8 February 2010
2:15pm, Monday

"And my best wishes to your husband, Madam Strangely[1]," said the Minister with a forced smile.  Meetings with people with ...diverse opinions was part and parcel of the Minister's duty.  It helped to have a more balanced view of the issues of the day, but more importantly it was beneficial to have the public seeing it happy. 

The cameras and reporters followed out the controversial werewolf expert but there was no peaceful moment in between the next meeting.  Maurice Holmes was there again to show in the next appointment.

"It's Aisling Knight from the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee," he told her.  She glanced down at her own copy of the day's diary. 

"Ah, yes. Some business with... oh my, flying cars.  Merlin's bones."  She pursed her lips and shook her head.  At least they now had Knight taking the wheel, as it were, on covering up their community's garish blunders. 

"Bones, indeed."

"Thank you, Maurice."

"My pleasure, Minister."

There was a few seconds quiet as Maurice left the inner office to show in the new Chairwitch of the Muggle Excuse Committee and Zephyr took a moment to close her eyes and wait without any thoughts in her head.  But when the footsteps drew near, she exhaled, lifted her head and smiled.  The picture of composure.

Her eyes wrinkled at the edges.  Knight was a witch she genuinely liked, from what she knew of her.

"Madam Knight, thank you for coming.  It's marvelous to see you."

1.	Why yes, that Maya Irene-Strangely.

Would she never have enough time? With her bit of a nap at St. Mungo's earlier, Aisling was feeling somewhat rushed, despite having all her reports and paperwork to hand, and being properly on time as well.

Once she'd been led in she gave the Minister a bow and a polite smile. "Madam Minister, it's good to see you. I only wish it was under more pleasant circumstances." Rather than the sort that involved her Department Head and spats between old friends.

She offered a few sheets of paper, reports, summaries, to parse the issue down to its finest and most relevant points. "I presume you're familiar with Octavius Pepper." Naked portraits of former Ministers tended to have that effect. "My understanding so far is that he modified Edwin Glass' vehicle without permission, both to fly and with an invisibility charm that quite obviously failed. Therefore, when he took off he was seen by a great many Muggles in the area, as well as being recorded as he was far too distant for the magic to disrupt any recording devices."

A sigh. Merlin, but it was such a mess. "Fortunately the recordings weren't of too high of quality, so we should be able to pass it off as an actual Muggle flying car rather than a magical one."

Which was enough of a fuss in itself. "It seems that Pepper was most interested in media attention over this, which has me a bit more concerned." And of course the questions over Edwin's involvement, but it seemed crude to bring that up first thing.

Aisling Knight got right down to business!  Zephyr could appreciate that, but it did take away from her opportunity to build upon their already strong relationship.  Clearly, she was well-suited for the position Glass had given her just a couple of days before.

When she paused in her report, Zephyr didn't say anything at first.  Instead, she extended a hand over the desk to touch it lightly upon the wood between them.  A calming guesture, she hoped.  One that would insert a bookmark between the pages for a moment.

"Some tea?"

She tilted her head sympathetically and then rose from her seat to personally summon the tea pot and a pair of cups.  The tea poured and Zephyr engaged again.

"You'll forgive me - Octavius who now?"

Tea sounded wonderful, and so Aisling nodded, her posture shifting slightly to something not quite as tense. "Yes, please, that'd be lovely."

There was something soothing about having a warm cup in hand, with just a touch of steam rising off it, and so she let herself enjoy it for just one moment. "Thank you."

"And Octavius Pepper. He's a portrait painter who is, or perhaps I should say was, best known for displaying a naked portrait of Minister Bagnold during her 1988 tour." She sighed. This was hardly the sort of week she needed, when she was already tired, when her thoughts invariably turned darker as the week went on. "It seems that he hasn't grown out of his desire for notoriety."

"What?" Persepolis reacted with appropriate scandal at the the mere concept of the private old ruler on display at the hands of... a madwizard apparently.  This was the character who was...

"And this wizard - he stole Glass's automobile? And enchanted it to fly?"  Her tone was one of bafflement and disappointment.  Something of the same tone she took when she'd heard of student shenanigans at Hogwarts School in her previous post as Governor.  There were crimes and there were crimes! This Pepper person was being astonishingly arrogant, wasn't he?

"Disgraceful.  Glass must be livid.  Level Two has him then, I presume?"

Persepolis was settled down now in her chair.  She'd already forgotten that Aisling was only days into her post - so completely did she exude a sense of competence and trust.

Aisling listened quietly to the Minister's reaction,  nodding to the various questions as they were asked. "Glass was irate, yes. And an Auror had just arrived when I left the scene." That the Aurors were quite likely to be amused at Edwin's predicament was not something she wished to openly state, but that was rather the way things went between the two departments.

She sipped her tea, the gesture helping to organize her thoughts. "I'll leave the details of that to the Wizengamot, unless they should request my input. It's Pepper's interest in notoriety that concerns me the most." Another sigh, as she stared down into her cup.

"He has a business in flying cars in the United States, there may be a correlation. And I would so hate to see him make a continuing issue of this." She owed Octavius no loyalty for his actions here. "Though his inability to manage an invisibility charm does seem likely to harm any overarching cause he might have."

"You think there's something more to this."

Knight had as much already told her so three times now.  Even as Persepolis had attempted to slow the pace of the conversation in order to get to know Knight better, to gauge her fluency with details, Persepolis had heard her pointedly speak to Pepper's ambitious, attention-seeking streak.

"Certainly worth your time to keep this situation in your control.  Level Two can handle the legality, but I take it you'd like to play the part of a Diviner and move to prevent whatever this bad omen might bring with it?"

It was obvious from Zephyr's tight smile that she approved.  Knight ought to get her hands dirty.  Accidents & Catastrophes faced the struggle of always having to react and even when resources were plenty, it was difficult to stay ahead of how creatively and cleverly people like Pepper bungled things up. 

"What we do?"

"There seems to always be something more to it, with Pepper. Some method to the proverbial madness." Aisling allowed herself a few moments of attention to her tea before answering the Minister's questions.

First, she nodded. "And yes, I would. Such matters could become most volatile if escalated further. If such a car hit a Muggle plane, for one, there could be a hundred or more deaths." Let alone where it might crash land. A worrisome prospect indeed, something which flickered oh so briefly within her eyes. Octavius had not thought deeply enough on this, not at all.

"I'd best do the divination at home, it would be far more difficult to manage here." Her office did not have the same ancient tomes she kept within the library at home, the sharp lines of knives, or the weight of a proper stone altar.

She knotted one hand in her hair, thinking. "And perhaps a bit of extra care with our media, lest they run wild with with all of this."

The media.  Yes.  Persepolis certainly gave that bit a little extra thought.  She only occasionally spoke directly to the reporters herself, at Maurice Holmes's constant advice.  She agreed - it was important to make her own comments have the gravity of something rare and important, and not weigh in on each and every matter.  But she could certainly support Knight's directive and keep Rosier well away from things.  As an Undersecretary, he was bitingly effective.  And she didn't want him to bite any journalists.

"You'll have whatever you need to deal with the papers," she assured Knight.  "Although there are no better here than your Excuse Committee at spinning a story.  A figure like Pepper... do we need to worry about a cult of personality here? He's not... famous or much-loved by the public? I hope?"

That was another pickle entirely.  He seemed eccentric enough a figure that she wouldn't be surprised that there could be a great deal of sympathy for him.

Octavius had gotten himself into this, and Aisling was by no means going to save him. "Infamous, perhaps, but he might be enough of a sympathetic figure for this to be troublesome. And it may be far easier for the public to see the benefits to these vehicles than to envision the downsides."

She drained her cup. "Though he does have a financial interest in the topic, with his business in flying cars overseas. Perhaps that will need to be emphasized." It was hard to keep her thoughts pulled up out of a particularly dark frustration at all of this. Especially without tea, but she managed to keep such worries hidden save for the smallest touch of a frown.

"But it should be manageable, with the proper attention. Even if it isn't quite the welcome to the position that I'd wished for."

"In that case, see to it that this handled quietly," Zephyr said with more sternness than ever.  It was fairly true, that in modern times Wizarding folk had become enamored with muggle automobiles and a few notable events had cemented their fancy into the minds of the more rebellious sorts who had no real inkling of the grand importance of the Statute of Secrecy. 

The boisterousness of the United States' embrace of the technology didn't help things.  Their laws seemed to change so frequently, with fifty different interpretations that who could keep up?

"Yes, perhaps we don't give anyone the chance to fall in love with another flying car," she re-iterated. 

She stood then, feeling resolute.  Knight had slipped so seamlessly into the position that she had no doubts at all that she and Level Three would more than capably handle it.

"Perhaps a new tract or radio ad - a public service announcement - about the dangers of unregulated flying car travel.  Twisted metal and whatnot."

A last parting thought.

"Of course, Madam Minister." Aisling nodded and set her teacup down, already running through the myriad possibilities that keeping this quiet might entail. Merlin but she didn't wish to be the one to speak to Octavius. But then it seemed unlikely that he'd listen as much to most others, either.

"Twisted metal, fire, risk of death for all involved, yes." Her voice remained calm at such a prospect. There were a great many details that could be pulled out to invoke the appropriate sense of caution. Not pleasant ones of course, but accurate enough. And she did prefer to be somewhat truthful, it made things so much easier to swallow.

She pondered for a moment more. "Are there any other questions you might have for me?"

Persepolis smiled again, barely perceptible were the traces of stress lingering at the edges, but they were there.  She led the way to the door.

"No, my dear, that will be all.  Do keep my office apprised, though, won't you?  We'll all have cake and medals if we can manage to keep this Pepper person out of the Prophet."

The door opened at her gesture, and laid a hand on Aisling Knight's shoulder.  "You inspire in me the utmost confidence in the efficacy of your Department.  My regards to Glass, yes?"

"Of course. Though I will admit I'd be quite content with the cake." Aisling had to admit that the meeting had gone better than she'd expected. Perhaps her nerves were more on edge then she'd realized. Yes, that would be it.

She gave the Minister a bow. "And I am certain Glass will be glad to hear them." These arrangements would needed to be passed on to him, though given his personal involvement Aisling was not quite certain of just what the professional approach here might entail. There might be just a bit of a conflict with having someone whose car was involved oversee the cleanup.

Much of that was up to the Wizengamot, not to her. They would see what was said.

So she stepped through the door, back to the rest of her work.

END