Veena has seen Kylee flitting about the offices in the past week, but the younger woman hadn't actually approached her at any point so Veena has no idea what exactly she was up to. It isn't until the weekend that a very excited Kylee bounds straight over to her, eyes alight and grin wide enough that it has to hurt, that Veena finally learns what exactly is going on.

"I've managed to set up a temporary trade agreement between St. Mungo's and the Muggle drugstores NVS and Boots!" She declares breathlessly. "By the end of next week those two pharmacy chains will be stocking Pepperup Potion for Muggles to purchase at their leisure."

Veena understands now why Kylee looked so pleased - her own smile probably matches the younger woman's after hearing the news. "Really? That's amazing Kylee! This is exactly the good news we need right now - I'll talk to the leaders and see if we can set up a mini conference with the press so we can get that information out there as quickly as possible."

Kylee nods eagerly. "I was hoping you'd say that! Would it be possible for our Mungo's consultant to say a few words as well? She's the one who oversaw that modification of the potion for Muggle use, and she was a huge help in getting the trade set up properly - I think it's only fair to include her if she wants to be there."

Veena nods. "Absolutely, just make sure to tell me if she's in or not as soon as you know, so I can prep the reporters on what to roughtly expect."

Kylee nods, then frowns. "Wait, so was it a bad thing that I was with you at that last Press Conference?" She asks nervously. "I mean, I wasn't expected so..."

Veena laughs. "It was fine, I hadn't said much in the release about the conference anyway, so it was easy enough to play it off. It's not really a strict rule anyway, it's more me trying to be polite so people can prepare their questions accordingly."

Kyle hums. "Cool, cool. I'll keep you informed about Healer Caldwell then."

"And I'll tell you when I have a set date and time for the conference." Veena promises, and Kylee beams again before scampering off, likely to reach out to this 'Healer Caldwell.' Veena watches her for a moment before shaking her head and glancing down at her desk. Nothing she's currently working on won't keep a few minutes longer, so she decides to head straight to the leaders' offices while the conversation with Kylee is still fresh.

She knocks twice, and waits for admission. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Morgan are both leaning over the former's desk, obviously mid-discussion, and Veena clears awkwardly at having clearly interrupted something.

"Apologies, I'll be quick. Kylee just had a major breakthrough on the Mungo's front and we wanted to set up a small press conference to get word out to the public as quickly as possible." Veena explains.

Mrs. Weasley hums. "I believe I've heard bits and pieces on that already - good to hear it's already cleared up and ready for the next step. Was there a particular day you were thinking would work best?"

Veena blinks. "Well... no, I actually only just learned all this myself. I wanted to be sure we were able to handle setting up a conference this quickly before putting anything down concretely."

Mrs. Weasley nods. "Well, consider this your permission. Get things set up and make sure to submit a full report to us by day's end - we can send out the open invitations before we leave so that all the usual papers will be made aware by the morning and we can get a rough headcount on who's planning to come."

"Should we invite Mr. Beaux?" Veena asks before she leaves - the reporter had just released an article based on his conversation with Rose and Miles, and though it's overall positive in tone he'd ended by revealing he plans to do a full series examining the Initiative and it's inner workings, which feels rather ominous. The one good thing to come out of it is that the magical public seems to have calmed down immensely - apparently having recent history's greatest investigative journalist looking at the Initiative is enough for most people to sit back and wait to see what he finds before forming any further opinions.

Mrs. Weasley sighs. "Yes, we've added him to the usual invite list." She acknowledges. "I can't say I'm thrilled with him, but he does do good work, and if there is anything untoward happening in the Initiative I'd almost trust him over the Aurors to actually locate it in a manner timely enough for us to combat it with any level of effectiveness."

Veena nods quietly and excuses herself from the office to get started on the planning. 

She eventually settles on Wednesday afternoon for the conference - enough time for people to adjust their schedules, and it's rare anyone has anything but paperwork to do on a Wednesday anyway, but not so far away as to give the information time to leak out on its own.

She tells Kylee as soon as she makes the decision, and the specialist immediately hurries off to the owlery to message Healer Caldwell to see if she'll be available. Once she gets back, the two women discuss layout details.

Veena quickly vetoes Miles being present - with Petra still bouncing between her usual social media job and the Archives he's needed to monitor their social media, and with two (maybe three) of them already present he'd be redundant anyway - and they decide that Kylee and Healer Caldwell, if she's present, should probably take point. Veena can be a familiar face and help with question control, but she figures getting the great news straight from the people who made it happen is their best option.

"I should warn you that Healer Caldwell isn't really a people person." Kylee says with a slight frown. "And I don't really love being centerstage either. Are you sure you want us on point? Or just me if she can't make it?"

Veena tilts her head. "Only if you're comfortable with that, of course." She says, "But I do think having the experts actually do the explaining is preferable to my attempting to lay things out and risk not knowing things. It looks better if we seem fully in control, and knowing what we're talking about is a big part of that."

Kylee hums. "Don't you and Miles talk about all the specialties at the monthly update meetings though?" She inquires, and Veena sighs, having expected the question.

"Yes, but we have a lot more time to prep and study everything we talk about in those." She points out. "This is in three days - definitely not enough time for me to learn enough about medicine and trade law in enough detail to be able to answer more specified questions."

Kylee nods. "Right, that makes sense. I'm fine to do it, just wanted to make sure it made the most sense." She's obviously still nervous, but Veena will worry about that more when they're actually at the conference - for now, getting a solid plan together will do just as much to help Kylee's nerves as actually sitting her down and trying to talk through them.

By the day of the conference, Kylee does seem to be feeling a lot more confident, though Veena thinks the presence of Healer Caldwell is a big part of that - the woman had not only agreed to come, but had requested their notes so she could serve as the primary speaker in the first half of the presentation. Veena is less enthusiastic about this decision, as she still hasn't actually met Healer Caldwell, only knowing she 'isn't a people person' which doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Still, she'd been the one to decide that Kylee and Caldwell should take point, so she's going to stand back and be ready to step in and put out any fires that may arise.

The woman in question is at the Initiative offices the morning of the conference, which actually does a lot to ease some of Veena's worries - if nothing else, she's obviously professional.

"Good morning." She greets, walking up to the woman and offering a hand. "Healer Caldwell, I presume?"

The woman shakes the offered appendage firmly, nodding as she does. "And you're Veena Harris. I appreciate your setting all this up for us, and allowing Kylee and myself to take point."

"I always believe that hearing things from experts is the best case scenario when it's possible." Veena replies, smiling slightly. The woman in front of her isn't particularly tall or imposing in any physical way, but she carries herself with an air of confidence and danger that reminds Veena quite a bit of Cat. It's rather comforting, and helps Veena relax that much more.

They spend the morning and most of lunch going through the plan one last time, as well as checking in on who will be present. A good 93 percent of the usual papers have confirmed their presence, which is both exciting and terrifying - exciting because high attendance generally means high interest, which in turn connects directly to some level of trust, but it also means the chances of getting difficult or accusatory questions is increased as well. But that's what Veena will be there for, and really, how angry can people be over medicine?

The conference has been set up in front of the Ministry entrance, and a few lower-level Aurors are providing security for the event. The three women arrive early to find most of the papers already present and talking with each other. There are some familiar faces (Veena smiles at Celine Yang and gets a nod in return) as well as a few new ones, and everyone overall seems to be in a good mood.

Finally the three women take the stage, and Veena steps forward to give the opening remarks and introduce Kylee and Healer Caldwell, at which point she moves back to let them give their presentation.

"Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for making the time to come and hear our very exciting announcement!" Kylee begins, and Veena smiles - all trace of nerves have vanished and what's left is a genuine enthusiasm for her work. This is why Veena knew Kylee had to take point on this one. "Since the beginning of the Initiative, I have been working with St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, to open research and communication in the medical field so that both worlds can benefit from each other's medical discoveries. We recently managed our first major breakthrough on this front, and to explain I'll hand things over to Healer Caldwell, who was the leader on this effort within Mungo's."

Caldwell strides forward with all the poise of someone very used to being the most important, respected person in a room. Veena glances out at the crowd and notes that while most people seem immediately intrigued by the figure Caldwell cuts, a few of the men - particularly the Muggle men - seem to be immediately irritated by her presence. Hopefully they'll hold their tongues - so far misogyny hasn't been a major issue at these conferences, and Veena would like to keep it that way.

"Thank you Ms. Danson, and good afternoon to you all. I'll keep this rather simple, as frankly even some Healers find the details of medical magic to be dry and tedious." A few people laugh, and Veena relaxes again - for all Kylee had said she wasn't a people person, Caldwell seems perfectly natural in front of a crowd. "The short of it is that centuries ago a great potioneer by the name Linfred of Stinchcombe created a potion that cured the common cold. Thanks to the tireless work of several modern Mungo's potioneers and volunteers from the universities, we have successfully modified that potion, called Pepperup, to work just as successfully for Muggle physiology. Starting next week we will begin shipping boxes of Pepperup to local pharmacies and hospitals for general public use."

Kylee steps forward. "We specifically worked out a trade agreement with the Boots and NSV pharmacies, and there will be over two thousand Muggle-safe Pepperup potions on shelves by the end of the month! And the best part is that these potions don't go bad - buy one next week and it will still work perfectly well in December!"

Caldwell is nodding, and Veena is pleased to see that most of the reporters look as excited about the information as she'd felt when she'd first heard about it. She hadn't even thought about expiration dates - being a potioneer herself by trade she's gotten rather used to the fact they rarely expire, and she wouldn't have thought to mention it herself were she in Kylee's position. All in all, things are going beautifully.

Kylee then opens the floor for questions, and Veena takes a half-step forward to be ready to help with responses where necessary. Kylee calls on Celine first.

The Telegraph reporter smiles. "First I want to say, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say it, that it's incredibly exciting to hear we'll be getting magical assistance in the medical field. Second, and on the same track to a degree, do you have any further plans set up for interaction between the two medical communities?"

Veena frowns, and is glad when Caldwell easily sweeps forward to respond to the question. "We are actually already in talks with the University College Hospital to develop a training program for trainee Healers and med students to begin learning how both kinds of healing work. Our trainees actually already have a rudimentary form of this training already, so we're modifying it slightly for use across all medical programs in England."

"Already have that training? In what way?" Someone else asks - a younger man, and one of the new faces. Obviously he's not familiar with how conferences usually go, and doesn't know to wait to be called on before asking his questions.

Of course, Caldwell also doesn't know and doesn't miss a beat in her response. "Twenty years ago I spearheaded a campaign in Mungo's to begin implementing certain Muggle medical techniques - IV drips, respirators, things of that nature. With there being so many victims of the war to treat, we didn't have the staff to handle every case that came in immediately, so the extended care provided by Muggle technology likely saved dozens of lives that otherwise would have been lost, both within the victims and within my staff. So yes, we already train new Healers in the use of certain Muggle practices, as we still use them to this day. Does that answer your question?"

The man nods, scribbling furiously, and Caldwell turns back to the larger group. "Any other questions?"

The next few are handled easily enough by Kylee and Caldwell as they explain specific logistics of the shipment, why the potion had to be modified for Muggles at all, and what the best way to store and take the potions would be. Then the first magical paper poses a question, and Veena quickly steps up to answer when she recognizes Zacharias Smith from the Prophet gossip column - anything he has to ask isn't going to be particularly relevant, and Veena is well versed in redirecting his questions and keeping things on track despite his attempts to derail them.

"Mr. Smith, is this pertinent?" She asks, and Kylee takes a half-step sideways so Veena can join her and Caldwell at the front of the stage.

He huffs and stands straighter. "I'd say it is! Why are we helping the Muggles like this considering the Muggle sabateur within the Initiative? Why reward that person's efforts by giving away free help like this?"

Veena can practically feel the blood drain from her face, eyes darting nervously to the Muggle reporters, all of whom look shocked - except for Celine, who looks as nervous as Veena feels. Somehow Veena isn't surprised that Celine already knew despite the Initiative's attempts to keep the Internal Investigation safely away from Muggle reporters.

That's out the window now though - time to contain and control. However, before Veena can even begin to respond the other reporters begin shouting questions, all semblance of order and control abandoned for pure, noisy chaos. So many questions are being thrown out at once that Veena can't make out any individual ones to respond to, but she doesn't need to hear the words to read the tone - people are confused, and that confusion is rapidly morphing into anger and accusation.

"One at a time please!" She says, trying to raise her voice enough to be heard, but even with magical amplification ensuring she's heard the questions keep pouring out from the group.

It's Healer Caldwell who finally gets everyone to go silent when she flicks her wand and a bang like a gunshot cuts through the room. Everyone instantly goes quiet, several of them ducking as well. Veena winces - that definitely wasn't the ideal way to handle things, but she supposes what's done is done, and she can at least respond to Smith now.

"If everyone will just take a breath, I'll respond to Mr. Smith's question first and then open the floor to further inquiries." Veena says, tone polite and steady even as her heart and guts shrivel away from the idea of having to answer any followups on the sabotage. When the group remains rigidly silent, she takes a deep breath. "Thank you. Mr. Smith, I must tell you that once again you have gone entirely off topic. The possibility of a single person disliking the Initiative is nowhere close to reason enough to not help each other out in every way that we can, and the situation is well in hand." Smith looks ready to keep going so Veena quickly turns to the group at large. "Any other questions, about this or on the actual topic of this conference?"

There's some hesitation, before hands start to rise again, slowly, and Veena quickly calls on a familiar face, one who usually has polite enough questions.

Surprisingly, no one else follows up on Smith's revelation, instead focusing on the Pepperup supply chain and inquiring further on possible integration of the medical programs. But the atmosphere has dropped drastically - though no one is talking about the elephant in the room, everyone is clearly thinking about it. The conference wraps up about twenty minutes later, and while Veena would say that overall it ought to be classified as a success, they'll have to report what Smith had pulled and prepare for a possible blowout.

Caldwell comes with them back up to the Initiative offices, and Veena is surprised when she stops both her and Kylee before they can head to the leaders' office. "Let me explain to them. I'm old friends with Audrey, and there's something I've wanted to speak with her about anyway, so this is a good time for it."

Veena frowns, but when she sees Kylee nodding she decides to agree as well. She can go fill Miles in instead, so they can start preparing.

They're maybe five minutes into discussing what to do next when muffled but definitely raised voices start emitting from the leaders' offices, and everyone pauses what they're doing to eye the door nervously. Obviously Caldwell and Mrs. Weasley are arguing, and it's pretty uncomfortable to be sitting nearby and trying to pretend nothing is happening. But Veena does her best to stay on track - right up until the door is shoved open, and a smug looking Healer Caldwell strides out, followed by a grimacing Mrs. Weasley.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" The leader says, sounding somewhat defeated. "We're going to have a seven AM meeting tomorrow - Initiative only."

"I'll keep my guys out until nine." Finn calls from the Hunter's side of things. "Should Hugo and I be scarce as well?"

Mrs. Weasley sighs. "Doesn't matter, you two already know."

Finn frowns, blinks, and then raises an eyebrow. "Really? Wow, alright. I think I'll be here then." He declares.

Veena is completely confused, but she's guessing whatever meeting they're having in the morning will clear things up. She's a bit worried about it too, though, considering it's obviously about something Mrs. Weasley does not want to talk about. Still, her curiosity keeps her pretty much unproductive for the rest of the day, and she even has trouble sleeping that night, wondering what on Earth they could possibly need to talk about.

When she wakes up at six the next morning she's barely slept, but she has no trouble at all  getting up and ready. She wants to know what the meeting is about - for better or worse.

Fergus can't say he really cares about  the meeting - he recently got another message telling him to be ready, and considering what had happened last time he's honestly expecting the Initiative to end soon. The others may be too focused on work to have noticed, but Fergus has seen the rising tension around the world - they're at the brink of war, and now that England's magical community is riled up, the last of the major magical resistance is pretty much gone. Fergus doesn't see how it would even be possible to change course at this point - Yurina and her team are obviously in fully control on the outcome.

So when he shows up at seven the next morning, he's not nearly as keyed up as the rest of the group is. He settles at his usual desk and stays quiet as Kylee and Desmond nervously debate what the meeting could be about. Even Alex is obviously curious, though he's trying to hide it. Fergus isn't sure why he's still like that - it's far from a secret that Alex does actually care about the Initiative's success now, so his continued standoffish-ness feels more and more like a facade, and not one that has any logical reason for existing. Fergus doesn't push though - everyone has their comfort blanket, and obviously Alex's is pretending to not care about things.

When Audrey and Mrs. Morgan arrive there are two other with them, and that Fergus hadn't expected. One is Healer Caldwell from the day before, which isn't too startling on reflection, but the other is a semi-familiar face that Fergus can't quite put a name to.

He watches the brunette, who looks to be about Audrey's age - maybe a bit older - and tries to remember where he's seen her before. He knows that when she introduces herself he'll probably end up kicking himself for not immediately recognizing her, but in the minutes leading up to the actual start of the meeting he keeps coming up empty on a name. Finally, Audrey clears , and to Fergus's surprise Mrs. Morgan takes a seat with the rest of them. Whatever this is, she obviously isn't a part of it.

Audrey speaks first. "Good morning everyone, and thanks for being here at this ungodly hour." She's speaking informally, so she's either particularly tired or particularly nervous. Something tells Fergus it's likely a mix of both. "After some careful consideration, we've decided it would be best to make you all aware of something that happened in the last war that very few people know about - mainly because it's highly likely that Yurina is at least partially aware of it, and we need to be ready if she decides to weaponize the knowledge she has." She takes a slow breath and then nods to Healer Caldwell, who tilts her head in return.

"There was a group during the war known as the Underground." Caldwell says, without any preamble, and Fergus is suddenly a lot more invested in the meeting. He knows quite a bit about the war - he lived through it, after all - and he's never heard of the Underground. "It was founded by my sister, and it was, as the name suggests, top secret. The Underground actually took inspiration from The Underground Railroad that formed in the US during the abolitionist movement, and we operated in much the same way. Only instead of smuggling slaves to the North, we smuggled Muggleborns and their families out of the country and away from Voldemort's regime."

Fergus blinks, wondering even more now how the heck he's never heard about this - a group like that would surely have been heralded as war heroes?

"My sister, Saundra Caldwell, was caught and killed early on." Healer Caldwell says, quiet, solemn, and Fergus can feel the younger people start to shuffle awkwardly around him. It's normal - the war was before their time, really, so it makes sense death is still uncomfortable for them. It's a good thing, really. "But the organization did not die with her, despite what was believed by the Ministry at that time. The three leaders of the group kept things moving - in fact, we expanded in the aftermath of my sister's Kiss, as the Ministry thought the entire operation had been crushed and were no longer looking for us, which gave us the freedom to make more daring moves."

"The leaders that Python mentioned," The third woman finally speaks up, looking somehow both serious and amused, "Are of course the three of us. I'm Claire Wilson, co-head of the Wizengamot Administrative Services. I helped coordinate a lot of the internal sabotage with the Muggle Born Registration Commission and also assisted in coordinating our field agents to help rescue Fugitives. Python - or I guess you know her as Healer Caldwell - dealt with the medical stuff and also some field agent coordination. And your boss here was a Ministry insider who actually collected all the information that we used."

Fergus nearly sighs. Yep, he should have known her - Claire Wilson isn't a war hero (a rarity for high-ranking Minstry officials her age), but she's still definitely a well-known figure within the Ministry itself. Still, the entire revelation is startling, to say the least. Keeping the Underground secret during the war makes sense, but why hide it afterwards? The three of them would certainly be war heroes on the level of Ginevra Potter and Neville Longbottom if the group had been successful enough.

"You give me too much credit." Audrey demures. "But I was a part of the team, certainly. During operation we successfully saved over three dozen Muggle Born witches and wizards, some by forging blood lineage papers, and some by tracking them down while they were hiding and getting them into our safehouses. It wasn't really that big of a group, but the people we did have were efficient and effective. If you'd like an example, both Finn and Hugo from the Hunters were part of our field agent team."

Well heck. Fergus thinks wryly. That is a good team. It's no wonder, then, that they managed to be as successful as they apparently were. It does beg a few questions, though, and he wonders if they'll get a chance to pose any - even if he is somewhat dreading getting answers since he'll have to report them, he can't help being curious.

"We've kept quiet about the Underground for a number of reasons," Audrey continues, "Not the least of which being that everyone had just gotten out of a war. Saundra was honored with a posthumous Order of Merlin and that was that - none of our members joined up for glory, and in fact quite a few were content to go back to their lives and their grief without the fanfare and invasive reporters that hounded the war heroes in the Order of the Phoenix or Dumbledore's Army. Some of the Muggleborns we saved did talk about us, but since they didn't know any names we faded into rumor, and we were fine with that."

"So what happened?" Landon asks after a long moment of silence. "Why tell us this now? You said earlier Yurina might have information?"

"She overheard a conversation between myself and my brother, who wasn't part of the organization." Claire confesses. "It was at the Battle of the Ministry that took place at the same time as the Battle of Hogwarts - I don't even know how much she actually heard, but it's possible she'll use the information she has to further endear herself to the public - or worse, make us look bad. She's an expert at twisting facts to fit her version of reality, and, worse, making other people believe her. If she tries anything we need you all to be aware of what happened. As such we'd like to hear any and all questions you might have, and we can tell you everything except for names - Finn and Hugo agreed to be unveiled, but the group has remained private for a reason, so we don't want to force anyone into the limelight who isn't prepared to be there."

"One more thing." Caldwell adds with a grimace, "She did discover one of our safehouses in the later months of the war, though we were able to evacuate it safely. We don't know how much information she might have gotten from that encounter either." She sighs and then nods to the group. "With that said, do you have any questions?"

Fergus waits to let other people go first - his question isn't exactly relevant to their work, but more a personal curiosity, and he's fine waiting until more pressing concerns are responded to.

Kylee pipes up uncertainly. "So how did recruitment work? I imagine you'd have to be really careful about who you brought in?"

Python nods. "We did. For the most part it was Claire and I who did the recruiting, though everyone would make recommendations. We had a guy who did most of the vetting - he was in a good position to do so without being suspected of anything untoward - and if he cleared them we'd move forward with the process. If he didn't, we could remove the memory easily enough - Hugo was still an Obliviator back then, not that we ever used him. Our group was good at locating ideal recruits, as it turned out."

Kylee nods and sits back. "That was kind of lucky." She observes, and Claire laughs.

"You have no idea." She agrees. "Any other questions?"

When nothing else is immediately forthcoming, Fergus decides to step in. "I had a small inquiry, though it's likely a touch off-topic." He offers, and Audrey turns to him with a smile. "I've always been fascinated by communication magic, and this doesn't seem like the sort of group that would risk using owls, particularly considering how closely it was being monitored by the Deatheather-controlled Ministry during the war. So how did you communicate with each other?"

Audrey and Claire both look to Python, who sighs. "We called them messengers." She says, sounding rather long-suffering. "Modified Patronuses that could be given specifically chosen forms and connected to one another via a magical net - my sister is the one who invented the base spell, and we adjusted it occasionally as needed during the course of the war. Everyone was assigned a specific code name that matched the animal form their messenger took, and we only ever refered to each other using them when on the clock for the Underground. Messengers are cast wordlessly, and one of the first changes we made was to differentiate between the types of messages that could be sent through them - emergency messages would be immediately delivered, but otherwise a person had to be alone for the messenger to appear."

Fergus is practically leaning out of his seat. "Fascinating! Was the spell properly patented after the war? That sounds like incredibly complex magic that can be used easily by the general populace - it could revolutionary for communication in the future!"

Python smiles sadly. "It's not been, actually. My sister was the inventor, and she's dead. I never formally applied for a patent on the spellwork - aside from feeling it was stealing, we didn't want the Underground unearthed, as it were, and if I were to present this spell to the patent offices there would be questions that, very frankly, I wasn't ready to answer at the end of the war." She shrugs. "Maybe if all this comes out anyway we can finally get it attached to Saundra's name. It really was one of her best works."

The room is quiet for a long moment after that, the weight of the life lost hanging over the group. Then Alex clears his throat awkwardly, successfully breaking the tension as he raises his own question.

"You said it was a small group - how small is small, and how effective could you really be with such a limited number of members?"

"I'll take this one." Audrey says quickly when Claire starts to respond. "None of us actually know the exact size of the Underground, and that was by design. We knew the code names of the people we worked with, and we of course knew the people who we had recruited, but if someone wasn't directly in our line of command then they may as well have not existed. We had ways of identifying each other, but it was pretty rare that we used them - the anonymity meant that if one person was caught, some people could still get away. Heck, I only knew Claire and Python until the final battle, which was when I finally met some of the other members." She smiles. "As for how effective we were, we managed to rescue about seventy percent of the people out in the woods and get them set up in a safehouse. So I'd say it was relatively effective."

Alex looks a bit stunned as he leans back in his seat, and Fergus is inclined to feel the same. Seventy percent is a massive number, and does a lot to explain why the death toll, as substantial as it was, wasn't even higher - he recalls the fact that less than one hundred and fifty people had died in total in the war had been hailed as a miracle by the papers and by St. Mungo's. A lot of the press had focused on the implementation of Muggle medical practices as the key component of that miracle, but Fergus suspects the Underground may have been a much bigger factor in the long-term. And yet he's somehow still not surprised that they managed to stay secret - if everyone was willingly in on the silence, then even if some Muggleborns spoke up it would be impossible to get any corroborating facts from the members themselves, and the whole thing could be written off as just one good samaratian helping people out. Which was probably the whole point, based on the responses so far.

The questions die out after that, and they're all sent to get back to their usual work (Claire and Caldwell both head into the leaders' office to talk about who knows what with Audrey and Mrs. Morgan), but Fergus finds himself unable to focus on anything but the meeting. The messengers really are fascinating, but even beyond that bit of brilliance he's more focused on 'Saundra', Caldwell's sister and the founder. She'd given her life for the cause, and even though it's not a cause many people even know about it had saved dozens of lives. It's the sort of bravery he himself is supposed to have as a Gryffindor - and yet he's here, cowering under a Vow, putting his own life above the safety of, well, everyone. The world is on the brink of war, and considering how absolutely devastating the last world war proved to be, who knows how bad the next one could get?

But what can he do? He can't exactly tell anyone about his situation - that's the number one rule. But... thinking about telling doesn't seem to be triggering death. Maybe there's a loophole?

He's not sure why he's thinking this way, considering it's probably completely hopeless and he'd long ago resigned himself to living like this for the rest of his natural life, but he finds himself playing through several scenarios in his mind to try and see if there's a way to clue the leaders in to what's going on. Maybe if he can manage that, all those lives lost in the last war won't have been sacrificed in vain. And maybe he'll be able to look at himself without feeling sick for the first time in years.

He's... not really optimistic though, and his plans are half-hearted and thrown out rather easily, up until Landon walks over and drops into the empty seat next to Fergus (when had Alex left? Oh well, it's not really important, he supposes).

"Hey, can I vent?" The young man asks, and right, Fergus has made himself the unofficial therapist for the Initiative as part of his backstabbing. So he nods despite the already-present pit in his stomach yawning wider. Landon smiles tiredly. "I've been thinking about what the leaders said earlier, about what they did. And it just... they did so much and saved so many people and it feels like now if we fail all of that was for nothing."

Fergus exhales shakily. "I know what you mean." He offers quietly, and Landon gives him a tired, hollow smile.

"It's scary sometimes, sitting in on Parliament. Some of the vitriol and hatred in there... it's like they don't realize that dehumanizing an entire group of people able to conjure literal fireballs won't end well for anyone. Magic will declare a war thinking it can win, and then the nukes will be deployed and that will be it. No more humanity." He shudders. "I never thought we'd get to this point, honestly, but now I'm not sure we can avoid it. I have no idea what Yurina is thinking, riling things up like this."

Something is stuck in Fergus's throat, so he can only nod numbly. Landon thanks him for listening and heads away again, leaving Fergus to his whirling thoughts and sinking guilt. But he's resolute now - he has to find a way to clue someone in to his situation - he can't be part of the group working to end the literal world. But he still doesn't want to die for it.

He ponders over the conundrum with more focus for the next few hours, straight through lunch. It's only when he sees Claire and Caldwell leaving that he gives up on picking a perfect plan and rushes to catch them. He may not have a clear idea of what he's doing, but he does think having all four women present will make it more likely that someone will pick up on the situation and be able to help him spell it out without actually telling them anything. The one loophole he's clearly located is that while he can't tell anyone explicitly what he's up to, he can drop hints for people to work it out on their own.

He's honestly a little ashamed he'd never noticed it before, but the crushing despair he'd been under for so long had obviously been blinding him.

Caldwell and Claire both look at him rather oddly when he requests they stay a moment longer.

"I have something I need to share, but it's rather complicated and I feel it may go better with more people." He explains awkwardly. "It has to do with Nina." 

That gets both their attention, and they follow him back to the leader's office. Audrey raises an eyebrow at his unannounced entrance, but when Caldwell repeats what he'd said she quickly settles back into her seat, eyes boring holes into Fergus and she levels a steady gaze on him.

"What is all this Fergus?" She inquires, and he sighs.

"I can't tell you." He responds honestly. "I'd like to, but I can't." It's the only answer he can give to that question - anything else would be too direct and definitely violate his Vow.

Audrey frowns. "Fergus, we've been friends for a while and I've not known you to be elusive before - you say you have something on Yurina, I'd prefer to not play games."

"I don't think he is." Mrs. Morgan offers, and Caldwell nods thoughtfully as well.

"Fergus, are you under an Unbreakable Vow?" Caldwell asks suddenly, and he blinks and turns to her with a small smile.

"I can't tell you that." He replies, and sees the moment things come together for Audrey and Claire, while Caldwell smiles triumphantly.

"Alright, I'm guessing you can't tell us anything bluntly, so we'll need to work it out through other means. Nice that they left open space for you to say what you can't say."

Fergus can't help grinning, something warm flooding through him as the four women begin to debate which questions might be best to ask him in order to get as much information as they can about his work and what Yurina is up to. It's dimmed slightly when they ultimately decide that they won't be able to get very much so long as the Vow is still in place.

"And we don't want to risk you accidentally breaking it either - you've already risked a lot coming to us at all." Audrey adds.

"I might know someone who can help on that front." Claire offers. "A spell creator - I'll ask him if he could do some work on possible breaking Vows without hurting the parties involved in it. It would probably be a useful spell to make anyway, considering how dangerously easy Unbreakable Vows actually are to make." She observes wryly.

Fergus nods mutely, the warmth returning. He says his farewells to the four women and exits the office feeling - light. His problem isn't solved, and he'll still need to report everything about the Initiative (lucky for him he's not required to report anything about himself or his own movements), but for the first time in a long time, he thinks he feels hope.

Author's Note: :D :D :D :D :D :D :D How's that for some good news?? I'm sure things are only looking up from here ^^ (ignore the leak, I'm sure it's fine!)