a breath that would sound like a laugh coming from anyone else. From her it sounds like raw fury.

"Relaxing. Well, I hope you had a few hours of that because you two just stirred up a massive storm that could set us back three months."

"But we haven't even been operating for-"

Mrs. Weasley's glare shuts Miles up rather quickly. "You're both on desk duty for the foreseeable future. We'll see how things evolve over the weekend and then evaluate our response based on that." She sighs, and her hands lower to the desk, still folded tightly.

"But the interview on Halloween-"

"Can be handled just fine by Veena." Mrs. Weasley's tone leaves no room for debate, and Miles curls into himself. Desmond would feel bad for him if he wasn't partically the reason they were all in trouble in the first place.

Though that isn't fair - Desmond could have said 'no', and he knows that. So really, this is probably Desmond's fault.

"Now then, Mrs. Morgan will take it from here. I need to get back to my husband and daughter." Mrs. Weasley concludes briskly, standing abruptly and striding back out of the room, leaving three chastised twenty-somethings and a tired Cadi Morgan in her wake.

Mrs Morgan lets them sit in silence for a moment after the doors close before she speaks up. "As Mrs. Weasley stated, we'll have to wait and see what the backlash to this becomes. The police have reports from the other bar patrons as well, and they do state that you were not the instigators of the events. However, considering Desmond was the first to actually throw anything, things stil don't look ideal for us." She sighs. "It's fine if you want to go out and enjoy yourselves, but you do need to be aware that we are the face of something very fragile - you in particular Miles. And Ms. Kuhara, Finn has been informed of your involvement, and will be speaking with you at work tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am." Estelle replies quietly. The three of them follow Mrs. Morgan out to another area of the Atrium that Desmond has never been to, where several massive fireplaces are lined up.

"Do you two know where the Floo powder is kept?" Mrs. Morgan asks, and both Miles and Estelle nod.

"Um, I can Apparate Desmond back to his apartment-" Estelle starts to offer, but Desmond shakes his head firmly.

"I'll take a cab. I still need to clear my head a bit anyway." He says shortly, and while he knows he ought to talk to Estelle now, he's honestly still too upset to want to deal with her at the moment.

"We can split it." Mrs. Morgan says calmly. "I live in the same direction."

Desmond swallows again (his throat is going to hurt tomorrow - today? It's probably past midnight by now) but nods. Mrs. Morgan may be less overtly furious, but saying 'no' to her still feels like professional suicide, and despite everything he does want to see this job to the end of its run. Assuming the Initiative even survives a full year, but he doesn't think about that too intently as he follows Mrs. Morgan back out of the building as she calls a cab service.

"They'll be here in about five minutes." Mrs. Morgan informs him as she hangs up. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Awful." Desmond says to his feet, scuffing his shoe along the edge of the sidewalk. "We really didn't mean for it to get out of hand. The guys just came out of nowhere and I panicked."

Mrs. Morgan hums. "Of course you didn't. You're good kids - you don't go out looking for trouble. But with your current roles, it's likely to find you whether you're looking for it or not. Miles especially, and I'll be talking to him again later today at work, whcn he's a bit more coherent. Sober-up potions aren't complete miracle workers, and he'll still be feeling woozy right now."

They don't say anything else, and Mrs. Morgan ends up paying for the full cab ride despite a weak attempt from Desmond to protest.

"Just try to actually sleep tonight - it's going to be a rough day in the office." She warns as she leaves.

Despite that, Desmond doesn't end up sleeping much, which means when he steps off the lift onto the seventh floor the next morning he's got a headache that's made ten times worse by the increased noise in the room.

Veena Harris, who had taken the lift up with him, grimaces. "Well this will be fun. Good luck Des." She offers, and gets a bleary wave in response. Not that she blames her coworker for not being particularly coherent - she'd heard about his night through the morning news. It's all over every talk show, and she would have spent a little more time commiserating with him if it wasn't for the fact that the face of the scandal is her work partner.

She finds Miles sitting at his desk, slumped over across from Petra instead of hanging over her shoulder like he normally would be. For her part, Petra looks like she's torn between crying and throwing the laptop through the fake windows that line the offices. Veena picks up her pace and slides into her chair next to Miles.

"Hey guys. How's it looking?"

Miles shakes his head miserably, and it's honestly disconcerting seeing him this down - for two months Miles has been the living embodiment of 'overly cheerful and loud', so the withdrawn, mopey man sitting next to her seems like he's someone else entirely.

"So we need to talk response." Veena says quietly, nudging Miles lightly in the shoulder. "Petra, what exactly is being portrayed by the Muggle media?"

Petra looks up at her, opens , and loses the battle against crying, crumpling into herself and drawing her knees up to her chest.

"Okay, okay." Veena is immediately up out of her seat, pushing down rising panic. She never really knows what the heck she's doing when Petra gets like this, so she defaults to her usual 'get the emotionally senstitive girl away from the comment section' response.

"Petra, why don't you see if you can do some more work down in the Archives today? You found some awesome information on the Greek Gods last time, and we could definitely use more of that." She instructs briskly. "I'll cover you up here - Miles and I should probably get this stuff first-hand anyway, so we can plan our counter."

Petra nods, pulling out her wand and transfiguring a loose parchment into a handkerchief that she uses to dry her face. "Um, okay. yeah." She chokes out, and practically flings herself out of her chair, fleeing to the leader's office to ask permission to go Archive diving.

Veena slides over to take her seat, and gestures for Miles to move around their cluster of desks to sit next to her. "Come on, time to face the music." She says in a tone that she hopes is sympathetic, but may have a bit more bite than she'd usually use. But still, Miles did screw up, and she's allowed to be annoyed at having to play clean up.

Miles whines sadly, but makes the move without further resistance. It's good that he has the decency to feel bad about all this, but Veena really hopes this clears up quickly - seeing Miles this miserable is uncomfortable, not to mention the fact it's not particularly helpful.

"Alright, let's start with whatever Petra was looking at." She decides, unlocking the laptop that had gone into sleep mode and glancing at the massive number of tabs Petra had open. She clicks through each to see if any aren't related to the late-night arrest. She's both surprised and not to find that all of them are directly relevant.

She sighs. "Okay, this is going to take awhile, and you not looking will make it drag longer - get your face up here." She instructs, and is met with Miles' puppy eyes as he finally lifts his head off of the desk.

"Do we have to?" He asks, his voice actually appropriate inside volume for once. "I already heard a lot when Petra was going through it before."

Veena hisses air out from between her teeth. "When you make dumb choices." She says firmly. "You deal with the consequences. And we have to know what they're saying so we can respond appropriately."

Miles bites his lip and nods, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Okay."

It's... not good. Within twenty minutes Veena definitely gets why Petra had been on the verge of a breakdown after only a few minutes of watching the reactions. Miles is being called two-faced at best, while Desmond had earned the firm moniker of 'traitor to his kind' among those most upset by the incident. It's actually that attitude that worries Veena the most - the Muggles already were speaking of magical people as a different group, now they're a different species in some of these people's minds. One ranting Youtube reviewer says that it's proof that the magical folk are a danger to society, flashing to a picture of Miles' and Desmond's attackers lying paralyzed on the ground, post-freezing by Estelle.

Speaking of the young Hunter, no one had actually caught any footage of her, and as the police report hasn't been publicly released yet due to it being an ongoing investigation, no one seems to know she was present at the incident. A few eyewitness accounts from reddit note that there was a third party that showed up after the fight started, but no one has clearly identified her as also connected to the Incident, or even as a female.

Miles looks worn by the time they break for lunch, and Veena feels much the same. The overwhelming negative outcry is worse than she'd thought it would be - bar hopping and bar fights are daily occurrences in London, but the fact that magic was involved has caused people to react with a lot more venom than normal.

She thinks about talking to Aruna about whether they should start drafting new laws about using magic in public, but after how stand-offish the woman had been the week before she thinks that maybe she should talk to Landon and Rose instead.

The two political representatives have already left for lunch (or at the very least aren't at their desks), so Veena heads down to the cafeteria to have something light and hope that they're present when she gets back. At least talking about legislation possibilities will feel more helpful and optimistic that listening to or reading any more attacks against the Initiative and the magical world as a whole.

Landon and Rose are open to the idea when she pitches it to them an hour later, but both say that they'll have to take it in front of the Wizengamot and the British Parliament, and both bodies will have to agree on the legislative decisions.

"And they refuse to even meet with each other, so it'll be a long shot at best." Landon says apologetically. "We'll pitch it at their next meeting though." He adds, and Veena knows that's the best she'll get for now.

"Thanks." She sighs, and reluctantly turns to head back to Miles, who's still wading through the backlash and looking absolutely haggard.

It's a very long day, and she's more than ready to leave when five o'clock rolls around and everyone begins packing up for the day. Cat waits for her by the lifts, and Veena can only offer her wife a wan smile as they step in alongside several Hunters.

"Rough day?" Cat sympathizes.

Veena sighs. "Rougher than expected, even. The commenters aren't pulling any punches, and it was utterly miserable today. Miles is taking it hard."

Cat hums. She doesn't ask how Veena is handling it, since they both know she's mostly fine. She's more upset over what people are saying about Miles than she is about the headache that addressing this is going to cause.

"We'll probably do an early press conference next week, probably on Monday or Tuesday instead of Thursday. Best not to leave this hanging during the Halloween interview."

"You should include Miles in the conference." Cat suggests as the lift reaches the ground floor. "He's overall well-liked - one mistake shouldn't damage his image too much, especially considering he's an attractive white male. Maybe make the pitch something like 'we're humans too.' I imagine plenty of men of all ages have stories about dumb situations they got into in their twenties at the pub."

Veena hums. It's a good idea, and she'll pitch it to the leaders and Miles tomorrow. Considering the comments they're seeing, it certainly would address a lot of the vitriol in a positive way. "I'll suggest it." She agrees. "But let's not talk about that, I've dealt with it all day. How was work for you?"

They end up deciding to walk to pick up Nico from Mrs. Weasley's younger brother Dorian, who was on rotation for the Weasley sitter's network. Ever since learning about it, they've very much been taking advantage, and Nico's near-instant friendship with the Lovegood twins was only further reason to keep him on the rotation.

The walk is a good thirty minutes through wizarding London, and most of Veena's stress has sloughed off by the time they arrive at the large mansion owned by the old-blood Blishwick family. Despite the rough day, she's feeling optimistic - her family is still safe, the world isn't ending yet, and she has a game plan for tomorrow.

All in all, not the worst possible outcome.

Diana doesn't hear about the Friday night incident until she drops by Noah's desk on Monday morning. She always stops by to say hello to her best friend before heading to her own office, but today she decides Relocation can wait and heads immediately over to Landon and Rose when she hears the news.

The two political representatives are hunched in front of a phone, watching what appears to be a live press conference with Miles and Veena, alongside Mrs. Morgan. They're likely already addressing the Muggle public then, but that's of no matter to Diana right now.

"Drop what you're doing, we have work to do." She says in lieu of a greeting. Landon looks up at her in confusion, but Rose immediately lights up and sits a bit straighter. At least one of them is awake.

"I assume you're both aware of the situation from Friday evening?"

Landon continues frowning as he nods. "Of course - isn't everyone?"

"I wasn't, not until just now." Diana says briskly. "And that means a lot of Purebloods - and halfbloods out of touch with the Muggle world - also haven't heard much about it. Which in turn means we still have time to set the narrative in the magical world."

Now Landon's expression is matching Rose's. "What did you have in mind?"

Diana grabs an empty chair from one of the nearby desks and pulls it over, sitting down and leaning in immediately. "We have time now to create a statement for the Prophet to publish either this evening or tomorrow morning, though obviously I would prefer the earlier option. Witches and wizards are headed to work today, so many of them will be hearing about this incident same as I did just now. The later we put out a statement, the longer they'll have to form their own opinions on the situation, and that's sure to be a recipe for disaster."

Landon hums and leans back in his chair, while Rose leans closer. Diana lets them both linger in their own minds for a minute or so before speaking again.

"I propose we keep only to the broad - don't say who started it, or why. If the magical world hears that Miles was attacked only because he's known to be a wizard, it would drive a larger wedge between the worlds." Though if she's honest with herself, that particular fact is bothering Diana quite a bit. If people think it's okay to attack magical folk already, how far off are they from outright hate crimes? Muggles, she knows, are very prone to leaning into hate when they aren't sure what else to do. And Muggles very rarely seem to know what they're doing.

"Well the line we're taking with the Muggles is basically 'we're all humans' - we should probably at least parallel that with the magical world." Landon offers.

"It's sort of a bland line though." Rose makes a face. "But I second that." She adds when Landon shoots her a long-suffering look.

Diana chuckles. "Trouble in paradise you two?"

"Nope, all good." Rose says cheerfully. "So statement time - what are we saying?"

They work for the entire morning, trying to work out exactly how to explain the situation without demonizing the Muggles who instigated the fight.

"I mean, we did just get out of a war where a whole group of witches and wizards wanted to imprison and kill all Muggleborns, so it's not like we're all that different." Rose points out after about an hour and a half of work. "Though I'm not sure how that would fit into all this without upsetting people - everyone over the age of, like, thirty is still super touchy about the war."

Diana chews idly on her quill. "No, but that's a good point. Most people still remember the war - they'll probably empathize with fear of the unknown. Maybe we paint them as scared, rather than angry. All this is new to them after all, and they don't know how to respond."

"We should find some way to engage magic and No-Maj's with each other." Landon muses. "I mean," he adds, at the confused looks he gest from his female companions, "Like, some way for just everyday people to meet with each other. We are all people after all, but actually seeing that is a lot more valuable than just saying it."

Diana hums. "It's a good idea, but not something we can come up with on our own today. I'll pitch it at my next meeting with Potter." She decides firmly. "Now back on task, we want this out with the Evening Prophet, which means it needs to be done in-" She checks the time with a quick Tempus, "one hour."

They somehow manage it, and Diana leaves the two to handle the actual carrying of the article to the Prophet - she does have her own actual job to do after all, and she's spent more than enough time away from it.

She still signs the article of course - she did help write it, it's only fair.

Landon watches the hijabi woman hurry off to the lift with a mix of amusement and trepidation. "Well, at least the article is solid." He muses. "But do you have any ideas how to get it rushed to publication?"

Rose grimaces, dropping back down from crush-land and back to reality. "Nope. Maybe we just go down there and bother everyone we see until someone helps us?" She suggests with a smirk, and Landon laughs.

"If all else fails, I'm down." He agrees brightly. This is why he likes working with Rose so much - no one else would say that and be one hundred percent serious. If they can't come up with something by lunch, they'll both be down in the Prophet offices talking to everyone until something clicks.

The lift dings open, and Landon glances up, then focuses more intently when he recognizes the three figures coming out.

"Hey guys! How'd it go? We missed the last half of the conference." Rose calls over to Miles, Veena, and Mrs. Morgan, waving cheerfully in a direct contrast to the tired atmosphere surrounding their two coworkers and boss.

"We've prepared a statement to give the Prophet to print this evening so we can somewhat control the narrative in the magical communities." Landon explains diplomatically. "Assuming we can get it into the evening edition, of course."

"Excellent initiative." Mrs. Morgan says with a small smile. "I'd offer to help, but unfortunately I'm busy all afternoon."

"And we should help Petra out with social media." Veena adds apologetically. "There's bound to be backlash from this too, and we need to see how the response shapes up to the new direction."

Miles, who's been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time, clears his throat. "Um, actually, I used to work for the Prophet - I can get the article rushed to print if you like." He offers quietly.

Veena looks over at him with thinly veiled concern. "Alright, that sounds good." She agrees.

"I'll go with." Landon volunteers. "That way if we have to do this again for whatever reason, I'll already know who to go to, and they'll know me. Rose, you down to help Veena and Petra?"

Rose makes a face. "Can't say the concept thrills me, but yeah, I'm in." She declares, and Landon grins.

"Great. Break!" He jokes, and Rose laughs as she links arms with Veena and skips the other woman over to where Petra is nervously eyeing her closed laptop.

Landon turns to the still weirdly morose Miles. "So. Prophet?" He prompts lightly, and Miles nods.

"The offices are in Diagon Alley, so we need to leave now." He says flatly, and Landon wishes now they'd watched the end of the conference - something must have happened to make Miles this down.

"Sounds good!" He says as cheerfully as he can, grabbing the article off his desk and following Miles back to the lifts. "Did you want to read over it? None of us are actually writers or anything, so it would probably good if you edited it." He suggests.

Miles shrugs and accepts the file, skimming it as the lift finishes its descent. He hands it back as the door pulls open and they step out into the Atrium.

"Looks fine, magical people will like it." He confirms, and Landon can't help raising an eyebrow.

"You read it already?" He asks skeptically as they head for the specially-connected Diagon Alley Floo at the back of the Floo Hall. "No offense, but how much could you really pick up with just that? It's not a short article."

Miles smiles a bit, and it's good to see. "I used to edit for the Prophet - you learn how to look for key points." He explains. "It hasn't been that long since I worked there either, so muscle memory is still present."

"Will it be fun or weird seeing your old colleagues?" Landon asks, hoping to keep conversation flowing and hopefully pull Miles out of his funk.

Miles hums. "I mean, probably fun? Mostly fun? My old boss was a hard- though, so if we see her then less fun. If Serene or Brandon are there it will definitely be fun!"

"Serene and Brandon are friends of yours I'm guessing?" Landon prompts again. He succeeds in keeping Miles talking the entire walk down Diagon Alley, and he's relieved to see Miles becoming more animated with each new story about his two favorite coworkers.

"...so she ends up kicking open Skeeter's door, waving a plucked chicken around and shouting 'behold, a man!'" Miles exclaims, nearly choking on his own laughter as they finally reach the paper's main offices. "And that's why you can't try to sneak bad definitions past Serene, she will humiliate you in front of the entire board of directors."

Landon has to take a moment to regulate his breathing again, wiping his eyes as they step through the doors and into the Prophet's front room. "She sounds like a character. I hope she's here today, I'd love to meet her properly."

The receptionist glances up at their entrance, and then grins and sits up straighter when she spots Miles. "Mi- Mr. Taylor! So good to see you - it's been quiet here these past couple months. What can the Prophet do for you today?"

Miles shoots her a winning smile, and Landon is amused to see the woman blush. "Hi Trish! You can still call me Miles, we're still friends after all." He declares, apparently unaware of how the words cause Trish to turn an even brighter red and make her start twirling a strand of hair around one finger. "We need to get this article rushed to print - got any editors open?"

Trish chews her lip and pulls out her wand, tapping on a file in front of her. "Um, everyone's pretty swamped at the moment." She says apologetically. "But, um, you edited it, right? So it's probably Prophet-quality already."

Miles laughs lightly. "I skimmed it, really, but it's got everything they could want for the front page - drama and all." Some of his joy starts to leech out of him as he says the last sentence, and Landon quickly steps in.

"This article is from the Initiative, addressing a recent incident that occured in the Muggle world which involved some Initiative members."

"Oh, I was wondering if you guys were going to give us anything like that!" Trish says, some of the red leaving her cheeks as her eyes light up. "I can get this into this morning's edition if you like - I'd love to see Skeeter's face to know her stupid-" She cuts herself off with a cough. "Apologies. Rita Skeeter published her usual half-researched crap talking about that incident - I can have this replace it as an update, and then have it reprinted in the Evening Prophet to ensure our readers see it."

Landon blinks. "You can change the paper after it's been sent out?" He asks, honesty confused.

Trish nods, her smile a mix of cheer and vindictiveness. "Oh yes, every paper has a Protean charm incorporated. I can bring this right up to Mrs. Holloway - just leave it to me."

Miles is still deflating, so Landon replies. "Thanks. Trish, was it?"

She nods. "Patricia Poole, though like you heard I just go by Trish. You're with the Initiative I bet?"

Landon hums, wondering why her last name sounds so familiar as he responds.. "Political representative." He confirms, and Trish tilts her head curiously.

"Oh, you might run into my parents at some point then - Edward and Rosalinde Poole? They have an independent prosecution firm, so maybe you've seen some of their cases in the Wizengamot? Oh, or my Aunt Sarah, she's an actual member of the Wizengamot."

Landon shrugs. Maybe this 'Sarah' is why the name is ringing a bell. "Honestly we don't usually get to watch any cases - that would be too much fun." He jokes. "It sounds like your whole family is in law though - how'd you end up at the Prophet?"

He's hoping engaging in some casual conversation might draw Miles back out of the shell he's curling into, though it doesn't seem to be working just yet.

"Actually my aunt Leona works for the WWN." She says proudly. "I'm following in her footsteps!"

That gets Miles' attention, and Landon does an internal victory dance as his friend looks up from his shoes. "Wait, Leona Poole, lead anchor for the Network Morning Show is your aunt? I'm a huge fan of hers! You've got to get me an autograph!"

Trish looks both pleased and startled by the sudden attention, and her cheeks flare red yet again. Landon grins and taps Miles lightly on the shoulder.

"You seem to have this in hand - I'll see you back at the office."

"Sounds good! Thanks Landon." Miles replies cheerfully, then turns back to Trish. Landon laughs quietly as he heads out - maybe he'll say something to Miles about asking her out, since he's obviously oblivious to her crush.

Whistling, Landon heads back down Diagon Alley. Their article is going to be printed, and Miles seems to be back to his old self - it was a good morning's work.

Rose can't say working with the Initiative so far has been quite as thrilling as advertised, but up to this point it's mostly been paperwork that she can get Landon to do half of. She's now learning that there's apparently more to their role than filling out forms, and she just hopes this doesn't mean more work - the stuff they already have is draining enough. Now they're stuck sitting in on a Floo meeting with most of the Magical World Leaders alongside Mrs. Weasley and, of course, the Minister for Magic herself.

"This doesn't just reflect badly on your people Minister Granger." One of the leaders says - Rose can't remember who he is. She's good at names and faces generally speaking, but Floo calls with groups this large are always fuzzy, and half of the people tuned in have really weird, long names - she doubts Landon remembers them all either. "It reflects on every similar Initiative around the world. If your people can't maintain decorum, how can the others be trusted?"

"Magical people are not one cohesive whole." The Minister shoots back. Her frizzy hair is starting to escape it's ponytail, and an hour into the meeting Rose can tell her nerves are starting to fray. "A stumble here indicates nothing about the Algerian approach President Mansouri."

One of the women scoffs, and Rose looks over at her fuzzy image, noting the way the woman tilts her head so her actually rather flat nose is turned upwards. "Please, like Muggles think that complexly." She sneers. Rose immediately doesn't like her. "Reality doesn't matter - if they have an excuse to start a fight they take it - history shows that rather clearly."

"Well then magical people are guilty of the exact same thing!" Minister Granger snaps. "Muggles are just as diverse as we are - you can't group them all together as violent barbarians!"

The woman sniffs in clear insult, and Rose clears awkwardly. For all her positive qualities, the Minister seems to be lacking in diplomacy.

Landon steps forward slightly. "If I may," He offers, "What the Minister means to say is that we're already getting a handle on the situation. Our press conference a few days ago was highly successful in promoting our new motto - the fallout here is minimal at best."

"So there's no reason to close your own Initiatives or withdraw public support from ours!" Ministry Granger finishes, a bit too smugly in Rose's opinion. A lot of the leaders in the room have large egos - though she gets the feeling their Minister does as well.

Rose sighs as the squabbling continues - the Minister and Landon are doing a good job sticking to their new line about all being human, but it's quickly becoming obvious that the line, as successful as it's actually been (generally) with the public, isn't being bought by the leaders, who are more worried about image and conflict control than compromise.

"The Prophet circulation increased by fifty percent with our article." Minister Granger says firmly after another hour of bickering back and forth. "That's proof-positive that people are interested in hearing a broader story, not just applying labels and calling it a day."

"In the magical world, of course." One of the older men says haughtily. "This isn't about the magical world, however, this is about the fact that there was a reason we separated ourselves from the Chorís Mageía to begin with! They are a danger, plain and simple, and it doesn't matter what line you want to take, you can't change nature!"

Rose can almost see the sarcastic comeback that the Minister bites back, and she glances over to Landon, expecting him to step in as he has been all meeting. To her surprise, he looks like he's also about two seconds from telling the leader where exactly he can shove his 'nature.'

So Rose takes a deep breath and draws on her twenty three years of charm as well as the information she's collected on the gathered leaders over the course of the meeting and steps forward with her signature disarming smile.

"All due respect, I completely understand where you're coming from." She directly addresses the old man who had spoken at first, but quickly turns to address the entire room. "But we've seen in the past few days a major positive response to our new line. The Muggles at the very least are pretending they want to compromise, and if we pull out now we end up looking like the villain. Frustrating as it is, we have to let them make the first move - they have to show their colors, or we'll all be dealing with negative backlash from both magical and Muggle press blaming us for things not working out. The Muggles will eventually show one way or the other if they really want this to work, and once they do we can react accordingly. But any preemptive moves make us look presumptive and close-minded - which of course is nonsense, but try telling the press that, am I right?"

There are several chuckles around the room, and Rose grins in return.

"y as it is, it seems like the best course for now is to be the bigger people in all this. Someone has to be."

"Hear hear." Upturned-nose-lady agrees. "Very well then, Sweden will wait and see how things play out. For now you'll have our support - we'll reconsider in a week when the response has had time to solidify."

"Greece will do the same." The older man confirms, and one by one every other world leader follows suit.

When they step out of the meeting room, Landon drags Rose into a side-hug.

"That was brilliant! Sort of manipulative, but brilliant nonetheless." He crows, spinning them once before letting Rose go. She beams at him proudly.

"Sometimes a little ego- goes a long way." She declares brightly.

"Indeed." Minister Granger says, and Rose is suddenly uncomfortable with the way the Minister is eyeing her. "I've never had much of a knack for that sort of schmoozing - I really only got here because I'm friends with the Shacklebolts and a war hero, not because I'm any good at playing politics. If you don't mind Ms. Evans, I'd like to borrow you from Audrey for future meetings like this one - I could use the help, and she's so swamped these days I don't want to burden her any further."

Rose smiles tightly and agrees, because what else do you do when the Minister for Magic herself wants your help? But that doesn't change the sinking feeling in her gut that she just picked up a whole lot of extra work for herself.

Author's Note: I don't... really have much to say on this one? I'm not sure how happy I am with it honestly, but it's got plot points that needed to be got so I guess overall it does it's job successfully ^^'' I'm still used to the insta-action from CtF, all this setup for the future political intrigue that's coming is making me antsy xD Anywho, we're officially in November! Eight more chapters until 2019~