Petra has pretty much gone back to full-time Social Media monitoring alongside Miles by the end of April, so she's more than happy to comply when Mrs. Morgan pulls her away one morning and requests she go back to the Archives for at least the day, if not longer. Her one reservation is the person she's been partnered with for this newest Archive assignment: Alex Zhang.

She can't say she dislikes Alex, necessarily - she mostly just doesn't know him well at all, and what she does know isn't exactly flattering to her new partner. Still, she does know he's apparently actually been trying to be helpful recently, and his latest idea is actually a pretty good one. Finding evidence of magic helping Muggles is an idea that she's pretty sure has been toyed with in the past, but because those witches and wizards would be skirting the edges of the Statute the chance of there being actual records of their movements is next to nothing. Still, it's better than actually doing nothing, so here Petra is, standing in the lift with Alex Zhang and having absolutely no idea what to say to him.

He doesn't seem inclined towards conversation either, so they remain in tense, awkward silence as they descend to the Archive level. Once they arrive Petra quickly hurries forward, happy to be back in her element.

Archive Head Taylor is the one at the desk today, and Petra smiles brightly.

"Good morning Ms. Taylor. How are things today?" She asks.

The woman raises a single, unimpressed eyebrow. "What do you need Ms. Clark?" She asks pointedly, but Petra's grin doesn't falter. Ms. Taylor is always brusque, but Petra has learned in her time in the Archives that the woman is just naturally sharp - Ms. Taylor is actually always ready to help if she's needed, even if it doesn't seem like she's happy about it.

Petra looks back at Alex. "Did you want to explain? It's your idea after all, and I imagine there may be more detail to it than the one-sentence summary I got a few minutes ago." She offers, and he nods and moves to stand next to her (which is incredibly intimidating - the teenager towers over Petra and she ends up taking a few steps back just so she's not in his shadow anymore).

"With everything that's happening right now, I wanted to go back to an older idea that was tossed around last year." He explains. "It's apparently semi-common knowledge that witches and wizards have assisted in Muggle conflicts in the past, and we wanted to try and find evidence of that assistance in order to show Muggles that magic is serious about integrating peacefully. We thought if there is any documentation on it, this would be the place to find it."

Taylor is frowning by the time Alex finishes speaking. "The chances of there being anything is next to nothing." She warns, even as she rises from the desk. "But we're most likely to find rumors and hearsay rather than anything concrete - these witches and wizards would have been literally breaking the law so they wouldn't have wanted their names on Ministry records."

"Sort of like the Underground." Petra muses aloud, and then immediately smacks a hand over . She's been so good about not saying anything to anyone - not even Noah! - about the Underground, which she personally thinks is the coolest thing ever, and here she is blowing it entirely because she wanted to be funny. The leaders are going to kill her and-

She doesn't get to finish the thought as Ms. Taylor barks out a laugh, startling Petra's brain momentarily into silence. "That's right, Python and them told you guys about that, didn't they? I hope you're not being this cavalier with the information in all your social interactions."

It takes a moment, but then Petra remembers - the Archive messengers. Those must be derived from the same spell the Underground used for communication - Ms. Taylor is assuming Petra had already guessed at her involvement with the Underground.

"You were part of it then?" Alex asks, and Ms. Taylor hums.

"It's not hard to work out if you're aware of the UG messengers, which I'm guessing came up in the debrief." She replies. "I use a form of them here in the Archives for ease of communication across the floor, since it would be a huge pain to have to go manually find people like we used to do. It's registered as a sub-set Patronus spell, which to be fair is what they are." She shrugs. "Anyway, none of that is important right now - I'd say your best bet is to start in the World War Two section, since that's the conflict we know for sure magic secretly participated in."

"How do we know that so certianly? Considering you just said there won't be any record of it?" Alex asks rather pointedly as he and Petra begin following the Archive Head into the bowels of the room.

Ms. Taylor doesn't miss a step. "Because there were unsung heroes. People respected those who fought in that war, saw them as legends and idols to be looked up to and emulated. That was the time of Minister Spencer-Moon, who was incredibly pro-Muggle - a lot of the programs we already had in place to help Muggleborns and their families with the transition came during the second half of his tenure."

Petra vaguely recalls something like that from school, but she hadn't realized it had had such a large impact on the magical community at large - big enough, apparently, that breaking the Statute of Secrecy was seen as something impressive rather than terrifying.

Alex seems equally intrigued by the concept, and he asks a few more questions as they walk. Most of it is stuff Petra learned in school, so she tunes out slightly to try and mentally map out what sorts of documents would be the most likely to house clues about the 'unsung heroes' Ms. Taylor had talked about. Maybe medical documents? She knows those are moved from Mungo's into the Ministry Archives once a person has passed away, so it's very likely people from the mid-twentieth century's records would be here by now. Maybe not all of them, but it's a start. There may also be some arrest records considering it was technically illegal to help, but considering what Ms. Taylor is currently saying about Minister Spencer-Moon he wouldn't have done that even if the people were caught breaking the Statute. So those probably won't reveal anything, and can be looked at last only if they can't find anything anywhere else.

What other files could there be? Maybe Auror reports? Things showing that the magical world was actually aware of the Muggle conflict? Though something like that can and will backfire without the additional proof that aid was offered.

They reach the section of files (put away in cabinets instead of on shelves like some of the other older reports are, much to Petra's relief - refiling shelved scrolls is far more difficult that she thinks it really has any right to be) and Ms. Taylor leaves them to it. Petra is sad to see her go - aside from Ms. Taylor being a great research companion, she really doesn't want to be left alone with Alex again.

She glances over at the teen - who's looking around at the towering shelves, ever so slightly overwhelmed - and takes a deep breath. Right, she's the Archive expert here, so she should take charge, regardless of how nervous she is around her coworker. Clearing gets Alex's attention, and she quickly starts talking before her nerves can clog up her vocal chords and leave them both just starting awkwardly at each other.

"So it's generally best to go at this somewhat systematically, that way we can hit every file without accidentally looking at the same one twice or missing anything." She offers, somewhat nervously despite herself. "Each cabinet has a number, so I usually split things even/odd when there are only two people working - does that sound good?"

Alex nods. "I'll take odd." He offers, looking up at the cabinets. "How do I reach the upper areas though?"

Petra blinks, and immediately turns red. "Oh, uh, I usually... use magic..." She mumbles, flinching preemptively in preparation for whatever scathing comment against all magical people Alex is going to give in response to that.

But it never comes. "Oh yeah, that would make sense. Maybe we should split it top to bottom then, instead of by number. Unless there are ladders present?"

Petra blinks at him, and then nods. "Actually, there are some in the older sections. I can summon one here and we can see if it's high enough?"

"Sounds like a plan." Alex does sounds like he's carefully controlling his tone, but seeing as he hasn't blown up at Petra yet this entire partnership is already going much better than she'd expected it to.

The ladder ends up allowing Alex to reach the highest shelves (thanks in no small part to his ridiculous height) so they do end up splitting things into evens and odds, and they both get to work. It's quiet, which Petra isn't unfamiliar with in the Archives, but it's strange when there is another person in the room. Even Edward had been chattier, and he'd obviously been a bit distracted when he was down here with Petra a month ago.

Still, Petra isn't going to push her luck. While Alex obviously does actually want to help out, she doesn't trust that his temper or whatever it was that made him so angry at the beginning of the Initiative isn't still simmering just under the surface, waiting for Petra to do something stupid to set it off. Heck, her earlier magic comment may well have been it, and now if she says anything Alex will stop holding it back.

So she stays quiet and reads through the files in the even cabinets, desperately hoping to find something to help the Initiative out. But as warned, nothing comes to light - it's all dry meeting notes and poorly-written Auror reports. The only semi-interesting thing is the fact that there seems to have been less work for the Aurors during the early years of the Second World War, but that fact is irrelevant to their search so far as Petra can tell for now. She does make a note of it in case something comes up later to counteract that assumption, but she's not exactly optimistic about it.

Alex apparently doesn't find anything either, as he continues to work in complete silence for the entire day, only speaking when an Archive messenger informs them that it's closing time.

"Should we just meet down here tomorrow?" He asks, and Petra blinks. She of course had known she'd be back, but somehow it hadn't quite clicked in her mind that Alex would be too. Which means she really needs to learn how to talk to him, because she can't do today again.

"Um yeah, that should be fine. I'll report to the leaders and tell them, so you can just head home if you like." She offers, and he nods once and turns to leave, only to hesitate, and Petra remembers how confused she'd been the first time she tried to leave the Archives. They're actually very logically laid out, but they aren't intuitive unless you're already very familiar with their layout.

"Here, follow me. It takes a couple trips to get used to moving around down here." She offers, giving him a smile she hopes doesn't give away how scared she is of implicitly implying he can't do this on his own.

But he returns the smile with a somewhat tense one of his own. "Yeah, that would be good. It's a maze down here."

They walk in silence, and take the lift in silence, and Petra has never been so glad to be alone in an elevator as she is when Alex gets off at the Atrium level and she continues up to the seventh floor. The Initiative offices are quiet, but there's at least the sounds of scratching quills, rustling papers, and a general air of focus that feels far less oppressive than the awkward tension between herself and Alex.

She spots Noah still at his desk on the Hunter's side of the room, and she waves to him as she heads for the leaders' office. Maybe they can head out together after this - she actually can think of a few questions she'd like to ask him in relation to this newest task.

Only Mrs. Weasley is present when Petra knocks, and she doesn't look up from her work when she calls the younger woman in.

"I just wanted to report that we didn't find anything today, but with permission Alex and I would like to continue in the Archives tomorrow."

Mrs. Weasley nods distractedly. "Of course, granted." She replies. "Take as many days as you need - Miles and Veena have the social media covered for now, so you're most valuable in the Archives at the moment."

Petra voices her thanks but isn't sure if it's actually heard or not - the leader is obviously very focused, so Petra quickly excuses herself so as to not be a distraction. She heads straight over to Noah, who's starting to pack up his things.

"Hey, you want to head out together?" She asks him. "I have leftovers in my fridge too, if you want to come over."

He blushes slightly, and so does she, but he nods. "That sounds amazing - I need to go grocery shopping, there is no food in my flat."

"Well that sounds like a time-management problem to me." She teases lightly. The lift ride back down to the Atrium is far more enjoyable than the one she'd taken up, and the two of them Apparate separately to her flat, where Noah makes himself comfortable as she tosses two plates of her leftover spaghetti into the microwave. once they're ready she joins him on the couch, handing him his bowl. "So full disclosure, I actually lured you here under somewhat false pretenses."

"Hey, I got pasta out of it so you won't hear me complaining." Noah jokes. "What's up?"

Petra explains the new angle that they're pursuing. "I was wondering if you could put feelers out to our allies? See if they can look for similar proofs? I doubt it was only the British magical world that got secretly involved in the world wars, and the more evidence we have the better - especially if it's from diverse places."

Noah hums, swallowing a mouthful before responding. "Yeah, I can do that for you. I can't promise anything will come from it, but-"

Petra cuts him off with a tight hug. "That's fine, I just need you to try." She beams, and he smiles back. They spend the rest of the evening watching cartoons and resolutely ignoring work - they've earned a break.

Landon is really hoping that Petra and Alex can pull off a miracle in the Archives, because things are not looking good in Parliament. He and Edward did manage to put together a lobby tactic that's holding up half-decently in the short-term, but it's a bandaid over a massive gash - they're going to need something more robust sooner rather than later if they want to keep the MPs wavering on the anti-magic laws put up for debate every session.

Edward hasn't stuck around, or put his name to any of Landon's lobbying efforts due to his position as a special agent preventing him from being too publicly recognizable, but he had pointed out two things that now serve as cornerstones to Landon's tactics: the upcoming British elections, and Brexit. To put the nation to war, especially if they're the first to make a move, won't look good to their constituents, and if they do instigate a conflict then they will almost definitely have to ally with the EU, which in turn could severely damage Brexit chances should the public see the alliance as England being unable to manage without EU support.

These points have been brought up during the debates multiple times, and each time they're put forth there are stronger arguments against them - if a war is started, the public will need the leadership of those most familiar with the details of the conflict, and England won't be helped by the EU, but instead be helping the EU, which really makes them look stronger.

They're idiotic counters, but Landon has long ago concluded that a majority of politicians are, in fact, idiotic. At the very least the ones currently in power must be, considering the terrible decisions made around the world in only the past year.

The only bright spot in any of this is that his attempts to mend things with Rose are actually going well. Suspiciously so, really, but he doesn't want to question the one bit of good luck he's having at the moment, so he just embraces having his old partner back and leaves it at that. The two of them are still working separately for the most part - Landon focuses on the Muggle end of things while Rose is working hard on the magical end - but now they meet with each other in order to give updates on their situations and offer suggestions on how to tackle the bigger problems, and even that bit of contact has relieved a lot of Landon's stress.

Not that Rose is doing any better - she's been seeing the Council in weekly meetings to keep them appraised of the situation and to continue trying to explain why implementing pro-Muggle laws  now and not later is the best option, and as she'd informed him the week before she's at the end of her rope with them.

Now she's sitting across from him, tongue half out as she scrawls out a letter to be sent to the holder of the British Seat on the International Confederation of Wizards, one Rajani Misra. Rose is writing the letter since she's had more past contact with the woman, but Landon had helped dictate large portions of it when they'd first decided that talking to Ms. Misra is probably the most logical next step as they continue their scramble to, essentially, stop a world war. Knowing what the Confederation is saying will determine which way the magical world is generally leaning on the issue - for as overbearing and arrogant as the Wizengamot Council is, they're only one political body in the grand scheme of things.

Rose intends to tell them as much as soon as she's able to do so without getting in trouble and probably starting a global conflict that ends all human life. For now she forces herself to bite her tongue and just appreciates that she has Landon back to complain to. She's still terrified she's going to screw this second chance up, so she's doing her best to be efficient and proactive in her work, so as to not drive Landon away again. She'd known of course that she missed him, but she hadn't realized quite how much until they started talking regularly again.

"There, I think that's everything." She declares, finishing the letter and passing it over to Landon. "I changed some of your wording so it sounds more like me, if that's alright."

"Of course." He replies after a moment, distracted as he reads through the letter. Personally Rose thinks it's great, but seeing as she's requesting for both of them to meet with Raj it's only fair Landon know what she's saying to the woman.

After a moment, he nods. "This looks good." He affirms. "We'll send it off now and hopefully will hear back in the next few days."

"Should be sometime tomorrow, Ms. Misra is really good about quick responses, especially to important requests like this one." Rose says confidently, and Landon laughs.

"Thinking rather highly of yourself there, aren't you?" He teases, and for a moment Rose freezes. Should she joke back? Or would that be too arrogant? She ends up just laughing and hoping Landon didn't notice the moment of hesitation.

"Seriously though, she told me that anything from the Initiative will have top priority for her last time we talked, so we'll hear back soon." Rose insists on the way up the lift to the very top floor of the Ministry, where the owlrey and the only real window in the entire underground building are located. The man at the front desk looks half asleep and waves them through the moment they identify themselves as part of the Initiative, not even asking why they're there or what they need.

I know I don't like doing much, but that's lazy even by my standards. Rose thinks, and considers saying it to Landon, to see if he'll find it as funny as she does.

She ends up deciding against it - she doesn't know if they're far enough away from the fight to joke about it. Doesn't know if they'll ever be far enough away for her to be allowed to treat it so trivially.

Landon has noticed how careful Rose is being with her words these days, and he can honestly understand the impulse - he does it too, though in different situations and for different reasons. Honestly he's not sure how to feel about the fact that the usually so loud and sharp-tongued Rose is watching that tongue around him. He watches his words for fear someone will overhear him and cause another scandal like the leak about the fight - she watches her words for fear of him. It's a powerful thing, and he absolutely hates it, but he doesn't know where to begin in bringing it up.

He wants the old Rose back, but the old Rose is why they started fighting in the first place. It's confusing, and moments like these only make it worse, but he pushes past it and lets her think he doesn't notice.

He wonders if maybe he's a bit scared of her, too.

They send the letter without any fuss and then head back home - they always meet at the end of the work day, so it's nearly seven o'clock at night and after a day full of dealing with politicians neither one of them wants to stay at work any longer than necessary. Landon passes out almost as soon as his head hits the pillow that night, and then it's up again at eight to get ready for another grueling day. At least today he has Councilwoman Misra's response to possibly look forward to to get him through a day of lobbying.

He doesn't bother going to the Ministry at all, instead heading straight for Westminster Palace as soon as he's done with breakfast. A few familiar faces are already milling about, and Landon greets them politely when they wave, though he doesn't stop to chat. Even if the early bird lobbyists usually aren't the super rich ones buying the HPs to do their bidding, Landon still feels slimy associating with lobbyists of any kind, and he's really looking forward to when he doesn't have to do this any more. For now he sets up in front of the Parliament doors and waits for his targets for today to arrive.

He keeps a list of people who seem most on the fence about magic restrictions and focuses on swaying them to the side of integration over suspicion rather than trying to debate anything with the bigots who have already made up their minds. The list is rather long, and unfortunately he doesn't have much help within Parliament itself - its members are either undecided or against integration, with only a few actually advocating for peaceful coexistence and cooperation.

The entire thing is disheartening and exhausting, but Landon refuses to give up. At least his afternoon is spent mostly just sitting and watching the Parliamentary debate, unlike poor Rose who has to actively talk to people all day, working her silver tongue to try and sway all their allies to the side of cooperation, including the ones who have already made up their minds and are, Landon imagines, completely insufferable to speak with. He definitely appreciates that in some ways, his work is easier than Rose's.

In the Wizengamot observation balcony, Rose is having a similar thought. She's taking notes on a general meeting of the wizengamot members, and she's thinking how much harder (and more boring) it would be if she didn't already have a basic grasp on the laws being debated - Landon has to learn an entirely new system with the Muggle Parliament in order to make heads or tails of their conversations. Rose is pretty sure she would have quit months ago if she had to not only deal with politics, but deal with an entirely unique political system on top of that. She doens't envy Landon at all.

The meeting that she's watching only goes about twenty minutes, which is standard, at which point Rose hops up and quickly grabs everyone's attention before they can start leaving for... well, wherever Wizengamot members go when they're not in session.

"Hello everyone! Apologies for keeping you a bit longer today." She says brightly. "For those of you who haven't yet been pestered by me, I'm Rose Evans, with the Muggle Integration Initiative. If you all have an extra moment to spare, I'd like to make a few proposals for you to think through that may help our integration efforts to go smoothly and peacefully in the future!"

Most of the Wizengamot's shuffling ceases, and Rose beams. Bless whatever genetics gave her the ability to be the loudest person in a room with or without a voice projection spell.

"Thanks! I promise this will be quick." She says, and then launches into a few simple proposals of laws which would improve the ease of integration which she'd been developing over the past few weeks with help from Aruna and the specialists. The proposal she thinks will be easiest to swallow she shares last, that way everyone will leave feeling more optimistic and sympathetic to her cause than they would if she ended with one of the more demanding suggestions.

"Alright, I only have one last thing for you to think on and then I'll leave you to get on with your lives!" She jokes brightly. She's learned in her months with the Minister that the Wizengamot actually rather enjoys humor, so long as presentations themselves are strictly formal and follow all Wizengamot guidelines. She gets a few chuckles from the crowd, and she preens internally. She definitely has managed to get them on her side, so this final idea will almost definitely be implemented the next time magical laws are brought up for debate.

"As I mentioned before, there's been a lot of interest from Muggles towards learning more about the magical world, and I suggest that we should open places like Diagon Alley and certain wizarding neighborhoods - provided, of course, that residents are comfortable with it - to Muggle London on a permanent basis. It's still rather difficult for Muggles to visit magical shops, and I've seen how actually interacting with magic does wonders for Muggle interest in integration and tolerance in general. It would also bring in a whole rush of brand new customers for the Alley stores and restaurants!" She grins, "And a boost in the economy certainly doesn't hurt!"

She wraps things up and chats one-on-one with a few of the Wizengamot members, some who she knows personally from her work and others who are curious about some of her proposals. She lingers in the room for nearly an hour before excusing herself to get to her next appointment.

Landon is thankful when his morning wraps up and he grabs a quick lunch at one of the local food trucks, which aren't exactly good, but they're edible, affordable, and fast, which are honestly the most important things for him when he's on the clock. He wolfs down the mediocre cheesesteak he'd ordered, magically washes his hands (and one spot on his shirt) of the sticky residue of the sandwich, and heads inside Westminster Palace to sit and watch the day's session. He surrenders his wand as usual and heads for the viewing booth, quill and notebook already pulled out and ready to jot down any and all new developments that arise in relation to the magic integration situation (as it's often refered to on the floor). Sessions can last for anywhere from a few hours to the entire afternoon, so he double-checks that he has his Wideye Potion ready in his bag in case things drag on over topics he doesn't care about.

And drag they do, not that Landon is surprised. He takes note on a couple things that sound like they may be relevant, which he can check on with Aruna when he has time. The lawyer has actually opened up more recently - she still stays closed up in her office all day, but she's never turned down a request for help, which is great because Landon goes to her for a lot these days. Muggle politics are jut similar enough to magical ones that he can bumble his way through most of it, but it's sometimes like the uncanny valley - things feel like they should make sense, but he ends up being completely cluess on them nonetheless.

By some miracle they do finish just before sundown, so Landon packs up and heads to the Ministry for his daily meeting with Rose to see if she's had any more success than he has. The answer generally is a big, fat, 'no', but today there might at least be a letter to accompany that, which is a nice switch up.

Sure enough, Rose is at their desks when he reaches the seventh floor, and the moment she sees him she triumphantly hoists a letter into the air.

"She'll be here tomorrow, two pm." She announces once Landon is in earshot. "I told you Ms. Misra would be prompt. This arrived just before lunch today."

Landon hums, thinking over what he'll need to adjust on his schedule to make the meeting, and then deciding that skipping the Parliamentary debate for one day won't be the end of the world. Maybe they'll even be able to go home at a reasonable time for once if he does.

"Sounds good, I'll make sure to be here by one thirty. Is there anything you want to tell her while we have her ear?"

Rose gives a half shrug. "Not really - I probably won't be seeing any movement in anything on my end until next week at the absolute earliest - unless some horrible thing happens that throws everything into chaos all over again, of course."

"Don't jinx it." Landon groans. "Now something horrible is going to happen, just you wait."

"Good, then at least we know it's coming this time!" Rose groans, and after a moment both of them laugh the sort of laughter that only comes from absolute exhaustion and existential dread. "Oh, and I might be late tomorrow - it's Council day so." She makes a face. "If Ms. Misra arrives before me just tell her I'll be along and you can get started."

Rose does end up being late, and she takes the lift up to the seventh floor muttering curses under her breath. She hates Council day - it's never productive and always leaves her in a miserable mood.

Though she supposes it might be good that it landed today this week, given she now gets to see Ms. Misra who is, in her opinion, the most badass lady to ever badass in the history of the magical world. Except for maybe Diana, but honestly if Misra wasn't so much older than Rose she would probably have a crush on Misra too. She definitely has a type.

The woman in question is sitting in her chair when Rose reaches the seventh floor, chatting with Landon who looks utterly engrossed. Which is completely fair, and Rose is already feeling some spring return to her step with only the visual contact. Yeah, today was definitely a good day to see the Council - she'll be back in form and in a great mood in no time. Normally she's stuck wallowing in bitterness for the entire afternoon on Council days.

Landon spots her first, since he's facing the lift, and he waves her over with a grin. "There you are. I figured you wouldn't be too much longer, so we haven't started discussing anything relevant just yet." He tells her.

Ms. Misra tilts her head in greeting, not moving from Rose's seat - not that Rose minds. She pulls up a different chair and scoots it up to the desks, leaning forward on her elbows once she's close enough to reach.

"So I'd ask what I missed but it sounds like it was nothing." She declares.

Ms Misra nods. "Your associate said waiting for you would be the best option, and as this is my final task for the day I didn't mind. You two say you want to know about how things are in the Confederation? What they're saying about integration and cooperation?"

Her tone alone already tells Rose that the answer to those questions aren't going to be the ones they want to hear.

"Yes?" She replies after a moment, when it's clear the questions weren't actually rhetorical.

Ms. Misra sighs. "It's not good." She starts bluntly. "The Supreme Mugwump, His ness himself, has said, and I quote, 'if the Muggles wish to cause problems then we will not sit idly by and allow them free run of the world'. Which is stupid since really, they already had that. We're asking for them to share now that we're done cowering in the shadows." She sighs heavily. "So yeah, sorry I can't give you better news, but the facts are the facts. You won't be getting much help from the higher political powers in the magical world."

"Great." Landon grumbles. "We're not getting help from the lower political powers anywhere either."

Ms. Misra ends up sticking around, offering her two cents on Rose and Landon's reports from the day and actually providing some insights that Rose knows she'll be using in the future as they keep working through the political heap.

"Alright, I should get going. I'm crashing with my nephew and he's probably wondering where the heck I am." Ms. Misra states a little after five, standing and stretching as she does. "I told him I'd be back two hours ago and he tends to fret. Best of luck you two, and I'm sure I'll see you again soon Rose."

Rose waves, and she and Landon end up packing up their things not long after. It's a bit odd to be heading home when the sun is still out, but Rose certainly won't complain about that.

That evening she pops on the news, as she does every day now, to see if anything drastic has happened around the world that she should be aware of when planning who to bother tomorrow. She leaves the radio on as background noise as the announcers discuss sports scores and other Muggle things Rose doesn't care too much about. It's only when they reach their "magic talk" section that Rose turns up the volume and properly tunes in.

"Now for today's report on magic! As I'm sure most people are aware of by now, Ms. Nina Yamaa gave a public address today that really shows how difficult she's had it trying to bring the worlds together in the past."

Rose feels her blood run cold. Apparently she really had tempted fate - Landon is going to be pissed.

In his own flat, Landon swears at the television. He'd told Rose that saying things wouldn't go horribly wrong would inevitably lead to disaster! He turns up the television and plops himself in front of it.

Behind him, Celine steps out of the kitchen, frowning. "This is going to ruin date night, isn't it?" She sighs, and he looks at her.

"You knew about this?"

"Everyone kind of did? I was hoping for a nice evening without work talk for once." She sighs as the screen switches to the interview with Yurina. "You really don't want to hear it - it's... not good."

Landon turns up the volume.

Onscreen Yurina is smiling warmly, and if he didn't know what horrors hid behind that smile Landon would honestly be falling for it too - Yurina has the kind of face society has trained everyone to trust - warm, slightly wrinkled, and pretty. Very, very pretty.

"We're so pleased to have you on our show Ms. Yamaa! It really is an honor to host the Great Mediator on our little program."

Celine snorts. "Please, the Today Show ain't little." She mutters, but turns and goes back into the kitchen when Landon shoot her a look. Now is really not the time for jokes.

"It's an honor to be invited! And please, just call me Nina." Yurina says, tone matching her smile, and Landon can practically see the interviewer melting into putty for Yurina to mold however she pleases. It's a bit sickening. "I actually wanted to talk about something new today, something I've been a bit... uncertain about sharing, if I'm honest. I don't want to make anyone look bad! But... I also don't want to keep secrets from everyone - we all want peaceful coexistence, after all!"

"You want world domination, that's entirely different." Landon hisses at the screen bitterly.

"Of course, of course! We know you're doing your best to make sure both sides come out as unscathed as possible in all this." The host says soothingly, and Landon rolls his eyes and sits back on the couch.

There's a bit more back-and-forth, standard niceties mixed with Yurina hyping up her own sweet, innocent image. Then, finally, they get to the point.

"As I think most people know by now, there was a war in England about twenty years ago, between the Order of the Phoenix and the Deatheaters. And... well, the conflict hasn't really been portrayed very accurately." She says, almost shyly, and Landon freezes. Where the heck is she going with this? The conflict coverage has been aggressively accurate. Too accurate, really. He knows plenty of Muggle politicians who point at it as the reason to assume the magical world is unstable and dangerous, and he knows from Rose that many magical politicians dislike how much information about an ugly time in their past is being released to the public.

"For one thing, only half the story is being told - the half the Ministry wants you all to hear. And it makes sense, they won, you know?" She shifts uncertainly in her seat, the picture of a reluctant whistleblower doing the right thing but scared of the consequences. "History is written by the victors. But... all those horrors they keep showing, blaming the Deatheaters for? That was the Ministry. It was mandated by the Minister for Magic and upheld by Ministry workers, some of whom are still employed there today." She shakes her head, leaning back. "I was there, in England. During the war. It was..." She trails off again, closing her eyes, and him but she's good. If he didn't know she was lying through her teeth, he'd feel bad for her.

"It was terrible. People forced to the extremes of action, trying to defend their ways of life. And I mean, I understand why everyone was afraid of the Deatheaters. They definitely didn't pick their name well." She laughs, shaky, like she's attempting to stay upbeat despite her bone-deep exhaustion, and Landon hisses through his teeth as the interviewer reaches out to place a hand on Yurina's shoulder. The smiles.

"I'm okay, I am. It was a long time ago." And... Landon frowns. Maybe that sadness is less painted on than the rest of her bull - something about that phrase feels more genuine than anything else that's come out of so far.

He supposes that even if she was evil, she had lost allies twenty years ago. Maybe even some friends. Even genocidal maniacs can mourn - they're humans too, after all.

On the screen Yurina clears . "Sorry, back to the point. Deatheaters wanted integration. Twenty years ago they wanted to reveal magic and start this process, but the magical world resisted fiercely. So their leader Voldemort - sounds like a fungal remover, doesn't it? Seriously, terrible at naming things - decided to try again, but this time by working through the Ministry instead of via revolution."

The mix of raw emotion and (genuinely funny, Landon hates to admit) humor is working wonders on the interviewer, who is watching Yurina speak entirely enraptured.

"Everything the Ministry did in the second wizarding war was done in a power struggle between what the Ministry wanted and what the Deatheaters wanted. And people - innocent people - got caught in the crossfire of these two forces, as is so often what happens. But we all know about war conceptually, even if we haven't lived it. You all already know that." She shakes her head. "No, the problem came afterwards. Ever notice all they ever say is that they rounded everyone up? All the scary Deatheaters are off the streets now. Isn't it convenient that they threw every person who supported being open with the Muggle world into jail? It's why I left. I didn't like how some things were handled, but I believed in the heart of the cause, that magic and non-magic shouldn't be divided the way they have been. And I was afraid. So I ran. I came here. And now we're finally getting that integration, but the people who first wanted it are still being slandered." She shakes her head. "I understand fear. Fear for survival. More relevantly here fear of being wrong. But if that fear remains then things won't be able to move forward at all." She pauses, her lips. "So I had to say something. And thank you again for letting me come here and share my story."

The interviewer blinks, then apparently remembers where she is and quickly sits up and grabs her microphone again. Landon wonders if Yurina had cast some sort of wordless, wandless spell to make the woman more susceptible - not that he thinks she would have needed to, unfortunately.

The television clicks off, and he blinks and looks up at Celine, who looks pained.

"Not good." She repeats her earlier comment, and Landon sighs heavily.

"That's one way to put it. This is definitely not good at all."

Author's Note: Not good - dang your jinxing it Rose >~< And um, in even worse news, I'm actually taking a one-week hiatus from updating this week ^^'' I literally didn't realize this was the chapter I was pausing on until editing tonight! But I've had a rough few weeks IRL and thought I've been trying to keep up I've fallen pretty far behind in my buffering (as well as my work for TLA). So I'm going to be taking this week off to breath and actually catch up with my writing, at which point we'll be right back into double updates! So I'll see you all next Wednesday with what I believe is the longest chapter of UFF so far? Hopefully it will be worth the wait!