It was almost invigorating to be passionate about something again. There have been plenty of causes that he has championed, but never something this big. It all started just about a month ago, when he had noticed the increase in werewolf attacks. It was slight, but enough to make him think. In the resulting investigation, Marcus had seen a trend. Rather, two trends. In all the reports, there was either a genuine werewolf attack or what someone thought was a genuine werewolf attack.

He hadn't spoken to anyone about his findings, but decided to just jump into the process of changing things. Something different has to happen, because of those actual werewolf attacks will lead to the victims infected. With no way to cope with what is happening to them, they'll no doubt lash out, or worse. The ones that only think that they were attacked by a werewolf only show Marcus a much larger picture of ignorance and misunderstanding. Which is why when Marcus wanted to talk to someone, he decided to speak to Covadonga Gertrudis first.

As it turned out, she was not only on board with a new werewolf awareness program, but she had gone even further with pages upon pages of notes on a reinvigorated Capture Unit, among other things. She was his Department Head specifically in that field, and up until now she had never been in the limelight. This was her chance at doing something lasting as well. It was just a case of ironing out the basics before bringing it to all of the Department Heads in the form of a presentation. One that he wanted Ms. Gertrudis to lead. If she wasn't ready, then Marcus would make sure she was ready.

The quickened pace for Marcus was just the enthusiasm for his new goal, and he needed preliminary opinions from everyone he wanted involved before he took the next step. Speaking to Department Head Harker would shed some light, hopefully, on whether or not there is anything else internationally being done with werewolf awareness. She would be one of the integral parts of it, and Marcus valued her opinion.

He opened the door to the department a little too hard, and accidentally made a very attention-grabbing entrance. Thankfully either everyone was too busy to notice, or simply didn't care, not that there were a lot of people in the department to begin with. "Why do I always end up doing that?" Marcus asked himself. He walked through the parts of the department, and eventually made his way to Harker's office... but she was nowhere to be found. "I could have sworn I had a Department Head for this place..." Marcus questioned half-sarcastically.

Marcus walked out of her office and decided to try again some other time. Marcus walked out of her office and past a quiet worker... an oddly quiet worker. Duna, Marcus had remembered. When it came to matching names to faces, Marcus was terrible. You show him someone he saw one time twenty-five years ago, and Marcus could tell you the name and a story if there was one to tell. It was a very odd trait, indeed.

Instead of showing even a hint of tact, Marcus decided to sit down across from Duna. Maybe I'll talk to him instead, Marcus said to himself. "I know you might be busy, but my department head isn't anywhere to be found. I need to ask someone their opinion on something very important, and you seem like the kind of person that can tell it to me straight."

On the desk in front of Duna there was a smaller version of the map that hung on the wall in his office along with several notes that he was borrowing from other departments, trying to trace the travel of illegal goods through Europe now that he thought he had Africa pinned down. It was the use of this other material that forced him to work away from his tucked away office and more in the open of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

He was comparing his own notes and ideas with what others were saying and every now and again would pause to add something to his own repertoire of notes or to draw some dashes on the map with a flick of his wand. He had several routes throughout Africa mapped, but now it was the transportation to England that mattered to him. Was it by air, by land, or by sea? They were all plausible options at this point and this was why all of the notes were coming in useful.

He was deep in concentration, ignoring the goings on of daily office life. He was especially good at blocking out noise that he wanted to avoid, and background noise was just that. If someone were to speak to him, surely he would reply, but until then he was ignoring any unnecessary noises and the like that were simply part of working in this department.

Duna looked up as he noted someone sitting in front of his desk. He looked up from the work he was doing and pushed it aside quickly at the sight of the Minister for Magic. He bowed his head in respect for the man before beginning to speak. “Minister, I am not so busy as to not have time for you. As for Ms Harker, she was unfortunately called away to a conference in Romania. Perhaps she forgot to owl you about this.” He was sure it was just some oversight on her part due to the hectic nature of having been called away suddenly.

“How can I be of service to you, sir?” He was always willing to help in whatever way he could and could only wonder so far about what the Minister was actually doing here on their level. After all, the Department for Magical International Cooperation was rarely consulted about larger-scale projects unless they actually concerned international law and other matters. Triwizard Tournaments and the like were usually run through them. Then again, after the last one who knew when they would see one of those again.

"I'm sure I've already read her note, and promptly forgot it. What's important is that I talk to somebody here about what I'm working on." Marcus opened up his folder of notes and diagrams. He then turned it around and displayed it's contents to Duna. "As I'm sure you've noticed, there has been a string of werewolf attacks occuring within our own community. It hasn't been a huge increase, but enough for me to see that there is a problem."

"I have a plan to create a, stay with me here, global network for werewolf awareness. It'll start here, but I want to communicate with other governments using our inacted plan as a model for others to follow. The main problems that I've seen are that either they think they've been attacked by a werewolf when they haven't, and that they don't know how to accept the change in lifestyle and resort to less than civil actions."

"How beneficial would it be if there was a support group available for children and adults alike who have to cope with the change? There's also the matter of those afflicted being treated as second-class citizens. It's hard for them to get a job, pure and simple. I want to... no, scratch that, I'm going to change it."

It wasn't until Marcus saw the children that Moira was tending to at St. Mungos that he saw that something needed to be done, and fast. He had seen his fair share of troubled kids who couldn't cope during his stint as an Auror, but he never saw the aftermath. He never needed to talk to them about it, unless of course he had to interrogate them.

"I have other ideas for the ones that have completely embraced the change for more harmful purposes, but I still need to talk to Law Enforcement to get their piece on it. So far though, what are your thoughts on the matter? The reason why I came here to speak to Ms. Harker was to get her input on what the other governments might think of this. Is there something already in the works with them? Lastly, just how realistic is this to do?"

“Of course, of course.” He tutted practically to himself. It would have been silly for Ms Murray-Harker not to send a note to the Minister as well. He would need to know of her affairs more than Duna would. He was, after all, in charge of the entire Ministry and Duna was just one of the workers in her department. At least she had been kind enough to give the workers notice of where she was. The Minister continued to speak and Duna listened attently. He nodded along with his words and supposed that he would simply have to serve as that someone.

The mention of the werewolf attacks made Duna grimace. So much had been occurring as of late in the Wizarding World, and little of it was good. Runespoor trading, Murders and Werewolf attacks. Plenty of fodder for the Daily Prophet but little to make the government feel easy about anything. It seemed that for the past ten years all of this trouble had lay quiet, waiting for the right moment to crop up, and that it had done. To make it better everything had to happen all at once. At least there was the comfort that there was nothing on the end of the old vein of pureblooded views.

“Minister, I fear that in order to create a global network you will have to let the system be enacted here in England for some time. Most governments would even require that it exceed a year. Absolute evidence and hard proof that this works well would be necessary in order for any other government to accept it readily.” This was true. Governments were unwilling to begin what would likely be unpopular programs with no proof that they would work. The Ministry of Magic in London would pioneer this and then need for it to work in order to convince the world that it would be a good idea. Other governments around the world with less compassionate Ministers might not want to implement it at all without watching England’s test run closely for a long period of time.

The ideas were good, however, there was certainly no denying that. Of course, Duna was quick to jump and defend anyone, especially when they were being treated less than equally. “Support groups would be an interesting idea. Especially for the children, perhaps let them see adult werewolves who have succeeded. Then again, if we are looking for them to stop being treated as second-class citizens, I do hope you are planning on removing the necessity that they inform their employers that they are werewolves. If that cannot be done, then at least there should be strong anti-discrimination laws put in place. They need a way for the legal system to protect them against employers who will not hire them due to their unfortunate condition.”

All in all, Duna approved. He knew what it was like not to be an equal member of society and at least here werewolves were second-class citizens. In his youth Duna had been treated no better than a house elf, considered a third class citizen simply for his ancestry and his tribe. He was Zulu and proud and he knew that inequality bred anger and could only hope that the Minister’s ideas for those who had taken a less than lawful approach to life would be kind. It was their circumstances and the laws under past Ministries that had led them to that. They had likely had no other choice.

“There will be resistance, certainly. Not everyone is ready to fight for others and their rights. In fact, most are more than happy to keep werewolves where they are, somewhere between man and beast.” He gestured with his hands and his speaking soon became filled with passion. “It is refreshing to see someone who despite the fact that public opinion of him might go down is willing to put himself on the line for the rights of those who are considered lesser beings. No one is lesser than anyone else! We have seen what this belief did historically and anyone who believes that things should continue in this vein would be wise to go read some muggle history!”

The conviction in the man's voice told Marcus all he needed to know about whether or not he was the somebody that Marcus was looking for. It was clear that Duna knew a thing or two about staring adversity in the face, but Marcus wasn't about to pry into the man's life and ask invasive questions. Marcus nodded his head at Duna's advice, and preparing questions mentally for when Marcus got the chance.

"Ms. Gertrudis and I didn't even touch on letting employers know of their affliction. If you break down lycanthropy to it's core, you'll find that deep down it's just an illness. It's a permanent part of who they are, like HIV or anemia. An employer needs to be aware of any illnesses that their employee might have, for everyone's safety. The difference being that in the future there will be the aforementioned support groups and structure, to strip away some of the stigma involved."

"I'm not so naive to think that one legislation will wipe out any of the damage that has already been done, but I do honestly believe that over time people may begin to accept it, especially if they knew that something was being done to solve the problem. Realistically? This could take years to impliment. I'm ready for it, because I don't want anyone to bring themselves to self-destructive behavior, just to prove a point."

Marcus opened his work to the Law Enforcement section. "Which brings me to my next section, the Capture Unit. For those who have taken that particular path and need to be dealt with. As I see it now, they will be under the dual jurisdiction of the Magical Law Enforcement Department and the Magical Creatures Department. It's a group of volunteers trained by Aurors as well as werewolves themselves. The intent is to not harm them, but to rehabilitate them. Again, I realize this sounds terribly naive, but I've moved on from that. What I need to know is if any of this is going to cause any problems internationally? Is there anything you'd like to contribute, or debate?"

“Minister, people who have HIV are not under any obligation to inform their employers.” Duna knew this law quite well. Not only did  he come from a country where HIV was prevalent but when he had come to England he had been made to show that he was not HIV positive. In the ordeal he had learned much about HIV law in Britain. The most one had to tell their employer was that they had a disability. There was no law that stated that they had to tell them they had HIV. “In fact, airborne illnesses are the only ones that employers need concern themselves about. The rest can only be transferred through other means and thus would pose no threats while at work.”

Duna wondered that the Minister would relate something like lycanthropy to something like HIV. He never would have made that connection, in his mind one was much more malicious than the other but that might have been boiled down to the way illnesses like HIV were believed to be “cured” back in Africa. Yes, HIV was much more cruel than lycanthropy to Duna, he had seen much more lives claimed by it. Lycanthropy could be controlled, whereas HIV was only marginally controlled before it morphed into something else and then everything needed to be switched around to try and keep it under control.

Duna liked that the Minister was dreaming big, but it seemed that he was not dreaming big enough if he considered laws such as that archaic one about werewolves having to inform their employers as still necessary. At least he knew that the plan would take years to see through to fruitition and not just a day. Had he shown any higher expectations Duna would have had to kindly bring his feet back to the ground. This was something that would take years of persuading the people to accept. Werewolves were the minority. This, of course, made no difference to Duna, but to a Wizarding Community set on seeing them as threats it would

“How can you be so sure that these werewolves which past Ministries have mistreated will be willing to work in your new capture unit? What if they do not want to be rehabilitated?” They were logical questions, and Duna was simply trying to play the role of Devil’s advocate. The Minister would come up against these questions sooner or later. “I have found that people who the government mistreated are not exactly the first to volunteer to help it. Whether it be a new leader or an old one, they tend to see the same old things being painted in new ways.”

He sighed when he was asked if it would cause any problems internationally. “It could Minister, it certainly could. Though I assume the other countries would be grateful to you if all of the werewolves that wanted to be rehabilitated moved here, leaving them free of problems. But other werewolves who wish to be kept free of your program and allowed to roam free would certainly try to escape to other countries.”

"They don't have to... huh?" Marcus was made speechless, and embarrassed, by his oversight in policy regarding HIV and an employer. Marcus frantically searched through his paperwork, looking for the reference. He failed to locate it. "Okay, well... this is interesting. I'll spare you the anticipated backpedaling and just apologize for being misinformed. I, uh... hmm. Yeah, this is a first. Definately a first..." Marcus trailed off, visibly frazzled by his apparent lack of knowledge. Shrugging it off, he regained his positive demeanor. "This will definately change my stance on a few things, such as informing the employer about their affliction. Yes, okay moving on..."

Marcus moved into Duna's topic of rehabilitation, and whether or not they actually wanted it. "This is why I wanted open dialog with someone of intelligence, because I don't have all the answers. There are some people that do a good job on their own and don't want help. Fine, that's just great. I'm not going to bug them about changing a routine that clearly works for them. The other ones, the ones that just don't care, are well aware of our laws. They're not going to be treated any differently. If they do end up freaking out in werewolf mode, they will be captured and taken to our holding cells."

"Which isn't to say that I'm going to make edits to our laws, or go easy on them. We will have a counselor on hand, one that I hope actually is afflicted, who can reach out and help them. Sometimes it's as easy as letting them know that they're not alone." Marcus thought back to his time fighting the IRA, and trying desperately to counsel trauma victims on the battlefield, and letting them know that there were others, and that they didn't have to face it by themselves. "If there are continued problems, I think the law should be fully enforced. At that point, they're just endangering lives."

"Here's the thing though; this is far from a totalitarian movement. If someone doesn't like the program, they don't have to enter it. If they endanger lives, they'll be treated just as they would before this was set into place. I don't want anyone feeling like they have to flee their hometown just to avoid this. I think I'm going in the right direction with this, but I don't exactly have all the peices that would ensure that this plan will be accepted."

"I'm not so naive that I believe that this will be universally accepted, but I don't want to repel anyone. Especially if they need help..."