If he's honest, Alex isn't that surprised by the leak - nor is he too impacted by the after effects. Even as the rest of the office scrambles over the weekend to prep and practice for their addressing of the matter, he's still mailing Muggle rights groups and meeting with Braylon twice a week, same as always.

Braylon is thrilled by the latest news, which Alex isn't sure if he's happy about or not - on the one hand, Braylon isn't talking about how Yurina (a top Deatheater and murderer) is actually good for Muggles, but on the other Braylon is still basically rooting for the Initiative - and by extension Alex - to fail. Which is not fun now that Alex actually notices that element of the man's chatter during their meetings.

Still, seeing how stressed everyone else is, Alex is well aware that he's got it good in all this. It's not until just under a week after the leak that the new negative press actually impacts him directly.

He arrives home to find a solitary figure sitting on the steps of his building, looking utterly miserable. At first Alex assumes it's a local drunk and is ready to shoo him off the doorstep, but stops when he sees the man's face.

"Alden?" He asks, unable to hide the mix of shock and distaste that wells up inside him from spilling out into his tone. The face - his face, Alex's face - turns toward him, wide-eyed and nervous.

Alden Zhang, Alex's identical twin brother, scrambles off the stoop, standing up and looking at Alex awkwardly.

"Um, hey, hi." His brother rubs at the back of his neck, and Alex refrains from snapping at him to stand up and have a little self-respect. He'd sound too much like their dad if he did that. "I... uh." He looks utterly pathetic, and Alex hates it because Alden looks exactly like him, so when Alden looks pathetic Alex is basically seeing himself being pathetic.

"Alden." He says, exasperated. "Why are you here? I joined your stupid Initiative and you already gave me my new bike - what possible reason could you have for intruding on my life again?"

Alden winces. "Look I... about the Initiative. I'm sorry. I didn't know it would be such a bad work environment, and you can totally back out if you want. You can keep the bike too I just, I though-"

Alex cuts Alden off before he can hurt himself. "Look, one? Shut up, you're embarrassing me. Two, just..." He sighs. "Just come inside, okay? You look pathetic out here."

Alden blinks at him, apparently needing a moment to register the invitation, which is probably fair - Alex has never once invited his brother over since he'd moved out of their parents' house. Heck, Alden would have never even learned where Alex was living if he hadn't stalked him back from his job at the bar. Which was creepy, but it's just Alden. Alex knows he can beat his brother in a fight, magic or no magic.

"Sure." Alden finally manages, and Alex unlocks the front door of his apartment complex and leads the way to the lift, pressing the call button before staring at his brother blankly. Alden is the one who showed up here unannounced and uninvited, so Alex feels no need to fill the tense and awkward silence growing between them. Let Alden suffer.

His brother does shuffle nervously but also remains quiet, so the tension only builds on the ride up to Alex's ty sixth-floor apartment. At least he knows his roommate Lincoln has a late shift at the bar tonight, so there's no worry about having to explain any of this to him - despite their being best friends, the topic of Alex's family isn't one he's actually broached with his roommate, even post-Incident.

When they enter the flat, Alex side-eyes Alden to see what his brother thinks. They were raised in a mansion, after all - Alden is probably going to be shocked or disgusted, and Alex intends to call him out the moment his brother displays either one of those emotions.

But Alden fails to do either. In fact, he smiles. "It feels homey." He comments, looking around and locking his hands together behind his back, obviously to stop himself from touching anything. Which is weirdly thoughtful and doesn't match up with Alex's mental picture of his brother at all. It's unnerving.

"You want anything to drink?"

"Just water is fine." Alden replies, still looking around curiously. "This is actually really nice?" He says after a moment, and Alex bristles.

"I don't need your pity." He spits. "Just say what you came to say and get out."

Alden shrinks a bit, taking a step back towards the door. "I wasn't - I mean, it's nice how every space is being used, is all. Feels lived in. But, um, I just wanted to say sorry for pushing you to join the Initiative, that's really all. When I heard the news about the fighting and the massive hate issues I-"

"What massive hate issues?" Alex interrupts flatly, glaring at his brother slightly as he shoves a mug of tap water at him. "Rose and Landon got into an argument because they're both stressed to high hell and also have been annoyed at each other for like, four months or something. Don't know what that's about but I frankly don't care - it has nothing to do with me. This whole thing? It's actually... not been too bad. The Initiative, I mean. So don't ing apologize for the only decent thing you've ever done for me."

Alden looks startled, and also like he might start crying, and Alex huffs out a heavy breath and collapses into his secondhand, overused easy chair, gesturing for Alden to sit as well. May as well make this as clear as possible so he doesn't get any more unwanted visits from his twin.

Alden looks around uncertainly before awkwardly perching himself on the edge of one of the wooden kitchen chairs the place had come with. Alex lets him get comfortable, but when it's clear Alden intends to be as awkward as possible he gives up and starts talking. "I'm serious, there's nothing to apologize for. I'm actually... enjoying, parts of the job. It's a good experience, overall." He admits begrudgingly.

Alden is looking at him wide-eyed. "Really? It's not toxic? The articles really sounded convincing, but I guess if they don't have all the information..."

Alex scoffs. "Please, aren't you supposed to be a Ravenclaw? You should have checked this stuff before blinding assuming it was true."

"Hey, it made sense! And I was worried about you." Alden defends himself pouting and pulling his mug closer as if attempting to hide behind it. The moment is almost jarring - Alex remembers Alden doing the exact same thing when they were kids, before his letter came (and Alex's didn't) when they were still attached at the hip - and there's a small trill of guilt and despondence that settles into his spine.

Alex shifts, frowning. "Yeah, well. I'm fine, so you don't have to worry about your poor Squib brother and can go back to your mansion."

"Dad's mansion, and I moved out last year." Alden says, almost too quietly to be heard, and Alex blinks. What?

"What?" He asks, too startled to try and hide it. "Why would you move out? Mom and dad love you, they'd be fine with you staying in that stupid giant house forever."

Alden grimaces. "You know better than anyone that dad is... not exactly great at emotional support. And besides, I figured I was an adult. Adults live alone, right?" He shrugs uncertainly, mug still held up defensively. "And... it was lonely. In the house it was... so big, and so empty and I've hated it there for years. So when I could afford it, I got my own place." He shrugs again, eyes locked firmly onto the water in front of him like he's trying to divine the future in it.

Alex sits silently, absorbing the admission as best he can - a large part of his mind is viciously rejecting the concept, because Alden is part of his family, and his family is irredeemably awful. And sure, maybe the rest of the magical world is less like his family than he'd initially assumed (and even that is still something he's adjusting to) but he knows his family. And they're terrible.

He's about ready to tell Aldeon to leave if he has nothing else to apologize for, when he suddenly remembers - Baylee said she knew Alden.

"Do you know Baylee Danson?" He asks, probably too abruptly and aggressively based on the way Alden jumps and nearly spills his water, but he doesn't feel too bad about that honestly.

Alden blinks a few times, and then nods uncertainly. "Um, yeah? She was a Gryffindor three years above me. We... talked, sometimes."

Alden had always been a terrible liar - Alex always did the fibbing when they were kids and did things they knew they weren't supposed to - and he hasn't gotten any better with age.

"Liar. That name means something to you." He says accusatorily. "I think I deserve an explanation on that, considering her twin sister is my colleague."

Alden stares at him his whirling thoughts reflecting in his eyes, and it's strange for Alex to realize that even after nearly eight years of mostly ignoring his twin he can still read Alden like an open book, and right now he's debating how much to sharre..

"So Kylee is back in the country?" He asks after a moment, his war over whether to try and pretend he doesn't know as much as he does apparently concluding with the logical decision to not try and lie any further.

Alex huffs. "Not answering the question there, Al." He points out flatly, ignoring the way Alden perks up slightly at the nickname.

"Right, sorry. Um, I met Baylee second year, actually. I was upset about some stuff and she was a prefect so she came to check on me. We ended up bonding a bit - you know, both identical twins who couldn't go to school with their twin because of magic. Baylee always joked that it was fate that we met, but considering you're now working with Kylee, I think I might actually believe her a bit."

"...What were you upset about that that came up?" Alex asks suspiciously, and Alden shifts uncertainly, nearly falling off his precarious perch on the chair as he does.

"Um, honestly? I know you won't believe me, but I missed you. I didn't really make many friends first year since I was the only male Ravenclaw in my year. I mean, I met Trish later in second year so it worked out fine, but right at the start I was just... really lonely. And mum wasn't sending letters since you were starting at Muggle school, so she was more focused on that. Not that it's  your fault!" He adds quickly, cup jumping into defensive mode again.

Alex frowns. "...All I ever heard about was you and Hogwarts and how sad it was I couldn't go." He says after a moment. "You know, dad kept trying to teach me magic? Thought that maybe I was just a late bloomer, never mind that the Hogwarts registry is magicked to know whenever a magical child is born."

"I still want to figure out how that works." Alden says almost dreamily. "It's ancient magic, but no one has been able to replicate it since, and it doesn't seem to appear anywhere else. Who knows what other ancient magical curses and hexes might be based in a similar form?" He suddenly blinks, looks up at Alex, and immediately turns red. "I'm sorry! I just, I get really caught up and I'm actually only here between digs and just wanted to apologize but I guess that's all fine? So maybe I should get going-"

"Alden. For Christ sake sit down before you hurt yourself." Alex says irritably. Not because Alden has brought up his magic, no, though once upon a time that would have been the reason Alex was annoyed. Rather, Alex actually found himself interested in the conversation (and he blames the meetups - one of the Relocation Obliviators just loves talking magical theory and Alex has slowly been in despite himself) and is frustrated that his own twin thought he wouldn't want to hear more.

"That actually sounds pretty cool." He says once Alden is settled, and his twin looks at him cautiously.

"Yeah? Well, I could say a lot more - I'm a Curse Breaker, professionally. Did I ever tell you that?"

"I have no idea what that is, so no." Alex responds flatly, but he smirks so his brother knows he's just teasing.

Alden eyes him uncertainly, then offers his own shy smile, one Alex hasn't seen in... well, since they were both twelve and he told Alden to piss off during the winter holidays when his brother asked if Alex wanted to play Quidditch. "Well..."

They end up talking for over an hour, and honestly Alex does find Alden's work fascinating, even if it makes him feel about ten times worse about his own jobs, though Alden insists he thinks it's really impressive how Alex can talk to people constantly with his work.

"I just see mummies all day, and other massive dorks like me, I would die in a customer service position." He declares, and Alex chuckles.

"It's not so bad, you meet some really interesting people." He insists, taking a sip of the beer he'd grabbed from the fridge when it became clear he was going to be letting his brother actually hang around for a while. "Actually, I'm running the Initiative's meetups right now and it's honestly the best fun I've had in a while - some of the strangest people show up from both worlds. We had a magical family come in last week and start explaining to anyone who would listen about Nargles and a Muggle psychic got super into it. It was fantastically weird."

Alden laughs. "That sounds like it could be the Lovegood family, they've always been a bunch of oddballs, at least as the Weasley kids tell it. I didn't realize you were the one running the meetups, that's actually super cool? I considered going but I wasn't sure if magical attendants had to be vetted or?"

"We run background checks - no blood supremacy ties allowed, obviously, and even the we've got a rotation of Aurors to help keep things cordial. We haven't had any issues up to this point though, which is encouraging considering it's been a month and also super well publicized - Yurina has had more than enough time to lash back if she was planning to."

Alden frowns. "Um, not to sound clueless, but I was out of the country for a while - who's Yurina?"

And that's the moment that Alex knows he's officially too comfortable with Alden and remembers that he doesn't actually like his brother. So he stands up sharply and puts the beer down.

"Nevermind that, Initiative stuff. It's getting late, you should leave now." He says gruffly, and Alden looks a bit startled, but the cup doesn't fly up defensively this time.

"Oh, okay. I don't want to accidentally steal any secrets!" He says jokingly, though he looks worried as Alex herds him to the door. "Um," He pauses in the doorway, halfway out of the apartment, and Alex resists the urge to just shove him the rest of the way out and slam the door. "Would it be alright... I mean, could I come to one of the meetups? Before I'm assigned a new dig site?"

Alex sighs. Instinctively he wants to say 'no', but... the evening hadn't been that bad. And maybe if he's giving people like Veena and Miles a chance, then he should maybe consider that his twin brother was, you know, an actual kid when their dad was busy being awful about Alex's Squib status.

So he tilts his head. "Yeah, you could. Just submit for the background check at the Ministry beforehand and you'll get an owl with the confirmation and directions to the meetup location. The details on all that are printed in the Prophet every morning so. Should be easy enough."

Alden beams at him, and Alex finally pushes him out the door and slams it behind him, locking it for good measure. He stares at nothing for a long moment, attempting to process everything that had just happened before deciding that that's something for later Alex to deal with. Right now Alex is going to finish his beer and then pass out.

If he was to be entirely honest, Edward isn't sure he's still needed at his post inside the Initiative (well, inside the Initiative offices, anyway, considering he's technically a Hunter). He'd been lucky enough not to be a part of the mass layoffs a few weeks back - Finn had cited his use as a Muggle Consultant to still be vital to their work, not that he's really been consulting Edward on anything - but now he's wondering if that's such a good thing. The magical world seems to be perfectly good about exposing itself with or without his help, and considering there still hasn't been fallout from his late night excursion he's honestly ready to leave while the leaving is good. Heck, his primary work right now is with Landon trying to draft lobbyist propaganda for the Muggle Parliament, and although he's doing his best to be as helpfully unhelpful as possible there, it's not exactly interesting or useful work.

Not that's he's said any of this to his direct superiors, but he's been turning it over in his mind quite a bit lately, debating whether or not he maybe should. But the task isn't officially over - the Initiative might still recover from this, as they did in the past, though with each new bit of information the cracks only expand farther and deeper than before. For now he's going to stay put and keep watch, but he's pretty sure the veil will be falling sooner rather than later.

Still, knowing it will all be over soon doesn't make his current situation any less boring, and he can admit he's pretty much asleep in his chair when Lopatkina-Paluch approaches him one morning, accompanied by one of the Initiative members. Edward recognizes her, but can't immediately put a name to the face. Mostly he knows her as Thompson's girlfriend.

"Edward, this is Petranella Clark from the Initiative. She's been scouring the Archives recently and came to ask our assistance with her latest dive. As I recall you spent quite some time down there in the early months of this endeavor I thought you would be perfect for the role, provided you were interested, of course."

Of course. Edward thinks, a bit sarcastically, though he keeps a straight face. "Of course." He repeats out loud, tone smooth and curious. "I'd be happy to help if I can. What was it you were looking for, Ms. Clark?"

She perks up, and Lopatkina-Paluch gives a half wave as he heads back to his office, leaving Edward to discuss details with Clark.

"As you probably know, things aren't great for the Initiative right now, but we don't exactly want to say 'hey, it's a stressful work environment, people get stressed sometimes' because that's pretty much asking the trolls to accuse us of being unable to do our jobs. So we were a bit stumped on how exactly to address things but then I remembered early this month I found a specific scroll that detailed a record of a Wizengamot trial that basically devolved into the two representatives flinging mud until one of the witnesses admitted guilt. It was ridiculous, so I pointed it out to Archive Head Taylor and her response was that that's pretty typical for those kinds of trials. And that got me thinking with all this - are there other things that are perfectly normal in the magical world that would be seen as really weird to Muggles? So that's what we're trying to find, basically. If we could get that specific record that would be great, it was honestly really funny and I think it does a good job showing how there really is a unique culture in the magical world - and sometimes those cultural differences can cause some confusion or even miscommunication, but we're all working together at the end of the day and doing our best to not only help our worlds understand one another, but also to understand each other. The argument in question was between a British and American wizard - there was miscommunication. It happens." She shrugs easily.

Edward frowns. He'd been there for the fight, and that was not what it was about, but he doesn't comment. It's not the worst tactic, and it furthers their old 'we're all humans' pitch that he still thinks is ridiculously sappy and pointless, but a decent number of people are lapping it up. Which means this new angle might actually work on some people, unfortunately.

"Well, I can't say I came across anything that stood out in that way, but I also wasn't looking for it." He offers, standing up as he does. "But I'm happy to try and help."

Clark absolutely beams at him. "Thanks! I hope I'm not taking away from your work." She adds nervously, and Edward laughs.

"Trust me, you aren't." He assures her. "I suspect Lopatkina-Paluch reccomended me at least in part because I'm the least busy."

Clark doesn't laugh like she's supposed to, instead looking almost worried, but she quickly smiles when she sees him watching her. "Well, that's good then? Um," She coughs, "I guess we should head down. Whoever is at the front desk will probably be able to help us too, and Fergus said he would maybe have time too when he's done his meeting! So it won't be just us alone down there."

Edward just hums, hoping she'll be the type to fill the silence herself, but the entire lift ride down to the sub-basement level ends up being spent in increasingly awkward silence. Edward doesn't particularly mind it, but Clark is nearly squirming by the time the doors slide open and they step out into the Archive rooms. A younger man glances up and smiles when he spots Clark.

"Afternoon Petra. And hello to you too sir - how can I help you today?" He asks pleasantly, and Clark offers him a smile.

"Hi Harrison. Actually, this is Edward Clarke, he's the Muggle consultant for the Hunters. He's helping me out today - we've got a pretty big task."

"Need any help?" The man asks immediately, and Edward wonders if Thompson knows how friendly his girl is with other men.

"If you have time that would be great!" Clark agrees hopefully. "We're looking for-"

Edward leaves her to explain and heads past the two and into the heart of the Archives. If he's honest, he's a bit curious to see if there really are such jarring differences in culture, or if it's just Clark being particularly sensitive.

He wanders between filing cabinets, examining the labels for ones that look particularly promising - both for Clark and for his own work. If he's down here anyway he may as well collect a few more stories to drop, in case they are needed down the line. He doubts they will be, but it's always better to be prepared.

He doesn't see Clark for what feels like it's probably about an hour and he was hoping things would remain that way. However, they run into each other in the 1930's law section and she sticks with him from that point forth, forcing him to make small talk and preventing further exploration of his own goals.

Edward mostly recalls Clark being a very quiet person, so her chattiness now is jarring, to say the least. She's constantly bringing up interesting tidbits from parchments that she's reading, or commenting aloud on the handwriting or situation in the text. Edward answers politely but doesn't actively contribute to the conversation in hopes she might get bored and start looking elsewhere, though an hour into their work this tactic is failing miserably. So he decides he may as well engage - if he makes a good impression she may ask for his assistance in the future, and then he'll have a new reason to come down here regularly again, which long-term will be good for both his job and his boredom.

"I don't mean to pry, but I seem to recall you and young Mr. Thompson getting on well last we were all down here." He notes in a lull between her observations. "Are you two friends?'

Clark looks up at him and then laughs. "Me and Noah? Um, we're dating, actually. I think you might be the only person who doesn't know that?" She immediately flushes. "I mean, I don't mean you're unobservant or anything! It's actually pretty recent so it's not like-"

Edward cuts her off, honestly amused by the fluster. "It's perfectly alright Ms. Clark, I don't pay much attention to office gossip. Congratulations." He adds, and she smiles shyly.

"Just Petra is fine." She says after a moment. "I mean, your last name is Clarke too, right? So it's kind of weird to call each other like that, we'd just be saying our own names."

Edward frowns slightly - he honestly isn't that bothered by it - but if it's a problem for Clark - Petra - then he'll do his best to accommodate her. If she's uncomfortable around him, he's much less likely to get another invite down into the Archives with her.

"If it bothers you." He allows. "I not used to using first names at work, so forgive me if I slip up on occasion."

She shrugs amicably. "It's alright, I just thought I should let you know that it's fine. But really, if you prefer using my last name you can! It, um," She darkens slightly again, "It honestly mostly reminds me of school. The professors always called us by our last names, so I almost feel like it's dismissive, to use someone's last name."

Edward blinks. "That... I didn't know that." He says. "It's rather the opposite for me - using last names is what you do in a professional setting - first names are too intimate."

Clark - Petra - blinks, and then suddenly grins. "Hey, there's another cultural difference!" She exclaims. "Maybe we can find something relating to that too? Or we can just talk with the other Muggle members and get some comments from them. Would you mind being used as a reference?"

Yes I would, don't put my name anywhere. Edward thinks immediately, and he allows himself a grimace. "Considering I work special forces, I'd rather my name not be used." He says, and that's true enough. He also doesn't want to be associated in any way with the Initiative - when it fails he doesn't want his own reputation to be tarnished in any way.

Petra looks slightly shamed. "Oh, right, that makes sense." She perks up again quickly enough. "I'll ask Desmond then! He's a teacher after all, he can probably provide a more direct comparison to use."

As she muses aloud on this newest angle, Edward grabs another file and begins skimming through it, not expecting to find very much.

Instead, he realizes that this must be the file that Petra had mentioned before - a court preceding that really does read like a particularly bad law drama. He frowns as he goes through it - if this is normal it's a miracle that anything ever gets done in the magical justice system. Though, he supposes Yurina may well be proof of it's ineffectiveness - maybe he shouldn't be so surprised to read these records.

He remembers how hopeful Petra had been to find this document, and he hesitates somewhat. Should he just give it to her? It honestly makes the magical world look bad, but if Petra wants this parchment specifically then she probably has a plan, and if that plan actually manages to re-dupe some people then Edward's job could get harder.

After maybe a minute of contemplation, he puts the file a the very back of the cabinet it had been in and picks up another one, not bothering to mention he'd found it at all.

They end up in the Archives for hours, and while Petra finds a few things Edward keeps putting back anything that could be of help, and when Petra disappointedly comments on it he replies a bit vaguely.

"I've seen a lot in my time, with my job, so I guess most of this really doesn't feel to odd to me." He shrugs. "But perhaps that could be of value? I'm not the only special forces agent in the world after all - maybe next time I can look specifically at Auror or Hit-Wizard reports, since they're much more in my realm of specialization." It's a stretch, but if he's honest Petra hasn't struck him as the most observant or clever young woman, and he thinks she'll accept the suggestion easily enough.

Petra hums thoughtfully as she organizes the few files she had collected, and then nods. "That... seems fair enough." She agrees. "If you don't mind, of course. I really don't want to take up any more of your time than what you actually have to spare."

He waves dismissively. "I'm happy to be of service." He assures her firmly, and she gives him a bright smile.

"Thanks! I might take you up on that then, it was great having someone else down here helping out." She says as they make their way back towards the lifts. "I know you didn't find anything, but the Archives really are huge, so I'm not that surprised. I really appreciate your help either way."

Edward returns her smile and departs the lift at the Atrium level - it's hours later than he'd normally leave, and he's ready to go home. At Petra's final comment something heavy begins building in his stomach.

"Hey no problem. Any time." He tells her, and she waves as the lift doors close.

Edward thinks about the file shoved away in a back corner of a filing cabinet and tells himself he doesn't feel bad about the lie.

Veena knows that this additional press conference was her idea. She'd also known while planning that she was going to be running it alone - heck, she had requested to run it without Miles, so people couldn't accuse him of 'mansplaining' or 'white washing' the response (as some commenters already have). But now that she's actually here, by herself? It's just a little bit nerve-wracking.

It certainly doesn't help that Petra hasn't managed to find much in her Archive diving the past two days, so Veena has to rely solely on anecdotes without actual documents to back up her claims, but she's hopeful that the fact they're allowing the conference to be live instead of just recorded will help support the idea that she's being genuine. Nothing can be edited out, or made to look better (another common claim - now people are arguing that Miles runs the press conferences too and footage is forcibly edited to make it look like Veena say more than she actually does which is, frankly, insulting).

She takes a few deep breaths as she scans the crowd. They haven't noticed her yet, all watching the Ministry Muggle entrance intently and obviously expecting her to arrive from there. However, Veena is coming straight from home, and she's glad for it now - the few extra minutes are helpful for steeling her nerves.

After scanning the crowd and locating a few familiar faces - some friendly, some less so - she finally admits that she's stalling and really needs to get on with the conference and begins to head towards the crowd, mentally reciting the script they'd spent the last two days perfecting.

She's so focused that she's badly startled when a figure rushes up next to her and taps her on the arm. She spins, ready to fend off a myriad of aggressive questions from whatever upstart reporter is trying to harrass her, only to find a familiar face smiling at her hesitantly - one she definitely wasn't expecting to see today.

"Good morning Veena, do you mind if I join you today?" Kylee Danson asks, and Veena, despite not knowing why Kylee would want to subject herself to any of this, doesn't see a reason to decline the offer, though she does have a few questions that she voices before they head to the front of the mass to start the conference.

"Do the leaders know you're here? Also, are you sure?" She asks, and Kylee laughs, a bit nervously.

"I asked yesterday after you'd left - Mrs. Weasley said it would be fine, so long as I let you take point since you have all the information that's being shared today. But I thought you could maybe use a hand with some of the questions? And I'm a woman, so it should be a bit less of an issue than it would be with Miles. Hopefully."

"Hopefully." Veena agrees. "Well, if you're sure, we need to get things started - the official conference time is only four minutes away."

Kylee trails behind Veena, glacing at the crowd and getting a few curious - and some accusatory - glances from the assembled reporters.

Veena does her best to look confident as she leads the way, hoping that she and Kylee can set up a system like what she and Miles have - they play off each other and help the other feel more comfortable in a positive cycle of silent support. Or occasionally, in a negative cycle of nerves and stress, but even then just feeling connected to the person onstage with her can be helpful. Veena isn't sure Kylee will be able to manage, but she supposes having someone there at all is better than being completely alone. She definitely has an increased respect for Miles and his solo conference earlier in the month now, though she also thinks her worrying about him was definitely warranted, even though the conference went smoothly enough.

Kylee moves to stand just behind her once they're both on the platform that had been set up for this conference. Minister Granger had been kind enough to approve the location, as Veena feels speaking in front of the Ministry, rather than in a random hotel conference room, is in a lot of ways more personal. And in her experience, people speaking in areas that have personal meaning to them are more commonly thought to be honest, regardless of the fact that liars will lie no matter the location.

She takes a quick breath and flicks her wand to create a small shower of harmless, rainbow sparks to get everyone's attention. She then presses her wand to in order to project her voice. This is another new tactic they're trying out. If they want people to get used to magic, instead of fearing it, they're going to need to start using magic in more settings, not just on command in interviews. Showing a casual usage like this, and combining it with some discussion about the preliminary efforts being made to 'bottle' useful spells to be mass produced so anyone can use them, not just people born with an affinity for magic, should also help with promoting a positive response. At least, that's the goal - Petra hadn't sounded too confident when she'd proposed the idea, but it's all they really have.

"Good morning everyone! Thank you all for coming out today." She opens. "Miles unfortunately can't be with us today, but this young lady is Kylee, one of our integration specialists, who was kind enough to come with me today and help answer questions. Before we open the floor however, I would like to address some of the rumors that have been floating around the internet recently." She takes a deep breath, script spinning in her mind - and in a split second decision she decides to throw at least parts of it out. She picked this location to be personal, so really, speaking from the heart matches what they're going for anyway.

"I had a whole script planned out for today." She says slowly, and sees Kylee glancing at her uncertainly in her periphery. "And you'll get to hear parts of it in a minute, but I think I want to start by speaking a bit of my mind, while I have everyone's attention." She takes a breath, then levels a glare at everyone gathered. "To everyone who's been spreading these awful rumors? Great job perpetuating a massive cyberbully attack over completely unfounded information from an unsourced blog post. Really, excellent reporting skills there. And by the way? Assuming I'm not allowed to talk because I'm a woman? That's a Muggle thing - we've had multiple female Ministers for Magic, multiple Headmistresses of the greatest magical academy in the world, and multiple badass female war heroes still honored to this day. Heck, one of the biggest shocks for me at Hogwarts was that literally no one cared about my race, my , or my uality - in the magical world, they literally don't care. Are there other problems? Absolutely, we are still humans after all, and that's not something we've ever tried to hide. But our cultures are different, and you making assumptions about societies you know nothing about by just applying your own worldview onto them isn't just presumptive, it's arrogant."

She takes a deep breath, slightly terrified but also feeling really good about getting all that off her chest. "And that's the point I want to make today - our worlds have been separated almost entirely for centuries - we have our own unique culture, our own ways of interacting with the world as we know it. Things that seem strange to us about the Muggle world are perfectly normal for you. Things that seem odd to you are everyday occurrences for us. Magic is honestly the least of it - it may be the catalyst for our different cultures, but it's not the only difference between them."

She hadn't really planned for her off-script rant to feed so well back into the scripted rant, but she rolls with it and pushes through some of the anecdotes that Petra and Edward had brought with them, as well as a few Aruna had surprisingly offered about courtroom differences she has seen. She's acutely aware of the cameras pointed directly at her as she speaks, but she pushes through the slight nervousness they cause and successfully gets through the first part of the conference without any slip-ups. Not counting the massive initial tangent as a slip-up, of course.

"We will now be opening the floor for questions."

There are fewer hands that shoot up than she had honestly been expecting, but it's a relief far more than a concern - fewer questions means less time before the conference is over.

"Yes, Mr. Thomas?" She says, calling on a familiar face from the Herald first.

"You say that the cultures are different - is this an excuse for the war a few years ago?" He demands, which is honestly about what Veena expected from him.

"I don't believe any excuse exists that could pardon a war." She says simply. "I'm merely pointing out differences between our worlds and asking that everyone recognizes and considers them as we move forward with this unprecedented integration movement." She waits for him to finish scribbling on his notepad before calling on the next person, this time someone unfamiliar from one of the news channels present.

Kylee keeps to the back, and Veena doesn't really expect her to answer any questions - she's just happy to have the moral support. So she's surprised when Kylee steps forward when one of the ruder regulars asks his usual type of question.

"You stand there acting like the magical world is so great and accepting, while simultaneously admitting to horrific acts in the last war - well which is it? Are magical people benevolent or horrid?" He demands.

"Both." Kylee says calmly. "Just like non-magical people, magical people are capable of both. Um, I'm Kylee Danson again, in case you didn't get that earlier." She adds, some of her calm confidence seeping into uncertainty. "And I'm a Squib - a non-magical person born to magical parents. Veena mentioned other problems earlier and, well, Squibs are that problem. If you don't have magic, sometimes people with magic look down on you for it. For a while Squibs weren't even allowed to live or work in the magical world - we were told to get out of the only community we had ever known. That sort of full-on rejection is no longer commonplace, but many Squibs, myself included, still don't feel comfortable - or in some cases even welcome - in the magical world. However, and this is a very big however, I'm still close with my family, and everyone on this team has been nothing but accepting and open-minded for the past six months. Are we perfect? Of course not. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that for every questionable human being with magic, there are dozens more who are genuinely good. Take from that what you will sir, but as someone who grew up in both worlds I can tell you that for all the surface differences, the people in each world really aren't different at all where it counts."

It's an imperfect, unpolished answer, but the man actually looks startled so Veena will take it as a win. They wrap up shortly after with a few more, less aggressive, questions and then the two women say their thanks and farewells to the assembled group before turning and taking the Muggle Ministry Entrance down into the bowels of their shared place of work.

"Full honesty that was a bit of a rough answer." Veena tells Kylee as they lift lowers them down below the foundation, "But A plus on the honesty factor - I don't think Miles or I have ever gotten that man to actually shut up instead of attempt an equally rude followup question."

Kylee shuffles a bit, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Ah, well, I mostly meant to just be there for support but when he asked that I just thought 'you know what? I can answer that, and screw him for treating the world like it can be shoved into neat little boxes like that doesn't hurt everyone horribly.' If he wants a horrible person, all he needs is a mirror."

Veena laughs at that. "I can't say I disagree with that." She grins over at Kylee. "Seriously though, thanks. I was pretty nervous."

"Well, Miles told me how stressful his solo conference was, and that was a pretty upbeat one - and I also might want to present some conference stuff later?" She adds uncertainly. "Like, with the bank or even stuff from Mungo's if that gets off the ground, so I figure getting my face out there early would be a good idea?"

Veena tilts her head curiously. "I'm guessing Mrs. Weasley signed off on that as well?"

"She did." Kylee says hurriedly. "You don't mind, do you? I did mean to get your thoughts on it too, but you'd already left and-"

Veena cuts her off with a light laugh. "It's fine, it could be good to mix things up from time to time. Just be aware that Miles can and will go off on full conversations with people if you let him, so if you're ever alone with him keep his leash tight."

Kylee chuckles, and the two women head across the Atrium towards the internal lifts to go to the seventh floor. They'll probably know the results of Veena's conference soon enough, considering the live coverage, but honestly Veena isn't so worried anymore.

She's got a great team behind her.

Author's Note: Aww, how sweet :) I mean, except for Edward, but do we really expect anything else from Edward at this point? >~>