Mrs. Weasley doesn't change the Minister's mind. When Landon returned from lunch with Rose - still steaming but biting his tongue since he knew Rose was just as upset as he was - the entire Initiative was called for a meeting in which they were all informed that they were being put on a two-week hiatus, pending further discussion. Even having expected the announcement, it was still a blow, and a few of the other members attempted to argue against it. However, Mrs. Weasley remained firm (Mrs. Morgan, Landon had noticed, seemed a lot less certain than her co-leader on the matter).

So now Landon essentially has two weeks of paid leave (and thank goodness for the 'paid' part) and no clue what to do with them. He had already been struggling to keep Parliament on the fence about magical sanctions - without him there to keep pushing he's pretty sure they're going to fall over the edge and start down the path to war. But he also knows if he shows up at Westminster Palace during these two weeks he'll be fired immediately. Mrs. Weasley said to think of it as a vacation, but shockingly doing nothing is proving a lot more stressful than trying to sweet-talk politicians ever was.

So he does what he always does these days when he's stressed - he calls Celine. He'd bought himself a cellphone a few months back when he realized how much it would help with contacting her and with understanding some of Muggle culture. Also the Internet connection means he can keep up to date on whatever nonsense the extreme sides of the web are getting up to before getting in to work, which is... maybe not a benefit, but certainly a thing that can be useful at times. More importantly he can use it to keep in contact with his friends back home in the States, a feature that he's pretty much been abusing ever since he got the cell.

"Hello? I'm at work right now so if this isn't an emergency I can't talk long." Celine answers the call after about twelve rings, sounding tired and apprehensive, which is totally fair - if anyone had seen Landon's name on her screen it could damage her credibility as the primary Telegraph correspondent working on the Initiative. Landon should have thought of that and just sent her a text or something, but it's too late now.

"Right, sorry about that." He winces. "I um, am not at work. As you probably know." He says awkwardly. "I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch at my place? Maybe around one or so?"

There's a pause on the other end of the line, and it's silent enough that Landon figures she muted him and must be conversing with someone on the other end. Which honestly makes him feel worse, if he's honest, since he's obviously interrupting something important with his thoughtless phone call.

After what feels like forever but is really less than a minute, Celine returns to the call.

"I can do one. I'll see you then?" She asks, and Landon can't help the rush of relief that spills through him at that. He didn't screw up too badly, then.

"Yeah, awesome. See you then." He agrees, and she hangs up a moment later, obviously needing to get back to work.

Landon has about three hours until the decided on lunch hour and he uses it to check what he has in the kitchen. If Celine is taking the time to come see him, the least he can do is make her something nice to eat. He deems the food he currently has as not good enough and rifles through the cookbook his father had given him before he left the US, looking for something that seems appropriate. Once he's picked it out, he jots down the ingredients he needs and hurries out to the market to stock up so he'll have at least an hour to actually make the meal - it's a simple dish, but Landon would rather it be finished early rather than late - he can put warming charms on it to keep it fresh, but he can't get back any of Celine's time if she has to wait for the meal.

He ends up getting back home with time to spare, and he gets straight to work making lunch. He sets most of the tasks to do themselves while he supervises, checking the cookbook every few minutes to ensure every step is being done correctly. Some people he knows can just charm things to start cooking and then walk off while the food makes itself, but Landon has never been the best at these sorts of household spells so he always has to keep an eye on things lest the kitchen get burned down.

Luckily nothing goes wrong, and he makes two plates and sets them under warming charms about fifteen minutes before Celine is supposed to arrive, at which point he sits at the table and fidgets. He hates having nothing to do, but more importantly he hates that he doesn't know what's happening. Though now that he's stopped to think, what exactly is Celine doing with the Initiative on hiatus? She can't exactly cover them right now considering they aren't doing anything - they even cancelled the monthly update meeting and just posted a notice on their social media to explain the short break.

So then why did she seem busy when he'd called? He frowns and decides to ask her about it (along with everything else he wants to talk to her about).

She arrives five minutes early and he pulls out her chair for her which earns him a laugh.

"Wow, what a gentleman. Cooking and everything." She teases. "So what exactly are you trying to bribe out of me with all this?" She asks playfully, and Landon is glad to see that she's in a good mood despite his probably having overstepped boundaries with the phone call.

"I'm insulted you'd think so lowly of me." He teases back. "Can I not just do something nice for a lovely young lady?"

Celine snorts. "Come off it Landon, we both know you asked me here for a reason, not that I'm opposed to being fed for my trouble. So what's going on? I know the Initiative is on break right now so does it have anything to do with that?"

Landon chuckles and gives in, taking the seat across from Celine before speaking. "Alright, fair enough. I was hoping you'd know something about what's going on with Parliament now that I'm not there mitigating their magic-related idiocy."

Celine sighs, taking a bite of lunch and swallowing before answering him. "I'm not on the political beat, Landon, I'm as aware of the situation there as you are." She says apologetically. "Since the Initiative is on hiatus I've been bumped to assistant editor for whoever needs it until you all are back or until I come up with my own story to pursue. So I'm afraid I can't be of any help to you here."

Landon frowns. Well that's unfortunate. "You aren't friends with the person running that story by any chance?" He asks, and she pins him with a  highly unamused look. He quickly puts his hands up in defense. "Or not, okay, that's fine, sorry for pushing. I'm just... restless. And worried." He admits.

Celine swallows another bite. "Well if nothing else you could become a cook - this is really quite good." She offers with a grin, and he chuckles tiredly.

"Merlin no, this was stressful enough." He says immediately. "I just hope this hiatus doesn't extend longer than two weeks - I think I'll go insane if it does."

Celine hums agreement. "I miss having my own story to follow." She replies tiredly. "The office is frightfully boring if you actually have to talk to the other reporters."

Landon gives a more honest laugh at that. "I have to admit, that's one issue the Initiative never had - there's always someone to talk to." He acknowledges, and Celine smiles.

"I noticed. Between Miles and Rose the energy was never too low." She winces slightly. "Oh, um, I don't know if you and Rose are...?" She trails off slightly, and Landon offers a softer smile.

"We're... getting there, I think." He allows after a moment. "She's still uncertain and I still definitely am prone to getting annoyed with her rather than giving her the benefit of the doubt, but we're both working on it. We're better, at least."

Celine smiles. "Well I'm glad to hear it - you two got on so well at the start, it was sad when you had that falling out."

Landon shrugs, not bothering to give a verbal reply. He may have been the one to formally push for them to try patching things up, but he still has issues with Rose that he doubts are going to go away any time soon. But at the same time... he's not sorry that he pushed her to stay either. She's a good partner, provided she's actually focused, and lately she's been working hard to make sure she is so really Landon can't complain. The lingering annoyance is just that: lingering. She's doing everything right lately, so if anything he feels a bit bad that he still gets frustrated with her over things that really are out of her control.

Still, he can't help wondering if there really wasn't anything more she could have done to convince the Minister the hiatus was entirely unnecessary and actually probably damanging. He always quickly dismisses such thoughts, but they linger in the back of his mind all the same.

So he distracts himself by asking Celine about her work. "Any interesting stories you've gotten to help with?" He asks, and she rolls her eyes.

"Not even close. I'm stuck with gossip, mostly, because those are the idiots who need the most editing done, and there's nothing of value in those columns, just endless speculating about the royals and other celebrities' personal lives as if they're undeserving of basic privacy." She rolls her eyes. "Honestly, it's not even interesting. If you're going to blather on about someone, at least pick someone with an interesting story to tell, I'd think." She shighs and shakes her head, then gives Landon a bemused look when he can't help but laugh at her annoyance. "Don't start with me or I'll write a tell-all on you Mr. Colvin." She threatens, mostly playfully, as he continues to chuckle.

"Sorry, sorry." He offers sheepishly. "You have a point though - if you're going to tell stories, you ought to make them interesting - and make sure people want them told too, I'd think."

Celine hums. "Try telling that to gossip. And people eat it up, too - they want the drama, real or not."

Landon chuckles. "Then they probably wouldn't care much for a tell-all on me - my life was basically school, work, and a perfectly functional home life. The weirdest thing I guess would be that I had zero contact with the No Maj world until I was eleven and met a kid with two No Maj parents at Ilvermorny."

But Celine doesn't laugh. Instead she watching him intently, and he can tell her mind is flying at a mile a minute. He sits back and silently lets her work, finishing off his plate as he does. He's about to start clearing the table when she finally blinks and gives him a massive grin, bright enough that his cheeks begin to heat up.

"Landon that's it!" She says excitedly. "I'll tell your stories - the stories of everyday people in the magical world! Veena was starting something like that with the blogs, but I can reach a wider audience, and most people are more honest in face-to-face conversations - I can get the raw, real stories and share them with the world!" The more she thinks about it the more she absolutely adores the idea. "The blogs have been great, don't get me wrong, but those are the stories of people who are actively reaching out - I can go to people and get a lot more variety! I'll have to run it by my supervisor of course," But she doubts Mrs. Young will have an issue with it - the woman had seemed almost reluctant when she'd told Celine what her new, temporary role would be, "But provided she gives the all clear I could start working on this as soon as tomorrow." She beams over at Landon, mentally noting how cute he looks when flustered. "Seriously, thanks for all this - I'm not sure I would have thought of it if I hadn't come here today."

"You would have." He replies immediately, confidently. "You're a brilliant writer - it would have come to you eventually, I have no doubt about that."

She's giddy enough that she kisses his cheek before she leaves, even though they haven't talked about anything like a relationship or labelling what exactly they are outside of friends. She darts off before she sees his reaction, half because she's nervous to know but half because she really wants to get back to the office to get Mrs. Young's approval on her new project.

It unfortunately then takes an hour before her supervisor can actually see her, and she has to sit through a few more reports before she's called in.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again until the Initiative reopened." Mrs. Young observes with a raised eyebrow, and Celine takes a deep breath.

"I know I'm supposed to stay focused on my story with the Initiative, but I had an idea of something I could do in the intervening weeks while the Initiative isn't running. It is related." She adds quickly, because it is, technically.

Her supervisor purses her lips and gestures for Celine to continue, so she quickly outlines her idea. It's definitely still a rough sketch, but she's confident there's enough there to warrant an approval for further investigation. When she finishes she glances up to find her supervisor smiling ever so slightly.

"Approved." She says simply. "But take Mr. Wilson with you. He's not on any jobs at the moment, and people are getting a bit suspicious of your reporting and whether or not its become biased due to your friendships with the Initiative members. Having a second author on this will likely make people more open to assuming it's genuine."

Celine blinks. She hadn't realized people were thinking that way about her, but she supposes with the most recent conferences being broadcast live it would become clear that Veena and Miles knew her in some small, personal capacity. She frowns at the realization, and wonders how long, exactly this has been going on - could it tie back to that reporter that had obviously eavesdropped on her and Landon all those weeks ago? How long have people known she wasn't totally unbiased in all this?

She doesn't voice any of those thoughts, of course, and merely thanks Mrs. Young before scampering back to the desk she shares with said 'Mr. Wilson' to inform him of their new story. At least Mrs. Young had put her with someone Celine can actually tolerate for long periods of time - Stanley isn't the most focused of people, but he's at the very least generally enjoyable company.

"Hey Stanley, you're with me for a bit." She informs him brightly, and he glances up from his laptop, lips quirked curiously.

"I thought you were editing? I didn't think Supervisor Young hated me that much." He jokes, and she kicks his chair as she takes her own seat across from him.

"Shush you, I have a new story. Semi-related to my usual work but Young wants your name on it." Celine quickly explains (again) what her idea is, and Stanley nods along throughout.

"That all sounds find and dandy," He agrees when she finishes, "But how are you going to actually find enough people to interview for this? You know most of the magical world is still closed off from the Muggle one, and even some of the areas that had opened up have vanished now."

Celine frowns at her deskmate. "Wait, how do you know that?" She asks suspiciously, and Stanlety grins at her, entirely unrepentant.

"I was always getting added to this story, so I've been doing a little on the ground research myself." He reveals cheerfully. "Supervisor probably already told you, but people were getting suspicious about your coverage."

"She did mention." Celine sighs. "I wish I'd noticed it was getting bad enough to be spotted through my writing, though. I've been doing my best to stay objective."

Stanley makes a face, and she frowns and kicks his chair again. "What's with that expression?" She demands and he holds his hands up in the universal pacifying gesture.

"Nothing bad! I swear nothing bad, just, you seem to be doing your best to stay optimistic, which isn't necessarily objective." He says shrugging. "It's not a bad thing, but when people are angry they tend to assume any universally positive message is biased or manipulated in some way. A little less... cheer, I think, is what the department wants."

Celine pouts, but Stanley does, unfortunately, have a point. "Fine, fair enough. But to answer your question on how we get to these places, I have a few connections that I think will be more than happy to help out." She grins. "After all, they're not exactly doing anything else right now."

Stanley raises an eyebrow as Celine pulls out her phone to send two messages. The first goes to Landon.

How do I get in contact with the rest of the Initiative if they don't have phones?

The second she has to type the number in manually from her notes, as she's never reached out to this person before, but she's confident she won't be turned away.

Hey Veena, this is Celine from the Telegraph. I need a favor.

The next day she and Stanley meet bright at early at seven AM for a breakfast strategy meeting, and to properly hammer out what exactly they're doing since Celine's very rudimentary brainstorming from the day before was not nearly enough of a game plan to actually build an article off of.

"If this is what my life is going to be from now on, I have regrets." Stanley grumbles. "Work is supposed to start at nine."

Celine gives him a look. "This is why you're never off desk duty you know - the big stories only come to those willing to put in a little extra."

"Sure, but paychecks come to anyone who shows up for work." Stanley fires back, and then yawns. "Ugh, I was up way too late last night playing video games. I'm not ready for any of this."

"Well that sounds like a you problem." Celine says primly, grinning at the wounded look she gets in return. "Come on Sleeping Beauty, let's get this game plan hammered out. I'll even pay for your breakfast if you actually contribute."

Stanley whines a bit more, but he does wake up once he gets some coffee and pancakes, and Celine does end up paying for his meal after he makes several suggestions that end up in the final approach.

"Alright, we're going to be meeting with Veena at the Leaky Cauldron and she'll be introducing us around Diagon Alley to get some interviews there." Celine says once she's paid and they're back out on the street. "After that she was nice enough to contact Kylee for us, and she'll be letting us into one of the magical neighborhoods in downtown London so we can talk to some folks there. Also I need to buy an owl, so we have to go to Gringotts to convert some cash."

Stanley stumbles to a halt at that. "Okay wait, what? Why do you need an owl, that is the most ridiculous thing. Is this a side quest? Are you mocking me for the video game thing?"

Celine laughs. "Not even slightly. I'll show you when we get there, alright? It's actually pretty cool."

Stanely is obviously skeptical, but he starts walking again and Celine takes the win.

Veena ends up being a few minutes late, so the two of them chill in front of the Leaky until she arrives. Celine waves to a few familiar faces while Stanley gets increasingly awkward beside her which is honestly hilarious - he's always seemed so confident and outgoing in the office, so seeing this much shyer side of him is endlessly amusing for Celine, who'd always envied his natural extroversion. Apparently he had been faking it as much as she sometimes does while out on assignment.

"You know a lot of people already - why do we need Veena again?" He asks after she has a full conversation with Artemis Cadwallader from the Second-Hand Bookshop when the latter passes by on her way to open up. "Seems like you can introduce us just fine."

Celine shrugs, a bit embarrassed. "Honestly I didn't realize how many people I knew." She admits. "I've met them all pretty gradually, and to be fair I don't really know most of them, just am aware of them in passing. Veena's usual job is at the potions shop here in the Alley, so she actually knows these people on a personal level - I figure they'll be more open to telling us their stories if she's the one asking than if we just show up demanding it."

Stanely tilts his head. "Fair enough. Does she know that I'm here though?"

Celine shrugs. "I didn't mention it, but it should be fine." Veena has always struck her as rather easygoing, so she doesn't think Stanley's presence will make a difference one way or the other, especially with Celine herself vouching for him.

Stanley is now looking decidedly nervous, and Celine just laughs at him lightly before returning to scanning the crowd for Veena.

She eventually spots the other woman, who's hurrying directly towards them.

"Sorry I'm late." She says, a bit breathlessly. "Nico caught a stomach bug or something - we were at Mungo's all night. It's fine, he's fine." She says quickly in response to whatever face Celine is making - she isn't sure if her worry or horror is more evident. "He's back home and he's extra scream-y right now but it's all good. But I haven't slept much so I sort of hit snooze on the alarm more times than I should have. I hope you weren't waiting long?"

"Nah, it's fine. I'm glad he's okay." Celine replies with a smile. "You could have texted me if you need to be at home though, we can reschedule this for some other time."

Veena is already shaking her head. "I'm serious that he's fine, and Cat is staying with him right now. With the Initiative on hiatus, she's back on desk duty too since she was part of the II. She called in for a few vacation days to keep an eye on Nico today. And I'm sorry, I'm being terribly rude. Veena Harris, from the Muggle Integration Initiative." She says, finally turning to Stanley after clearly realizing that he's actually with Celine and not just a creepy guy standing nearby and eavesdropping.

Stanely accepts the handshake offered, some of his usual gusto and confidence returning. "Stanley Wilson - I'll be assisting Ms. Yang in her future stories relating to the Initiative." He introduces himself. "Though Stanley is fine."

"He's my desk mate." Celine adds. "He's cool."

Veena nods, though she does take a moment longer to study Stanley before apparently deciding he won't be a threat. "Alright, shall we begin? There are dozens of shops in the Alley - this is going to take all of today and tomorrow to get through."

Stanely groans.

He holds up though as they work through the main line of shops, which are generally the ones that Celine has already been to. They ask a few questions, set up a few interviews for later in the week, but they're pretty much done with that section by lunchtime which surprises Celine, who really thought the people running the Hogwarts-endorsed stores would have more to say.

"They're all super busy." Veena explains when Celine voices this observation. "But I've saved the best for last - even if the owner can't talk to us, her husband or kids should be around, and they have quite the family story. It's a good look at magical economics and the struggle between our version of corporations versus family-owned businesses."

Stanley hums. "No offense, but nothing we've seen so far really scream 'corporate' to me - everything feels like small-time family-owned businesses."

Veena nods, no offense apparently taken. "Hence 'our version of'." She replies. "Since the magical world is much smaller than the Muggle one, our economy has remained small as well - we couldn't support major corporations, but we do have centuries old stores that are seen as 'better' simply because they're older. But Holly can tell you more about it than I ever could - she was really the first person to successfully grow her more recent store and eventually overtake the old one." She makes a face. "And that was worded horridly, but you get what I mean."

Celine does think she somewhat understands, but she also gets the sense it will become clearer when they actually talk to this 'Holly' character.

They walk up to one of the larger storefronts towards the end of the main road in the Alley which proudly displays then sign "Ollivander's" over the top. Celine frowns - the name is familiar, but she can't quite recall why until they step inside and find themselves on the wrong end of a wand wave.

"Sorry!" The child - presumably eleven - says, eyes wide and hand gripping a smoking wand close to his chest. Behind the counter a teenage girl tuts and tugs the wand away.

"Nope, no good." She sighs, sounding disappointed. "Okay, let's try a couple others then." She glances up at the three people standing in the doorway. "Hi Veena, mum and dad are in the back if you want to just let yourself in." She adds with a small smile that looks mostly plastered on.

"Thanks Hazel. Are your siblings around?"

Hazel waves vaguely, putting the wand back into its box and not bothering to look up from the task. "Eb is somewhere around I think, but Ash ran off with some friends this morning so he's MIA." She reports, closing the box and turning entirely away from the group

"Cool, thanks. Good luck." Veena adds as she ushers Stanley and Celine past the front desk and into the gigantic storage room behind it. The room is filled from top to bottom with wooden shelving, each laden down with what appear to be hundreds of wand boxes.

"They sell this many wands?" Stanley asks incredulously. "I thought the magical community was small?"

"It is - some of these are decades old and just waiting for the right person." Veena replies. "You can ask Holly about the process though, she'd be happy to go through it in extreme detail for you - it's a lot more complicated than even I understand, honestly."

They eventually come across two people sitting at the very back of the room. The woman seems to be carving, while the man is relaxed back in his seat, flipping through what appears to be a notebook. He glances up first at their approach, and taps the woman lightly on the shin with his foot as he sits up.

"Hello Veena, what brings you to the shop today?" He asks curiously, glancing over at Celine and Stanley as he does. The woman doesn't look up for another few moments as she finishes a section of the sculpture, which Celine guesses is probably a new wand.

"Hi Emery, Holly. These are reporters from the Daily Telegraph, Celine Yang and Stanley Wilson." Veena introduces them. "Celine, Stanley, these are Holly and Emery Kiddell, owner of every wand shop in Britain and the greatest wandmakers of our generation."

Holly grins. "I appreciate the accurate introduction." She says brightly. "So what can we do for the Telegraph today?"

Celine quickly takes point and explains their hopes for a new article covering every day life in the magical world to hopefully showcase the similarities between magic and Muggle while the Initiative is on hiatus. Holly nods thoughtfully throughout the explanation, and then claps her hands together firmly when Celine finishes.

"Alright, we can definitely give you that! Emery, can you cover the front for an hour or so while I do this? Then we can switch."

Veena tilts her head. "Is Hazel not watching the front?"

Holly raises an eyebrow. "She's not supposed to give out wands unless she has one of us with her." She replies dryly. "Though I get the sense she may have decided to go ahead with that anyway. Dear, please do get up there before we have another fire situation."

Emery hurries away, offering a brief "nice meeting you" to Celine and Stanley as he passes, while his wife just sighs heavily and gives a small smile.

"I can't really be upset." She confesses to the three in front of her with a wry grin. "I was doing the same thing at her age." She gestures towards the now empty chair her husband had been in, and pulls out her own wand to conjure up another one beside it. "But grab a seat - ask your questions or however it is you're running this thing."

Holly is surprisingly relaxed and informal for a woman who is not only running her own chain of wand shops, but who also convinced the previous owner of Ollivander's to turn his brand over to her in his will, despite their families being bitter rivals in the wandmaking business and his brand arguably being worth much more than the Kiddell brand was. Celine would normally assume any woman with such a background would be a dragon lady of sorts, but Holly is all smiles and punny quips, and it's almost disorienting how different Holly is from what Celine had instinctively expected her to be. She makes a mental note to recheck her own biases later - obviously there are some that have been left unintentionally unaddressed.

Celine gets nearly three pages of notes about Holly's school days, her time running Kiddell's wands and her work with the Underground supplying the secondary wands members of the secret group used to hide their involvement with the organization, and her eventual acquisition of Ollivander's after a years-long battle with the original owner, who had no proper heir to give the company to.

"He was a crotchety git, but I do miss him." Holly says fondly. "Hazel and Ebony probably both remember him, but my youngest Ash was still just a toddler when he finally passed away. Don't look so sad, he was nearly a hundred at that point, it was well past his time." She grins at Stanley's expression. "Great guy though, when he wasn't being a stubborn git. Some of his original work is still up on those shelves, so there will be Ollivander originals going out to new owners for decades to come, I'm certain of it. Only now they're actually affordable!" She adds proudly. "Definitely my biggest annoyance with this place before I started running things was the pricing - I know exactly how much it costs to import every part of a wand, and it's not 5 Galleons a wand, honestly. You were paying at least two and a half Galleons just to say you had an Ollivander original, as if somehow his wands are better than anyone else's." She grins at them. "Don't get me wrong, they're definitely quality craftsmanship, but so are Kiddell wands - and we provide a lot more variety than Ollivander ever did, which means we're able to match more people with their best possible fit. Did you know that a wand in the hands of the wrong person will straight-up refuse to work?"

Stanley frowns. "Wait, does it have a brain or something?" He asks, glancing around at the shelves with a new nervousness.

Holly laughs. "Not as such, but they do resonate with individual's magic in unique ways that can sometimes make it seem like they have minds of their own. 'The wand chooses the wizard' - that's a saying that goes back before anyone can remember, so treating wands like thinking beings goes back pretty far. They aren't, though, that's important to remember. Only dark magic can create anything resembling a thinking creature, and those are always twisted in some way." She makes a face. "But nevermind that, I'm not sure that really fits into what you two are looking for!" The bright grin is back. "Would you like to see how I make wands?"

They really shouldn't - they do have several more people to visit after all - but Stanley looks so hopeful (and okay, she's really curious as well) that Celine can't say no.

Veena ends up heading out, promising she'll meet up with them again in the morning, before they follow Holly into her back room to watch the (literal) magic happen.

They definitely have a lot more to do tomorrow now because of the detour, but spending time with Holly (and her family - all three children make themselves known over the course of the wand making demonstration) is well worth the hours lost - Celine figures she can probably write a full article on the Kiddells and their experiences alone, and probably tie it in to the struggles of small business owners in the Muggle world as well, so really it's not lost time at all, but simply a new opportunity.

Stanley laughs at her when she voices that thought to him. "Ever the optimist. I suppose that really is just how you are - but I agree, this could be a very fun story to share. Lots of twists and turns, and I especially enjoyed the part about that prank war during her school days - we had stuff like that happen at my old boarding school all the time." He chuckles. "Good memories."

Celine grins and elbows him excitedly. "So this is a great idea! You admit it!"

"Nothing that makes me get out of bed before eight is a great idea, but it's halfway decent I suppose." He replies in an exaggeratedly snobby voice, and they both end up laughing the rest of the walk back out of the Alley. Celine does make one last stop before heading home though - to Eelops Owl Emporium.

That night Celine pulls out her notes to coordinate some sort of order for the stories she does have, and to update her calendar with the future interviews she'd scheduled. All laid out she really doesn't have much yet, but she knows that it is a 'yet'. There's plenty more to discover down the streets of the Alley and in the hidden neighborhoods. And now that she has her very own owl (an adorable Long-Eared Owl she'd named Pika) she has a lot more flexibility in who she can contact.

She's got two weeks before the Initiative opens up again, which means she has two weeks to write and publish this series in order to get people sympathetic to magic again.

As she rereads through her notes, she wonders if maybe someone on the magical side could do the same thing for Muggles - get stories from everyday people and endear the magical public to the non-magical side of the world.

With a small smile she looks up at Pika. "Alright girl, you ready to deliver your first letter?" She asks. "It's a big one - I need you to take it to Gabriel Beaux at the Daily Prophet offices."

Pika ruffles her feathers and hoots proudly, clearly insulted that Celine would even question her capability for such a task.

Celine laughs. "Excellent, I assumed as much." She assures the bird before pulling out a pen and paper. She's got a letter to write.

Author's Note: And now Celine gets a side quest too! :D Next time we'll get to see a little more about what the actual Initiative is doing with their hiatus time, but this is yet another subplot I've had a lot of fun putting together (not least of which because I get more Holly - H:aH readers will recall how much fun I had with her in that story xD)