Desmond knows something is up with Estelle's investigation when she gets home, but when he asks her about it she just shakes her head, almost sadly.

"You'll see tomorrow." Is all she offers. "I can't say anything else."

Desmond frowns. The last time they'd spoken, Estelle had been convinced she was on the verge of a breakthrough with her work - has something gone wrong? It's the only explanation for her mood. Maybe she's been pulled off the job? He doesn't push, though, knowing how Estelle gets when she's like this and knowing it's better to let her stew in her own mind for a while. Estelle prefers working through situations logically rather than talking through the emotional elements of them. She'll come see him when she feels she's gotten her own head in order.

The next morning he heads into work, still a bit worried about Estelle but deciding to wait until evening to try and talk to her again - she had said he'd "see" today, so at the very least he'll have more information to confront her with if she's still down after work.

Things start off normally enough - he's back in contact with Shaun Roberts, at least, and they're working to make small, manageable adjustments to the Muggle Studies curriculum for the upcoming school year. Just in time too - he's finished his own curriculum and with things slowing down with Estelle as well he was once again tempting extreme boredom.

However, things very quickly spiral out of the norm - by ten o'clock, just as the last of the Hunters have arrived, the lift dings open once again to reveal a very grim Clary Shacklebolt, followed by Estelle and... is that Harry Potter?

Desmond might not be a wizard, and he might not have really been on speaking terms with his brothers in a while, but even he knows about the Boy-Who-Lived. And he knows that Potter is now the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement - his being here must be related to Estelle's work. And every scenario that Desmond can come up with for why Potter would need to be involved that would also make Estelle act the way she did last night... isn't good, to say the least.

Shacklebolt strides directly over to the Hunter's side of the offices, to be greeted by a frowning Longbottom and Finn.

"Is everything alright?" Longbottom asks, frown deepening when he spots Potter over Shacklebolt's shoulder. "Are we needed back in the Department?"

Shacklebolt takes a deep breath and pulls out her wand. "Finn Lopatkina-Paluch, you are under arrest on suspicion of aiding an international fugitive." The look in her eyes goes far beyond hurt, and Desmond can't stand to look longer than a moment before he's forced to tear his eyes away. Finn keeps Shacklebolt's gaze as he holds up his hands.

"I won't fight, but I hope you understand why I'm confused." He observes. "This feels like it would be a waste of human resources unless you were certain."

Shacklebolt smiles without humor, a wisp of magic winding around Finn's offered wrists while Estelle moves forward to take his wand out of his front robe pocket. "It would be." She agrees.

The room is left in a stunned sort of silence as Shacklebolt leads Finn away, the man still looking unnervingly calm despite the tense situation. But that's just Finn - calm, collected, always on top of things even when they seem to be an unmitigated disaster.

All things that, now that Desmond is forcing himself to consider it, would be extremely useful skills for an infiltrator to have.

Potter clears his throat once Shacklebolt and Finn are gone. "Right, um." He turns to address the room at large, resulting in him doing a nearly three hundred and sixty degree turn before realizing there are people scattered throughout the office, all of whom are staring at him. Desmond would laugh if he wasn't still slightly stunned - who would have guessed the savior of the wizarding world would be so awkward?

"So." Potter finally says, settling on facing the Hunters more than the Initiative. "A few of our Aurors have been conducting a private investigation into a possible mole inside the Ministry who was feeding information to Yurina on what the Hunters and the Initiative were doing. As you can probably guess, we've found a prime suspect."

Desmond can feel the tension ramping up inside the room - even he's feeling internally raw and he'd already assumed as much. Most of these people werne't even aware a possible mole was being considered, nonetheless hunted. It's definitely a double whammy reveal.

"We're going to be doing our best to get all the information in order. As things stand, Fiona McKay will be resuming her former role as leader of the Hunters. We'll be keeping both team appraised if and when we discover anything new. Um, that's all, you can get back to work now." With that Potter awkwardly turns and scurries back to the lift. Estelle makes her way over to Desmond, face still twisted like someone had punched her in the gut, and Desmond wordlessly pulls her into a hug.

"Told you." She mumbles into his shirt. "You'd see today."

"Are... are you sure?" He asks, quiet, pained, and she nods.

"Has to be. He fits all the criteria - it has to be him."

Desmond frowns slightly - he knows his girlfriend well, and she'd phrased that very carefully. There's more to this that she's not saying, but he doesn't push, not right here. Not right now.

He looks around to see how everyone else is doing. Kylee is slumped at her desk, wide-eyed, while beside her Fergus is actually shaking. Alex looks like he might be sick. Rose and Landon are whispering furiously to one another. Aruna has vanished into her office - Desmond isn't even sure she'd seen everything go down. Petra, Miles, and Veena all look various shades of shocked as well.

On the Hunter's side, it's even worse, and Desmond isn't surprised. After all, they were the ones who actually worked with Finn, were friends with him. The shock the Initiative feels likely pales in comparison to the utter devastation the Hunters must be experiencing right now. A surreptitious glance over to that side of the offices finds Jack Abbott looking decidedly pale, Minerva Seo blinking harshly as if fighting back tears (itself a shock - Desmond wouldn't peg Seo as someone to cry, even over something like this), and Hugo looking lost. Desmond turns away before seeing how Edward and Pup are taking the news. He's not sure he could handle watching his friend be upset, though he supposes of all the remaining Hunters, those two were the least connected to Finn, so they're likely the least devastated by the reveal.

Even that is probably still terrible, though. Desmond didn't really know Finn at all and it's still a massive blow to realize such a respected and effective member of the Ministry was secretly working against them the entire year.

He thinks that the scariest part is how no one had even suspected - Finn obviously has no regrets or uncertainties about what he'd been doing, otherwise there surely would have been some tells in his behavior. 

The rest of the day very little is really accomplished on the seventh floor, and Desmond wouldn't be surprised to learn if the same was true of the rest of the Ministry, if not the wizarding war as a whole. Finn may not be a top war hero like Potter or the majority of the Weasley family, but he was still known and respected as a combatant in the Battle of the Ministry and for his work cleaning up Ministry corruption in the aftermath. 

There will probably need to be another Ministry corruption cleanup, considering.

Estelle confirms they're already putting one together that evening over dinner, and Desmond hums.

"Did he confess?" He asks after a moment, and Estelle sighs.

"Not really," She admits, "But we showed him the evidence and he acknowledges it as rather damning. He also said that even if we're right, we still can't touch Yurina, and I hate that he's right about that. She's been straight-up called out and people still want to believe she's the good guy." She sighs heavily. "I also hate that he'd be acting exactly the same way as he is now if he were innocent."

Desmond frowns. "Really? I guess if his default acting is suspicious, then maybe it makes sense that no one worked out what was happening." He shifts in his seat at Estelle's baleful gaze.

"If we just suspected people because they acted a certain way - regularly, I might add - we'd be presumptive s. Finn is hyper-logical, which is why we showed him my findings, to try and prove he had nothing to lose by telling us the truth. But it didn't work."

Desmond frowns, studying his girlfriend thoughtfully. "...Are you worried you were wrong?" He finally asks, and she groans, her head dropping to her forearms.

"I don't know. Do you... you're kind of separate from Finn, right? Maybe you could look it over? See if I missed anything?"

There's something more there, a hidden desperation in her tone, but Desmond can't quite tell if Estelle wants him to find something she missed, or confirm that she was correct. He supposes he'll just have to hear her process and tell the truth - hopefully whatever he finds will help put her mind at ease, one way or another.

A lot of what Estelle shares is information he's already heard - some of it information he himself helped to locate - thought it's fascinating to hear it laid out within the context of other information he wasn't previously privy to. He follows along with Estelle's logic easily enough, often following the threads she did even before she explicitly lays them out, and he's honestly uncertainly of why she's even questioning herself - the links are secure.

It's only after she reaches the end that he realizes what might be troubling her. There are still two possibilities on the list - Finn, and Clary Shacklebolt, who Desmond knows Estelle idolizes.

He takes a slow breath, trying to organize his thoughts and how best to communicate them, but Estelle's hand flies forward. "Wait! Wait, there's one more thing. But... you can't tell anyone. I'm not even supposed to know about this, but it's the key point. I need to know if you agree with my assessment of the data on this, or if, you know, certain things are clouding my vision."

Desmond frowns, but tilts his head to show he's listening, though he's already wondering how Estelle came across this knowledge if she's not supposed to have it - could she have been fed something to turn her eyes away from the real culprit?

Estelle takes a deep breath, obviously debating how to phrase her next points. Finally, she sighs. "You can't tell anyone." She says firmly, and it takes a moment for Desmond to realize she's actually waiting for him to confirm that he won't.

"Of course not." He says quickly, and she nods.

"Right, well, there was a mole in the Initiative - it just wasn't anyone Muggle."

Desmond listens in increasing shock as Estelle explains the entire Fergus situation slowly, carefully choosing every word as she reveals the older consultant's role as unwilling insider and informant for the mysterious Handler they now believe to be Finn.

"That's... awful, but how does that clear Mrs. Shacklebolt?" Desmond asks slowly when she finishes. "She still could have been his Handler, right?"

"His Vow was connected to a woman named Hui Ying Wong." Estelle says quietly. "Clary Shacklebolt never had any interaction with Hui Ying or her daughter Zara, who died in the Battle of Hogwarts in the last war. But Finn was part of the team that put Hui Ying under house arrest after her trial. He was also one of the people to argue that losing her daughter was pain enough, and living with that fact was worse than anything Azkaban could give her."

"He kept her out of jail." Desmond breaths. "And Clary definitely had no contact with her?"

"She was out of the country during that particular trial and was never put in charge of house arrest cases - that was very much Finn's department."

Desmond exhales heavily. "Then I guess I have to say your logic is sound. It doesn't seem like it could be anyone other than Finn."

Estelle sighs. "I know. I just... I guess after everything, and considering how long he must have been doing this it feels... it feels too easy? That we finally caught him. All because of a screw up on the timing of those files being returned."

"Maybe it wasn't a screw up." Desmond suggests after a moment. "Maybe someone was having second thoughts? Or they were like Fergus and worked around a loophole if they were being coerced?"

Estelle shrugs, her furrowed brow suggesting she'd already considered that as a possibility. "Maybe. Maybe they realized what might actually be at stake. Still, that almost feels more terrifying - if there wasn't a slip-up in the ranks we'd still be no closer now than we were before to actually finding out about Finn." She sighs. "I do wonder how he even met her."

"Wasn't he the only person to ever get close?" Desmond points out. "I'd imagine probably then."

Estelle goes still, her eyes widening. "Merlin's balls." She says, voice almost an awed whisper. "That's right, isn't it? And that was at the ship graveyard. I can't believe I didn't make that connection."

Desmond figures she probably didn't want to make the connection, but he doesn't voice that thought. She's probably beating herself up enough - he'll point it out later.

The rest of dinner is tense, to say the least, but Estelle does invite him to stay the night, so hopefully she'll be feeling better in the morning after rest has given her mind a chance to properly come to terms with everything that's occurred in the past fourty-eight hours.

Desmond hopes he'll be able to come to terms with it, too. Finn may be out of the picture now, but Yurina is still standing strong, and the world is still primed for war. They need to be ready for anything, now more than ever.

Celine's article had taken a full month to research, developed, and write, but she's actually quite pleased with the final product.

"I think I get you reporter types now." Stanley admits when she proudly hands him one of the pre-printed copies of their story. "It's kind of thrilling seeing your name on the page."

"Think you'll be up for doing your own stuff in the future then?" Celine teases, and Stanley makes a face.

"Let's not go crazy now." He says, and Celine laughs.

The article really did come out amazing, if she says so herself. They'd gathered dozens of personal interviews, and had ended up taking cues from their chat with Holly and wrote about people's daily lives and work, highlighting the familiar mundanity of simple human existence.

Celine had requested a few early prints of the approved article that she and Stanley will be giving to the people they'd spoken with, to confirm that they're happy with the story and that no quotes were taken out of context. She'd owled ahead the day before and gotten confirmation from most of their interviewees that she and Stanley could come in the next day - now today - to show them the article.

"You can't tell me you haven't had fun though." Celine points out once they have the articles - and the people they're visiting today - in order and are heading out of the Telegraph building. "You're always in a great mood at the end of interviews."

"I do like talking to people, this is true." Stanley admits. "And I won't lie and say I haven't been looking forward to this follow up all week - there are some people I'm really excited to see again."

Celine agrees - while of course not every interview was fascinating, a decent number of them surprisingly were - Holly, of course, but also Leona Poole and Lee Jordan from the WWN, the owners of the Second-Hand Bookstore Artemis and Myrrdin Cadwallader, and several other men and women who agreed to be interviewed despite not being anywhere near public figures. One older woman - Cynthia Dugsmoor, is their first stop on the day's tour. She lives in one of the magical neighborhoods still hidden from the Muggle world, and in her interview she'd gleefully told them all about the neighborhood drama extending all the way back to when she'd first moved in fifty years before. Stanley had seemed to particularly enjoy that interview, and he'd told Celine afterwards his own parents had dealt with similar situations in their own, upper-class London neighborhood when he was growing up. She'd let him write out that section of the article and has to admit he'd done it well.

Cynthia is equally impressed, gushing over the story and excitedly pointing out her quotes.

"Oh I wish we could get this delivered here - I'd love to see the look on Mabel's face when she reads this." She says after skimming through the entire article. "She's got some high-faluting ideas about what's proper and why separation is the only right way to do things, and she's so darned convinced that most people agree with her, even though the only reason the neighborhood isn't open yet is that she's the head of the HOA. And we'll be voting her out come September elections, let me tell you."

They stick around only a few minutes more before they have to move on to their next visit, though Cynthia insists they come by again for tea sometime in the future.

"I'm taking her up on that, I'm invested in all this now. Also I want to see Mabel's face when she's voted out of the HOA." Stanley declare as they exit the magical neighborhood. Celine just laughs.

The next few visits are a little more subdued, but everyone quite likes the article - a few more also ask if there's a way to get a Telegraph subscription, which is flattering, to say the least. It's just after noon when they wrap up their neighborhood visits and head to Diagon Alley for their next several follow-ups.

It's a rather melancholy walk - their last conversation had been with one Mrs. Andromeda Tonks, who had lost both her daugher and husband to the previous war, and she'd voiced concerns about what the curent state of world affairs could potentially cause.

"Should we add something like that?" Stanley asks after a while. "Or do a follow up about the devestation of war? Just to, I don't know, make sure everyone really gets that it's a bad idea?"

"I mean, the blogs are doing a pretty good job of that." Celine points out, "But I know what you mean. Who knows how many people are really reading those? Maybe we could get a followup approved." She frowns. "Though you'd probably have to take point on that - I really need to get back to covering the Initiative now that they're back up and running again. This project wasn't supposed to take so much time."

Stanley hums. "I think I could stand that. And also I don't know why you'd have assumed this would be quick - unless you were planning to do a half-assed job of it, a story like this was always going to be a massive time sink."

Celine laughs. "Fair enough. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so big - it's been amazing to see how willing people really are to talk to us, and hopefully that comes across to our readers."

They visit Myr and Artemis (as they'd insisted they be called) at the bookstore first because the store is closest to the newly pinned-open entrance of the Alley, and they can see the former sitting at the desk, reading through something. He looks up as the door opens, bright customer service smile crossing his face for a moment before softening into something more relaxed upon seeing who they are.

"Ah, Ms. Yang and Mr.Wilson, from the Telegraph, wasn't it? What can we do for you today?" He asks with a calm curiosity that Celine had learned on their last visit is his default state of being.

"We've completed our article and wanted to ensure you were happy with any and all quotes from yourself and your wife that we used for it." Celine explains, offering him one of the early prints.

"Why don't we go see Artemis in the back? I'll have Mandy come watch the front." Myr decides before he even opens the article. "She's been excited about this ever since you two came by last month."

"Sorry it took so long, we wanted to make sure we did it right." Celine explains as they follow the man through a side door and into the back of the shop, where Artemis and the couple's daughter Mandy are sitting on the floor, sorting through several books that Celine assumes must have recently been dropped off.

"Oh don't apologize for that - if only more reporters took their jobs so seriously! I'd rather wait for something of high quality than get a quick rag." Myr assures them, his voice catching his wife's attention.

Artemis smiles when she sees them. "Oh, the article is finished?" She asks, standing and brushing off her skirt. "Mandy dear, can you watch the front?"

The fourteen year old looks up with wide eyes, clearly nervous as she always is when given such a big task, but she nods shyly and scurries away, back out the door and into the shop.

"Alright, let's take a look." Myr finally unfolds the article, and he and Artemis read through it together, not stopping on their own section like everyone else has but rather going through it in its entirety before making any comments. Celine catches Stanley shifting nervously in her periphery, and she grins over at him teasingly, getting a quick tongue stuck out in return.

Finally, Artemis speaks. "The wait was worth it, this is an excellent exposé." She says, smiling at Celine, who beams back. "Our quotes are all perfectly positioned, so I'm confident the rest must be as well. I also must say I like that this isn't harping on the war situation - that could easily make this sound rather preachy. Focusing instead on humanizing magic was a smart choice."

Stanley chuckles. "We were just thinking if we should add something about that or make it a separate piece, so I guess that answers that question." He jokes lightly. "Glad to hear you like it though; hopefully it will go well with the Muggles as well."

"Considering I'm a Muggle, I think it'll be alright." Artemis grins.

They chat with the Cadwalladers for a few more minutes before heading back out and crossing the street to revisit the very first shop they went to when they started these interviews. Hazel Kiddell is standing behind the desk, pouting, when they push open the door to the wand shop, though she quickly jumps up and slaps on a smile when the door swings open. She goes back to pouting when she spots Celine and Stanley.

"Oh, hey." She sighs. "Here for mom and dad? Because they're out right now at the tree farm collecting some new wood, so it'll probably be a bit before they're back."

Stanley laughs slightly, obviously amused by the apparent teenage angst they're witnessing, and Celine elbows him subtly. "Thanks for telling us. Is everything alright with you? You look down."

Hazel huffs. "Fine, just fine. I'm not allowed to sell any wands while the 'rents are away, but you know. Whatever. Definitely a great way to get me ready to take over the family business, not letting me sell wands."

"Oh calm down drama queen, you're allowed so long as I'm around, and I'm back." A new voice cuts in, clearly amused. Ebony Kiddell, the oldest of the three Kiddell kids, steps through the front door, several bags of groceries floating in front of her. With a quick flick of her wand she sends them off into the back, presumably to unpack themselves, before turning to Celine and Stanley. "And good afternoon - I don't think we properly met last you were here. You're the Muggle reporters, correct?"

"That's us." Stanley says quickly, smiling and hurriedly moving foward to offer a handshake that's accepted with a quirked smile from Ebony. Celine blinks slightly, not used to Stanley being this eager to take point. "Stanley Wilson, this is my colleague Celine Yang. We wanted to speak with your parents to confirm that the quotes we used from them in our article have been correctly placed and contextualized before we publish the piece."

"Ebony Kiddell, eldest of the Kiddell line and future Herbalist." Ebony says as she releases Stanley's hand. "Nice to properly meet you this time, rather than running in between classes."

"So you're in school still?" Celine can't help asking - Ebony is twenty-one, so if she is studying it would be at the university level, something she didn't think existed in the magical world. This could be an interesting addition to the article, if that is the case.

Hazel groans. "At some fancy higher-level institution in France." She says before Ebony can reply. "I'm shocked mum and dad didn't brag endlessly about that in the interview, 's all we seem to talk about here."

Ebony gives her younger sister a look. "It is not. Anyway, Hazel is correct - there's a magical university in France which I'm currently attending- I'll be in my last year starting in September, majoring in Herbology."

"Do you think you have time to tell us a bit more about it?" Stanley asks hopefully, and oh, that's why he's acting a bit uncharacteristic all of a sudden - he think Ebony is cute. Celine hides a smile and resolves to about it once they've left. "While we wait for your parents to get back?"

Ebony hums. "Sure, if you think it will help." She agrees easily. "There's not much to say though - it really is just more school."

"And that's something a lot of people can relate to." Celine points out with a smile, rummaging through her bag to try and find a pen and notepad. She hadn't packed one this morning, but she's confident that she has them anyway - what sort of reporter would she be if she didn't?

She eventually scrounges them up, and Ebony leads them into the back, reminding Hazel to call if any customers arrive. Hazel mutters something that sounds rather rude, but agrees nonetheless.

Ebony sighs. "She's still underage, so she needs someone who can legally put out fires with her when dealing with customers." She explains. "But she thinks we're treating her with baby gloves."

"Can you just keep a bucket of water under the counter?" Stanley asks, and Ebony laughs.

"If only - some fires caused by incorrect wand pairings are magically-based and can only be put out with magically conjured water. I can't explain any further than that though, since it's not my specialty. Dad probably could - he did his minor in Conjuration."

Celine ends up getting quite a few intersting notes about magical universities thanks to Ebony, and she already knows they'll need to find a way to weave it into the article - it's too good to leave for the next one, or for a smaller column. Hazel pops into the back a few minutes after they finish to inform Celine and Stanley that Holly and Emery have returned from the tree farm and are ready to discuss the article.

"You go ahead - I'll make sure we've got everything here." Stanley assures her quickly, and Celine nods, hiding her smile as she turns to follow a still grumpy Hazel further into the stock room. They technically already have everything they need from Ebony's interview, but she won't begrudge her desk mate - friend? they probably qualify as friends now - a little extra time with his crush. It would be hypocritical of her, anyway, considering her own current romantic life.

Landon had offered, when she told him more about the article idea, to do an interview with her, but she wanted to avoid the Initiative as much as possible with this project. This is about showing that all of magic is just as human as non-magic, and the Initiative is already suspected of sugar-coating things.

Holly Kiddell smiles when Celine steps into sight. "Celine! So good to see you again - does this mean the article is done?"

"Yep, and we've brought it with so you can check that everything we've said is accurate - nothing improperly contextualized or misquoted."

Emery raises an eyebrow. "We?" He asks, and Celine belatedly remembers that Stanley isn't with her at the moment.

"Oh, Stanley is finishing up an interview with Ebony - we're hoping to add her experience with university into the final product."

Emery raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? I can share some of my experiences as well if you'd like. I know I didn't contribute much to the original interview."

Celine nods. "That would actually be great! It could show how schooling changes in the magical world just like in the Muggle world." She agrees. "Um, Hazel?" She says with an awkward smile, and Hazle groans again.

"Yeah, I'll take you over. No promises they aren't making out or something though." She grumbles. Emery's expression darkens again, and Celine sends a mental 'good luck' to Stanley.

Holly chuckles once the two have left. "Emery worries about Ebony's dating habits." She says idly, "Namely that there haven't been any. Hazel is in a serious relationship now, and even Ash has a girl he's crushing on at school. And Emery and I were engaged only a few months after I graduated from Hogwarts, so he's used to young romance. Ebony taking her time doesn't make sense to him, so he hides that with worrying." She sighs. "I've told him that these days kids are taking their time with finding partners, but Emery is a very hands-on person, so understanding things theoretically is tough for him. He'll get there eventually. But back on topic, let's see about that article, shall we?"

As before Holly proves a wonderful and interesting conversationalist, and she's the first person to suggests a few edits to her section in the article. Once that's done, since Emery and Stanley still aren't back, the two women settle in to simple chat about anything that happens to come up.

"So who are you seeing next? If I'm allowed to know, of course." Holly asks after a few minutes of idle chatter.

Celine grins. "It's fine. We're ending the day with Gabriel Beaux, who was kind enough to sit down with us near the start of our research and helped us get in contact with quite of the few people you see quoted in the final article."

Holly raises an eyebrow. "That man really is determined to wriggle into every nook and cranny around the Initiative, isn't he? How many questions did he ask you and Stanley while you were speaking with him?"

Celine frowns slightly. "I don't think..." She starts, and then stops and forces herself to actually consider their previous conversation with the reporter before making any declarations on it. As she does so, she realizes with some dawning shame that yes, Beaux had been subtly asking questions, and she hadn't even noticed. Some reporter she is.

"Oh don't feel badly hon, he wouldn't be the best at what he does if it was obvious when he was doing it. Hate to say it, but to be a good reporter you need to be willing to dip into gray morality here and there to get what you need. We're just lucky Beaux is firmly committed to the side of justice or he could well be another Dark Lord, goodness knows the boy has the brains for it." She chuckles. "Anyhow, I think it's wonderful he's helping you both with this - he has quite a few connections in strange places, as I'm sure you discovered."

Celine spends the next few minutes hearing all about the strange and challenging mysteries Beaux has gotten himself caught up in over the years, and how they've launched him to a level of fame Celine would have never guessed based on how he'd acted during their last interview. It's honestly rather impressive - she'd only picked him to create the equal-but-opposite article for the magical world because she'd met him at the last monthly conference and learned he was covering the Initiative the same way she was, but for the Prophet. He'd thus seemed the obvious choice - now she's wondering if she might have inadvertently caused more drama than necessary.

Still, it's not like she can do much about it now - Beaux has exchanged a number of owls with her about the progression of the project, and he's nearly finished as well. If nothing else, his fame could mean that people will be more receptive to the story. On the other hand, he could have used his investigative skills to dig things up that could make things even worse. She'll have to ask to see his article before it's published, just so they can be ready for whatever he's cooked up.

Stanley and Emery return eventually, and the two Telegraph reporters head out after saying their farewells. Celine decides to skip teasing Stanely about Ebony for a moment so she can fill him in on the Beaux situation.

Stanley takes the news surprisingly well. "He seems nice enough - I think we can trust him on this. He's about justice, and war isn't justice. It's just destruction."

Celine hums. "I like that quote. Maybe we can add a little tease to the end of the article about your war-focused followup? We're editing the article anyway for Ebony, may as well keep people excited."

Stanley nods his agreement. "I can get it written in a week, easy." He confirms. "I'll use the parts of the interviews we didn't use in this one."

Celine grins. While she's still a bit nervous, she thinks that they might really have something here. Things may just turn back in their favor yet.

Author's Note: I'd say something like "but WILL they" but this is a double update so you guys will find out in literally two seconds xD Anyway, I do want to apologize for the delay on this one - I swear I have a good reason for it OTL Long story short, there is a LOT of paperwork and police visits involved when your neighbor shoots out your window >~> I wasn't the target, don't worry, I'm completely safe, but it was scary in the moment since I was pretty close to said window, and it's been a long few days because of it. Hopefully it'll all be cleared up tomorrow and I can get back to my usual routine! Honestly I'm more annoyed that my thesis study schedule got delayed than anything else at this point xD