Kylee hadn't really realized she was the only person who had made any real, long-lasting impacts on integration until she gets Mrs. Weasley's owl over the weekend that's supposed to be their last one on hiatus. The letter delivered is far from a welcome one, opening with the revelation that the hiatus has been indefinitely extended, pending further investigation into the effectiveness of the group. There's a second note in the envelope, this one addressed directly to her from the Initiative leader, which is much longer than the first and is even more stress-inducing.

Kylee is being asked to present to the Wizengamot on her work with Healer Caldwell, as part of the investigation requested by the Council (and really, Kylee isn't surprised to learn they had a hand in all this - she's heard Rose complain about them time and time again and this seems right up their alley). She's not even sure what that means though, to present on her work - would she just be repeating what they shared in the press conference about Pepper Up potion? But surely it's more complicated than that, otherwise wouldn't they just use that footage instead of calling her in?

She accepts the request, of course. What else was she going to do? The Initiative is important - beyond important, really, it's necessary - so if they think she can help convince these people of that fact then she'll do her best to live up to that expectation, even if the idea of it is terrifying.

She ends up asking Baylee to lunch so they can talk it over and Kylee can hopefully wrangle her nerves into something manageable so she doesn't completely screw up once she's actually in front of the Wizengamot. To her surprise, Baylee isn't startled at all when Kylee explains the situation to her. Instead, her twin grins brightly.

"You're presenting to that too? Cool! I volunteered for it when it came up in a Department meeting earlier this week, so I guess we'll both be there." And that sentence alone does a lot to help Kylee relax. If Baylee is nearby she'll at least know she has one person in the crowd on her side.

"Why didn't you tell me about it? I only just found out yesterday when I got the owl." Kylee asks, slightly accusing but not too upset. She can kind of guess the answer.

Baylee at least looks a bit guilty. "I guess I assumed you knew already - sorry. I've been pretty swamped at work dealing with the influx of influencers deciding to go dragon hunting for a lark. No deaths yet, but we got close last week with one idiot who apparently didn't learn that when you see a mother dragon roaring defensively over her nest you don't start setting off flashes in it's face." She groans. "I hate twenty-somethings. I know we're twenty-somethings, but we're probably raging idiots too, we just don't know it. Trust me, there's no such thing as an intelligent, put-together twenty-something."

"Lies. Veena." Kylee replies immediately, and both women laugh.

Baylee leans back in her chair slightly. "Fine, she's an exception. Most twenty-somethings are a hot, stupid mess though."

"Don't say that at the defense - most of the Initiative is made up of stupid twenty-somethings." Kylee groans. "Your hypothesis may explain why we've had so much trouble though." She sighs heavily, and her twin nudges her lightly under the table.

"Aw, don't get pouty again, this is supposed to help us both cheer up, right?" Baylee grins apologetically, and Kylee looks over at her twin curiously.

"Both? Wait, are you nervous too?" She asks, honestly a little surprised. Her sister was a Gryffindor in school for a reason, and Kylee is pretty sure she's never seen Baylee nervous about anything, didn't think it was really possible. Of course, that could have been Kylee's own insecurities assigning a level of confidence to Baylee that she didn't actually have.

Baylee shrugs sheepishly. "Maybe a little? I was all in when I volunteered, but I've sort of been realizing how massive this actually is, you know? The literal fate of the world is in our hands - I can't even really imagine the whole world, but you, and our parents, and all our friends are in the world so. Big stakes. It's nerve-wracking no matter how confident you are that things will be fine, I think, and I honestly don't know if they will be." She shrugs again, an embarrassed smile chasing the worry of her face. "But jeez, listen to me being all doom and gloom! I think Jarvis is rubbing off on me. Hey did I tell you I have a crush on him now? Never thought I'd be the silver fox type, but he's in shape for over forty, let me tell you."

Kylee nearly chokes on a bite of her sandwich. She throws a balled up napkin at her sister while she struggles to get air back into her lungs, and Baylee laughs unrepentantly.

"Bay, he's early forties, you don't call them silver foxes until, like fifty or something. Also never say things like that ever again what the heck." She wheezes once she has some control over muscles again.

"Fourty three though. That's a twenty-year gap, which I'm pretty sure means I get to call myself a-"

"DON'T. Don't finish that sentence, for the sake of my sanity Baylee, please."

Her twin just laughs at her. "Fine, then can I ask if Tristan has manned up and asked you out yet?" She says, obviously still in a teasing mood but thankfully respecting Kylee's request for a topic change.

Not that Kylee likes this one any more than the last. "No Bay. We're both kind of busy with other things right now you know - end of the world stuff? Which we're supposed to be talking about so we're ready for the hearing tomorrow?"

Baylee groans. "I thought we were distracting ourselves from that." She whines. "I mean, it's tomorrow - we're either ready or we aren't at this point, you know? No point fretting over it this late in the game, whatever happens is gonna happen."

Kylee sighs heavily. "Fair enough, but nothing romance-related, okay?"

Her twin laughs and acquiesces, and by the time lunch is over Kylee can almost convince herself she isn't still absolutely terrified of the impending defense.

Almost.

By morning she's back to being thoroughly stressed, but she dresses and heads to the Ministry as quickly as she can anyway - like Baylee had said, she's either ready or not, and there's no point fretting or trying to cram in extra preparation at this point.

Mrs. Morgan is waiting for her in the Atrium. "Kylee, good." She says, brisk and tense, which only makes Kylee that much more uneasy. "We're waiting for a few other people - we're all going down to the Wizengamot together. You know what you're saying?"

"Um, just talking about the Pepperup Potions, right? To show the progress we're making?" She offers nervously, relaxing ever so slightly when Mrs. Morgan nods.

"Right. Python is here as well, so she can handle the specifics - we want you to focus on your methodology and the Muggle response."

Kylee nods mutely. She can do this. It will be fine.

"So... who else is coming?" She asks after a moment of silence, and Mrs. Morgan glances over at her with an unreadable expression.

"Your twin, for one, a Goblin from the bank who's already present, and Alex as well, to present on the meetups." She lists off. "You're free to watch the first half of the defense, but the second part will be a closed session so I don't know what presentations you'll be able to see."

Kylee nods, half surprised to hear Alex's name, but also not surprised much at all - he's been opening up a lot in recent months and while she certainly wouldn't have called him being here to help defend the Initiative, she also can't say it's out of character at this point.

"So we're waiting for Baylee and Alex?" She guesses, and Mrs. Morgan nods shortly before they lapse into silence once again. Kylee is about ready to start bouncing in place just to have something to distract herself with since talking apparently isn't an option when the Muggle entrance slides open again and Alex steps through, looking surprisingly professional with slicked-back hair and a dress shirt over black slacks.

"Looking good." Kylee comments, tugging at her own robes and hoping they look alright - she hadn't really put in any extra effort this morning, but she's wondering now if she maybe should have.

Alex just nods tersely in acknowledgement, and the silence is back as they wait for Baylee, who thankfully doesn't take too much longer to arrive.

"Heya sis." She greets Kylee first, and is the only of them who doesn't immediately seem tense on her arrival. "Am I the last one here?"

Mrs. Morgan nods sharply. "And now that you are we need to get to the Wizengamot so you can present." She says briskly. "Keep up."

The three follow the Initiative leader silently. Kylee can tell Alex is tense, but Baylee also grabs her hand briefly in the lift so Kylee knows her sister is nervous too, even if Baylee isn't showing it. Kylee takes a few deep breaths and squeezes Baylee's hand before releasing it as the lift doors slide open onto an unfamiliar floor.

Mrs. Weasley looks up sharply and immediately strides over to them. Healer Caldwell and a Goblin are indeed already present, standing behind Mrs. Weasley and looking determined and bored respectively.

"Good, you're here. We have fifteen minutes until doors open." Mrs. Weasley immediately gets down to business. "Kylee, you and Healer Caldwell are going first - we want to open strong and showcase the good that's already come of this endeavor. After that, Filnar will explain the situation at Gringotts." The Goblin nods stiffly, glaring up at everyone present. "Ms. Danson will be discussing the recent string of dangerous Muggle-Beast interactions and why continued Ministry involvement will be important to mitigating these sorts of disasters in the future. Finally, Mr. Zhang will be closing out the first half to talk about the meetups and some of the prominent success stories we had happen there."

Kylee nods along with the other two, though her stomach flips as she does. She's going first? Sure she has backup in the form of Healer Caldwell, but she really hadn't been expecting to go first. She's the first impression, she's setting the tone for the rest of the defense. If she screws up that could very well be the end of it.

She is not ready for this. But the doors are opening and now they're in a small box on the floor of the Wizengamot and Healer Caldwell is looking over at her expectantly so there's nothing left for it but to step forward, follow the older woman out into the center of the room, and hope to heck that she knows what she's doing.

She's nervous, and she takes several, deep, slow breaths as Mrs. Weasley gives a few opening statements about the importance of the Initiative that she honestly doesn't totally catch around the pounding of her heart in her ears. She does hear her own name, though, and she gives a smile that she hope looks more relaxed than she feels, straightening her posture slightly as all the eyes in the room turn towards her and Healer Caldwell. Kylee glances at the older woman and is deeply envious of the apparent calm exuding from her.

Unsurprisingly, Caldwell does most of the talking, and Kylee just provides a few details or comments here and there to elaborate on specific areas that the Initiative had more control over. She thinks she manages to keep it together alright, though she does stutter the first time she speaks up, which is humiliating.

Then it's over, and she stumbles back to the viewing box on numb legs to watch the rest of the first half of the defense.

"Good job." Her twin whispers as Kylee takes a seat next to her. Kylee grimaces in response and Baylee squeezes her knee before they both turn back to the Goblin who's taken to the front. He explains (in extreme detail that has even Kylee suppressing a yawn despite her vested interest in the subject) what Gringotts has been doing to rectify the conversion situation, and ends the speech by very bluntly stating that if the Initiative is shut down and integration abandoned the bank Goblins are going to be beyond furious. He doesn't quite threaten another Goblin war, but the implication hangs in the room like a bad stench even after he's stomped back to his seat.

Baylee coughs slightly as she stands up - unlike Healer Caldwell, the Goblin (Filnar?) hadn't introduced the next speaker at all, leaving Baylee to do so herself. Kylee watches her sister nervously, but Baylee strides out in front of the watching Wizengamot with a bright confidence that Kylee wishes was genetic.

"Morning everyone! I'm Baylee Danson, and I'm here to tell you about the Initiative work we're doing down in the Beasts and Beings Division!" She introduces herself before diving into a surprisingly extensive report on all the instances not only of recent Muggle interaction with Beasts, but also past ones, comparing the new ease with which such situations can now be handled and even explaining some of the work she'd done with Desmond on modifying both the Muggle and magical education systems to create a better general knowledge of Beasts and how to safely approach them.

"In conclusion, I'd highly recommend a continuation for the Initiative." She finishes after about fourty minutes. "Their work has been integral in ours, and I have no doubt you'll hear from other Departments today that say much the same thing. It is of course not an overnight process, but we've seen massive improvements with just the small steps we've been able to take so far. It would be a mistake to cut things off before bigger steps can even be attempted." She smiles brightly. "And now I'd like to pass things along to Mr. Alex Zhang to tell you all about the brilliant meetups the Initiative hosted in the first quarter of this year! Alex, the floor is yours."

Kylee glances over at Alex just in time to see him swallow hard before standing up. So she's not the only one utterly terrified here - that actually makes her feel better. But Alex makes his way down and gives a short, half-hour presentation on the meetups - the inspiration behind them, some of the people he met while at them, and how much of a positive impact they had on both magical and Muggle people and their views on those from the other world. It's pretty clear he's nervous, but his voice is steady and he makes his points clearly and concisely (though he concludes rather abruptly and awkwardly). The leaders wrap up the first half, and then everyone is escorted out of the room for a lunch break.

"Alright, you three won't be allowed back in for the second half - there will be some topics of a more sensitive nature discussed - so feel free to head home if you prefer." Mrs. Morgan tells them in the lift ride up to the cafeteria.

Baylee scoffs aloud. "Yeah right, I want to know what happens. I'm fine with waiting, I don't have anything else going on today anyway."

Kylee nods in agreement. "If I left I'd just spend all day worrying anyway." She agrees ruefully.

To her surprise, Alex hums agreement as well. "I'll stick around too. May as well - like you said, nothing else to do anyway." He nods to Baylee slightly, and Kylee is surprised how pleased her twin looks by the decision. Alex and Baylee have met a couple times before, and Kylee knows that Baylee knew Alex's twin, but she didn't think her twin really cared about getting to know Alex, especially considering he was still in full-sulk mode when Baylee met him.

"Great! Let's all get lunch together then - my treat." Baylee declares. "And since we don't have to go back in we can probably go out and take some time with it too."

"No discussing things outside of the Ministry, thank you." Mrs. Morgan reminds them firmly, and Baylee nods.

"Don't worry, no work talk here! Well, maybe rambling about the adorable new litter of Shrake that just hatched - we're trying to train them to target nets that tangle up dolphins and whales - wait, do you two even know what a Shrake is?"

Alex already looks like he has regrets, but Kylee just laughs and urges her sister on, letting Baylee eagerly detail their Shrake breeding program (the species had been magically created some decades ago specifically to attack Muggle fishing nets) and their attempts to use the generally destructive little creatures to do some good.

"If we can succeed in getting them to target specific things, we'll probably tackle sea life that gets stuck in plastics next." Baylee is just about wrapping up the presentation when they're sat down for lunch at a small diner a few blocks away from the Muggle entrance of the Ministry. "I'm rooting for the little guys honestly - it would be a shame to have to remove the species entirely, but they are invasive - they can hurt other animals just as much as they can hurt nets." She sighs.

"You'll seriously wipe out an entire species because they're annoying?" Alex asks rudely, and Kylee sighs. He's been sliding backwards into grumpiness again and she's pretty sure it's related to her sister's presence, which is stupid.

Baylee sighs, apparently not insulted by the tone at all. "Trust me, it's a worst case scenario and we're doing our best to avoid it if possible. But it was literally created to be annoying - specifically to Muggles. With the integration the need to address that has become a lot more important than it was even a decade ago."

Alex frowns but doesn't say anything else for a while, leaving Kylee and Baylee to chat idly about anything and everything that comes to mind in an attempt to distract themselves from the defense that surely must have started up again by now (at least, Kylee is trying to distract herself - Baylee may well just be enjoying rambling about her work). In fact, he remains so quiet for so long that Kylee very nearly forgets he's there at all, so she ends up startling rather badly when he does opt to say something nearly an hour later, as they're debating how to split the bill (Baylee is trying to insist on paying despite all of them still getting their paychecks).

"You can pay for mine." He offers flatly, but Baylee laughs.

"Alright then! See, why can't you be this accepting of my generosity Ky?" Baylee teases as she waves the waitress over.

Kylee grins. "Because you always demand information in exchange. Should've read the find print on that one, Alex."

He grimaces. "You can't force me to say anything I don't want to." He snaps, and the cheerful atmosphere dies rather abruptly.

Baylee raises an eyebrow. "It's a joke, I'm not going to demand anything. If you want to talk about something we can, and I'll be honest the fact you're still here at all suggets there is something you'd like to discuss, but I'd never push anyone past what they're comfortable with."

Alex purses his lips and glares down at the table in an almost comical display - something about seeing a nearly 6 foot tall person pouting like a child is naturally amusing. Kylee doesn't laugh though - her twin has a point about the possible meaning behind the teen's continued presence at their lunch table.

"I can leave, too, if it's not something you want me hearing." She offers after a moment, and Alex rolls his eyes.

"Like you two don't tell each other everything anyway."

"Only if we're allowed to." Kylee says, a bit insulted by the implication. "You're a twin Alex, you of all people shouldn't perpetuate the tier stereotypes."

Alex glares at her, though it quickly dissolves into guilt, which surprises her. She'd expected full defensiveness and probably him storming off in a huff, but she supposes that he has grown the past few months - maybe she owes it to him to think a little better of his ability to check his own attitude.

"You're right, sorry." He mutters. "And... I guess it's the twin thing. That I want to talk about. Alden says he knows you because you were a prefect, but he was in an entirely different House than you." He says, obviously talking to Baylee.

Baylee hums. "Yeah, but I spent a lot of time invading Ravenclaw Tower since my best friend was a 'Claw." She offers in explanation. "And I was a prefect, which is why I initially approached him - kid looked absolutely miserable, and dealing with homesick first years is a good thirty to fourty percent of prefect duties prior to Winter Break, so I figured even if we weren't the same House I could still help, you know?" She shrugs. "When we realized how similar our situations were, we ended up keeping in contact. I don't think I'd necessarily call it a friendship or anything, but we talked pretty regularly in school. I tried to offer suggestions and support, obviously, but our situations, as similar as they were, were really different too. Ky and I never had the same level of fracturing in our relationship that you two had, and Alden kept trying to figure out what he was doing wrong, and why you were pulling away from him more than Ky was from me." She sighs. "But you were both kids - I always figured it wasn't either of your faults that things got the way they did."

Alex mutters something too low for Kylee to hear, though apparently Baylee catches it as she murmurs something back. Kylee has been slowly wandering away from the two as Baylee spoke, feeling that despite her technically being part of the group she's not really part of the conversation, and shouldn't be - she doesn't know Alden and Alex's situation the way Alex and Baylee do, and she'd feel more awkward listening in than she does wandering a few steps ahead of them to give them some space to talk.

She distracts herself thinking about the defense - how it's going, if they'll still even have their jobs when it's over (and maybe Alex was on to something letting Baylee pay for the food - who knows if either of them will still have paychecks tonight?). They get back to the Ministry somewhere around five, based on the traffic, and they take the Muggle entrance down. Baylee and Alex seem to have come to some sort of understanding as his face has smoothed out from a perpetual glare to something akin to contentment, even if it's not quite that yet.

The ride down to the Wizengamot level is made in increasingly tense silence, none of them sure what to expect when they get back. Will the defense be over? Will they have to keep waiting?

What if things don't go well?

When the lift dings open it's in time to see a rush of people walking out of the main Wizengamot chamber - they've managed to arrive, by some of luck, exactly when the defense finished. Kylee scans the passing faces for the leaders, and eventually locates Mrs. Morgan standing just inside the open doors.

"Ma'am?" She attempts to get the woman's attention, pushing through the crowd (as politely as she can). "What happened?"

Mrs. Morgan turns to face her, and Kylee's heart leaps when she sees the smiles the older woman is sporting.

"We were approved to finish out our initial time frame - we're sending out owls for everyone to be back in the office tomorrow." She says breathlessly. "We have a lot to make up for, but I'm confident we can do it."

Kylee nods hopefully, though she's still nervous despite the amazing news. What happens if they can't do it?

She supposes they'll cross that bridge if they come to it, and for now she'll just focus on this victory.

Veena is admittedly a bit freaked out when the silver-blue rat runs through her bedroom wall as she's getting ready for bed, with 'a bit freaked out' meaning she'd shrieked and tried to throw her hairbrush at it. Only then did it register that the rat was actually a Patronus, and it now seemed to be looking at her with an unimpressed air.

Cat pops her head into the room, looking worried. "Vee? Everything okay?" She checks.

Veena sighs, pointing to the patronus. "Yes, all fine, this guy just startled me is all." She explains ruefully before turning back to the rat. "Do you have a message little guy?" She asks, though she's already pretty sure she knows what this is. None of her friends have a rat Patronus, so this must be from Mrs. Weasley - that's the only other person she can think of who would need to send her a message this late in the evening.

Sure enough, Mrs. Weasley's voice emanates from the rat only moments later. "Report to the Initiative offices first thing in the morning - our hiatus has been lifted."

"Well, that's a good thing then." Cat observes, coming fully into the room, frowning when Veena doesn't respond in the affirmative after nearly a minute. "Right?"

Veena nods slowly. "I suppose. That isn't much detail though, is it? Just 'come in'."

"I assume detail will be given in the morning - you shouldn't worry yourself about it until you know more." Cat points out. "There probably aren't any messy details to worry about, otherwise I'm sure Undersecretary Weasley would have shared them now in order for you all to be prepared for them in the morning."

Veena hums, nodding slowly. "I suppose that would make sense." She allows. "Still, I'm not sure how well I'll be able to sleep tonight."

Despite her own words she actually nods off rather quickly, but she also wakes up quite early. She slides out of bed as quietly as possible as to not disturb Cat and pads over to Nico's room - he's due to wake up screaming for food any time now and she may as well try to preemptively strike in order to give Cat another hour of rest.

"Hey baby boy." She coos as she scoops the toddler out of his crib, being careful to not jostle him and wake him up. "Let's get you breakfast, shall we? Give mommy a little more time to sleep for once."

She wanders to the kitchen and heats up a bottle of formula, gently bouncing Nico as she does to keep him pliant and sleepy. He is jarred awake by the microwave beeping - nothing to be done about that - but Veena immediately grabs the bottle and passes it over before he has a chance to gather enough air into his lungs to start really shrieking. Nico latches on happily, and Veena lets out a small sigh of victory. Hopefully this is a good sign for the rest of the day.

With Nico happily ling on his bottle, Veena gets started on feeding herself, looking through the fridge and cupboards carefully to figure out what they have and what she can make with it one-handed (she doesn't want to risk putting Nico down and him getting upset - his crying always wakes up Cat, no matter how quiet or short-lived it is). She eventually settles on oatmeal, which seems safe enough. She's at the table, about done with her bowl, when Cat finally wanders down from the bedroom, still dressed in her sleep clothes. She smiles when she sees the two of them at the table and immediately walks over, taking Nico from Veena once she's close enough.

"Good morning. I was wondering why I'd managed to sleep so late." She smiles at their son before glancing over at her wife. "I hope you slept enough though." She adds with a slight warning tone, bouncing Nico absentmindedly against her hip, much to the boy's delight.

Veena smiles wanly. "I did, don't worry, but when I saw I'd woken up before him I figured I'd try to get him fed before he started screaming for it." She explains. "Mission success, and hopefully the rest of the day will follow that."

Cat leans over to kiss her head as she wanders to fix herself breakfast. "It will, I'm confident of that."

Veena smiles and hopes she's right.

Since they're both up anyway they end up dropping Nico off with Ron Weasley a bit early (he'd told them ages ago he didn't mind them randomly dropping in if they needed to, and with all the Weasley kids home for the summer he's always up early these days) and head for work. Veena heads up to the seventh floor feeling a bit tense - it's been over a week since she's been here, and it feels like things have only gotten worse in that time, despite the hiatus supposedly intending to calm things down.

Surprisingly she's not the first person to have arrived - in fact, it looks like she might be one of the last, despite there still being twenty minutes before the start of work. Miles is one of the few still not present, so she goes to sit next to Petra and Rose, who are whispering to each other at the latter's desk. They stop abruptly when Veena approaches, and she frowns at them only for Rose to start beaming and waving her over.

"Veena! Hey, it's been forever it feels like. You ready to face the press?" The mixed latina asks brightly, and Veena decides that the two are probably just nervous like she is, so she smiles back and decides to not worry about their whispering.

"Not at all, but what else is new?" She replies. "How about you, ready for the political rounds?"

Rose makes a face. "Oh yeah, absolutely thrilled to be back on that." She says dryly before grinning. "But it's better than nothing for sure - I already lined up another meeting with the Council for later this week so I can get back in their faces and put the brakes on whatever smarmy bull they decided to try pulling while I was away."

Petra frowns. "Are you sure they're doing any... of that?" She asks, clearly unwilling to say 'smarmy bull.' Veena doesn't blame her - Rose has quite the mouth when she's frustrated, and can get very creative with her chosen insults.

Rose rolls her eyes. "It's the Council. The day they don't is the day the world ends. Probably because of said smarmy bull."

They don't get to talk about anything else as the leaders choose then to arrive, tailed by Miles who immediately beelines over to Veena.

"Hey." She mutters, and he grins at her quickly in greeting but doesn't verbally reply. She wonders if, rather than being late, Miles had actually been early and had thus gotten to talk strategy with the leaders before work. The thought makes her a bit jealous.

Mrs. Weasley takes the lead in starting the meeting, as she usually does, and her simply standing at the front of the room is enough to immediately quiet everyone down and draw their attention.

The Undersecretary smiles slightly. "Right, let's get right to the point of this, shall we?" She says briskly. "We have been given to the end of our original run to resume our duties and ease the way for future integration with the Muggle world. Right now that means calming down both sides as both magic and Muggle are riled up right now. We'll call that our two primary focuses for the summer: getting witches and wizards as well as Muggle generally interested in a smooth integration again. So," She takes a slow breath. "Any suggestions?"

Landon's hand immediately flies up, and within minutes the entire office is buzzing with suggestions, declaration, and arguments. Veena sits back and absorbs it for a bit - Landon had purported that due to the war, British witches and wizards would be the easiest to calm down, only to be countered by Fergus, who had pointed out that they can't make assumptions and all sides should be considered equally. This had dissolved into a debate that finally gets Veena to speak up.

"Improving our media coverage in both areas would be the ideal starting point, I'd think." She offers. "We should be more on top of things when they're initially reported - give an instant response, not just on social media, but maybe through video? People prefer hearing things than just reading them, generally speaking."

"It wouldn't be too hard to set something like that up." Petra offers, and Miles is nodding as well.

They agree to take that angle, and then the debate is off again on how else they can recover from the nearly three week break they're just coming off of. Aruna watches the discussion from a corner, chewing her lip lightly as she does.

As much as she knows the break was probably a bad idea for a lot of reasons, she personally had actually been glad for it - she'd recentered, seen her therapist a few extra times, spent a day out with her mom - it had been good for her in a way she hadn't expected.

It had also made her realize a few things, since without work to drain her she'd been trying to watch the news more often, and she thinks there's one obvious approach they could take that isn't even being brought up. However, she hesitates to offer her thoughts - maybe there's a reason no one is bringing it up? But eventually, with her therapist's voice mentally encouraging her to engage a bit more, she lets her hand creep up into the air.

It takes a minute for anyone to notice, and she very nearly chickens out in that time, but then Rose glances over and immediately perks up. "Aruna! What were you thinking?" She asks curiously, all smiles and warm, welcoming words, and Aruna takes a nervous breath as her hand drops back into her lap.

"Um... I was watching a lot of news the past two weeks, and I kind of noticed that no matter what anyone else does Yurina always has a comeback for it? I feel like if we want to create something long-term we'll need to discredit her first, otherwise people are probably going to keep going back and forth on all this." She shrugs awkwardly, staring down at her lap. "I don't even know if that's in our jurisdiction to do, but. It's a thought I had."

"And you're absolutely correct." Mrs. Weasley confirms, and that alone makes some of the nervous weight in a Aruna's stomach let up. "Unfortunately you're also correct that we can't go after her blatantly. However," She purses her lips thoughtfully and glances to the other half of the office, where the Hunters are starting to file in for their day, "Perhaps you could focus on that in a behind-the-scenes manner with some of the Hunters? They're focused on Yurina, after all, and perhaps some things that we find could prove of use to them in their work."

Aruna blinks. She hadn't really meant to volunteer for anything, but she supposes she does have the most experience working with the Hunters anyway, so it makes sense to put her on this. Still, she's a bit nervous. This is obviously a really important job, and what if she completely messes it up? What if she can't actually accomplish anything? She's feeling better now, sure, but how long will it last before she's back to barely being able to tolerate other people's presence for longer than a few minutes? She exhales heavily as the conversation swirls around her, having picked back up without any concern for the internal storm swirling around her head. Aruna lets it fade into background white noise as she centers herself. She's been given an important job, so her bosses must think she's up to handling it. The people she'll be working with are all ones she's dealt with before, and other than Jack Abbott she thinks she gets on with them decently enough. She takes a few deep breaths. She can do this. And if she can't, she can always just talk to the leaders about it and switch out with someone else - surely they'd understand?

She closes her eyes, and then opens them with determination. She can do this. She will do this. And she will not feel ashamed if she needs to back down later, because she will put in her best effort now and leave things well in hand for whoever takes over if she needs to step away.

After the meeting she goes up to the leaders to confirm who she ought to approach to being her new task.

Mrs. Weasley hesitates. "Normally I'd say to talk with Finn or Hugo but..." She frowns, seeming to weigh her words. "I believe they're both rather occupied this morning - why don't you speak with Mrs. Seo or Mr. Abbott? I believe they're in charge when the official Hunter leaders are out."

Aruna nods - she can talk to Mrs. Seo easily enough, and honestly she's a lot less intimidating that Finn or Longbottom would have been. Taking one more steadying breath she strides over to the Hunter's half of the room, exuding confidence in hopes she'll start actually feeling confident about any of this. Minerva is easy enough to locate, and the woman looks a bit surprised to see her, though she smiles after a moment.

"Aruna, what can I do for you today?" She says in lieu of a proper greeting, but Aruna doesn't mind - Minerva's brisk professionalism is always a breath of fresh air.

Aruna quickly lays out her new role, and Minerva hums, clearly rolling things around in her head. "Normally I'd defer to Finn on this, but he's out this morning so... why don't you work with Edward, for now? He's been rather busy recently, and I'm sure he can fill you in on what we currently have on Yurina so you'll have somewhere to start."

Aruna nods briskly and heads over to the Muggle consultant's desk, a little wary considering she knows Edward can be difficult to work with at times, but determined to see this through.

If nothing else you can get it started. She reminds herself firmly.

"Mr. Clark?" She speaks as she approaches, and he glances up curiously.

"Ms. Kandasamy, correct?" He replies, and she nods briskly. "What can I do for you today?"

She quickly explains her new proposal, and he tilts his head curiously.

"Of course, we'll help however we can." He confirms lightly. "Where did you want to start?"

The day is... surprisingly not as horrific or as exhausting as she'd expected. By the end, though they haven't really accomplished anything concrete, they've developed a decent baseline for their work, which in and of itself will streamline things quite well.

Then Edward surprises her by inviting her out to eat afterward. "Figure you could use some time away from the magic and whatnot." Is his reasoning, but Aruna gets the sense there's more to the invitation that what he's laid out. Still, she accepts despite some uneasiness, and makes a point of telling Fergus where she's headed before actually leaving. Just in case.

To her surprise, there's already someone waiting for them when they arrive at a small restaurant a few blocks away from the Ministry. It's an older woman with a pixy cut and the air of someone who knows the world's secrets. She has a faint smile playing around her features as Aruna and Edward are escorted over to her table by the wait staff, and yet Aruna gets the sense there's nothing cheery about the situation she's found herself in.

She debates whether she should try to run, but after a moment slowly lowers herself in to the chair Edward has pulled out for them. He'd said there wouldn't be any magic involved in this outing, so her pepper spray should work if something goes wrong. And she's also curious to know what any of this is - she and Edward aren't friends, so the invite is intriguing despite everything else.

"Ms. Kandasamy. I am Mrs. Weston, head of Ministry maintenance." The woman introduces herself, still with that mysterious not-smile pulling at her lips. "I'm a Squib, so you don't need to worry about magic - Mr. Clark did not lie about that." She adds with a bit more genuine humor when Aruna tenses up slightly at the mention of the Ministry. "Though I do believe this is a conversation best saved for somewhere we can be certain we will not be listened in on."

Edward frowns. "Even here?" He asks, and the woman nods gravely. Aruna has no clue what they're talking about, but they proceed to have an early dinner accompanied by surprisingly interesting conversation. Edward is mostly quiet, but Mrs. Weston is happy to reveal some of the sillier things she sees happening around the Ministry on the day to day, and despite being somewhat terrified by how much this single human being knows Aruna finds herself entertained in spite of her nerves. She never fully relaxes, however, so when she's invited elsewhere yet again she's a bit more reluctant to agree. This place, at least, was public - she has no such guarantee for the next location.

Mrs. Weston is the one who eventually convinces her to continue going along, just for now. She follows them to a quieter part of town, at which point a hole opens up in the side of a building and that's about when she's ready to quit and sprint in the other direction. However Edward grabs her arm and pushes her through, and yeah, this was an awful idea, why did she follow them, now she's probably going to die and-

"Honestly Edward, you're going to terrify her more than she already is - don't manhandle her." Mrs. Weston's voice cuts through her momentary panic, and Edward lets go of her arm immediately, taking a few steps back at the same time.

"She wasn't moving." He mutters, but does seem genuinely apologetic when he turns back to Aruna to give her a quick 'sorry.'

Aruna is still tense, and she resolves that she won't be moving another step until someone properly explain what the hell is actually going on.

She voices the thought exactly like that, as firmly as she can considering she's still rather shaky from being pushed in here (wherever here actually is), and Mrs. Weston laughs.

"Fair enough dear - we're safe now from eavesdropping anyhow." She says with a smile. "Mr. Clark, why don't you take things from here?"

And he does.

Aruna honestly doesn't know what to think as Edward explains that there's likely a spy planted by Yurina inside of the Initiative, and probably the Aurors as well, and she's not sure why he's even sharing any of the information with her in the first place. It's actually kind of terrifying, and the sort of information she'd probably be happier not knowing (ignorance really is bliss), but she knows it now, which really only leaves one question.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

Edward glances over at Mrs. Weston. "Well... since you're investigating Yurina, I thought it would be important for you to at least be aware that there is a possible mole, so you're more careful about who you talk to." He says after a moment. "But... also, if you wanted, you could help us flush whoever it is out, too."

Aruna frowns. "Us?" She asks, glancing over at Mrs. Weston. "Is all of maintenance in on this, then?"

"And a few others." Mrs. Weston confirms. "But of course you should only get involved if you want to - we merely felt it would be best for your investigation to be aware of the possibility of a spy, so you could adjust your approach accordingly."

"It would be helpful to have extra eyes, as well." Edward adds idly, and Aruna frowns.

This... is a lot more than she was expected to have to deal with, honestly.

"I... need time to think about all this." Is what she eventually says aloud, and Mrs. Weston smiles a bit too knowingly while Edward frowns.

"That's fine. That's fair." He agrees. "Just... tell me, I guess? But not at work. Let's get dinner again, maybe. I can pay."

Aruna nods, a numbness starting to spread through her, and Mrs. Weston opens up the earth again and the three of them wander back onto the empty road.

"It, um, it was nice meeting you, Mrs. Weston." She remembers to say before leaving, and the older woman smiles at her again.

"The pleasure was all mine Ms. Kandasamy. Don't let this one pressure you into anything - it's fully your choice." The woman assures her, and despite how on-edge Weston has been making her feel all evening, Aruna actually believes her.

She nods and bids them both good evening before hailing a cab to take her home.

She has a lot of processing to do.

Author's Note: And it keeps growing xD You really think Edward would be more cautious considering the possible leak OTL But anyway, yay for the Initiative being reopened! That's one battle won, at least - now for the big one~