It had been one of hell of a week- to say the least. He was barely in charge of the department before things went to hell in a handbasket because of those damned werewolf attacks. Tainted wolfsbane, and these... these... direwolves. Wolves that could attack and transform during the day. It was crazy- it wasn't safe, and the public had every right to be confused and terrified. Griffon had no clue what to do about it, and was glad that Bagnold seemed to have a good handle on things as far as the wolves were concerned. Griffon helped where he could, but taking care of the whole level wasn't simple.

He had been trying to keep the public up to date- and had discovered that Kurby had delegated that less than pleasant task to one of his newer recruits- a Kia Ferris. Griffon knew Kia. He had been great friends with her dad when he was at Hogwarts, and she was among his plethora of god children. (The plethora he used as an excuse not to get married and have his own kids.)

But delegating something like a press conference and giving information to the wizard media was a big deal- thus Griffon decided it might be in his best interests to lend her a helping hand and make sure that everything was done correctly. Not that he didn't have faith in her, but Griff had to be sure she didn't leak too much information while giving the right amount at the same time. It was a complicated task. Something he had grown accustomed to when dealing with the public after yeti attacks when he had been working in Tibet.

So he had sent a memo to Kia, asking her to meet him in his office. (Which he had finally completed to his satisfaction. It was just like being out in the woods on a beautiful spring day.) Griffon had even provided some snacks to go with the meeting, and currently sat behind his desk eating a doughnut and sipping some coffee, while reading through a couple of files sent to him from the spirit division. He checked his watch. Kia should be along soon.

Outfit

Kia wasn't late, she was never late. No, she had been outside of Griffon's office for the last ten minutes, pacing a hole in the floor. Why was she so nervous? Griffon was one of her fathers best friends and someone who had known her since she was a child. He had always been nice to her and she was sure he had probably put in a good word to help get her hired. But then, he was also her boss, her bosses boss to be specific. He had called her to his office so that he could discuss with her the speech that her supervisor, that asshole, had virtually dumped on her.

She hadn't wanted to explain to Bagnold that she was terribly phobic of doing anything in front of a group of people, so she had accepted the job. Now she was terrified that she was going to make the WCU look even worse by messing up the most important public relations speech in the last several years. This werewolf mess was huge and she couldn't screw this up. Somehow the thought made her even more stressed and she sunk into the chair outside the office door, clutching her churning stomach.

Swallowing the bile that rose in her throat, Kia managed to build up enough strength in her legs to stand back up. Breathing in deeply, she told herself that her mother would expect her to bite back this silly fear and confront it head on. Not an easy task to be true, but she didn't want to disappoint her mother. Turning the knob, she entered his office and was immediately greeted with a familiar atmosphere. The smell of pine and the cadence of the birds relaxed Kia considerably and she managed a small smile at her godfather sitting behind his desk. "Hello. sir...You wanted to see me?" She said, pulling out a chair and taking a seat "... I like the office. Very... you."

"Sir is a bit formal, don't you think?" Griffon asked with a smile, setting his coffee cup down on his desk. When she mentioned that she liked his office, he perked a little, giving a self satisfied glance around the room. "Yes, yes, it is a nice office, isn't it? Very fitting for a man in my position, I would think. Much more comfortable than some stuffy room with file cabinets and a large desk. Good for the lungs, to breathe in fresh air you know." Griffon took a deep breath, smiled, and then opened one of his desk drawers.

He pulled out a couple of folders, plopping them on his desk. "I understand Bagnold has delegated the task of talking to the press to you." Griffon flipped through the papers and found a memo. "Ah, yes, here we go. He sent this to me- and I thought perhaps you could use a little help. Bagnold is good at his job- but not so much with people. And, as I'm sure you're aware, this werewolf mess is nasty business and has to be handled quite carefully in relation to the public."

"Do you want some coffee or tea?" he asked. "Maybe some water or juice? I'd offer something a little more potent- but it's not exactly professional to drink on the job." Not that it meant Griffon didn't do it. He liked to have drinks on his lunch breaks, and it wasn't uncommon for him to break out some firewhiskey with his co-workers. "These doughnuts are quite exceptional. There is a little bakery just the other side of the Leaky Cauldron in Muggle London- best sweets I've ever had."

"Now I don't want you to think I am underestimating your capabilities, because that is not the case. But this is a big deal- and it is something I would supervise regardless of who got their hands on it. I'd do it myself if I wasn't busy running the entire level. It has been a... stressful week," he sighed. One of his close friends had died in the attacks. The Flickwick children were important to him, and he knew that they were having a hard time with their mother's deaths. But they were strong girls, something they learned from their mother, and he had faith that they would come through it all just fine. "Just need to make sure we're on the same page, and that we don't give too much away, or interfere with any legal aspects of the case- since the aurors do have a right to have their fingers in this particular pie."

"I understand Bagnold has delegated the task of talking to the press to you. Ah, yes, here we go. He sent this to me- and I thought perhaps you could use a little help. Bagnold is good at his job- but not so much with people. And, as I'm sure you're aware, this werewolf mess is nasty business and has to be handled quite carefully in relation to the public."

"I know..." she said miserably, "... I swear he has it out for me. It's either that or its because I am the only one in the group capable of making a sentence that doesn't come across as condescending or like I am missing chunks of my brain..." if I can even make a sentence, she added mentally. It wasn't that she wasn't capable of writing a good speech, but writing one was far easier then actually giving one. The idea of standing in front of the entire wizarding world and admitting that they screwed up... Oh merlin, her stomach was acting up now. Clenching it, she winced slightly. Telling the Flickwick girls about their mum seemed easier then this, and she had been terrified then!

"Do you want some coffee or tea? Maybe some water or juice? I'd offer something a little more potent- but it's not exactly professional to drink on the job. These doughnuts are quite exceptional. There is a little bakery just the other side of the Leaky Cauldron in Muggle London- best sweets I've ever had."

"Uh... Chamomile tea if you have it... and uh... no donuts please... I don't feel that well...but thank you..." She said, trying to maintain the calmness in her tone so not to tip him off that she was terrified. When he handed the cup to her, she blew on it gently and took a sip, glad for that brief moment of peace. The warm liquid calmed her churning stomach a little and she continued sipping at it, nodding as he spoke.

"Now I don't want you to think I am underestimating your capabilities, because that is not the case. But this is a big deal- and it is something I would supervise regardless of who got their hands on it. I'd do it myself if I wasn't busy running the entire level. It has been a... stressful week,"

You're telling me... she quipped inwardly, almost bitterly. Not only had she barely been there a couple of weeks before she had to hunt down a new type of werewolf that was attacking people during the day, but a dear family friend was dead and she then had to tell her children about how their mommy had her face eaten by a monster. Now, if that all wasn't bad enough, she was stuck facing her biggest fear in an attempt to calm a rightfully frantic country. Stressful was hardly the word.

"Just need to make sure we're on the same page, and that we don't give too much away, or interfere with any legal aspects of the case- since the aurors do have a right to have their fingers in this particular pie."

"Understood..." Kia said with a nod. Then she paused, thoughtfully, before calling up the question that had been bugging her this entire time "...Though I think, at some point, we need to approach the fact that They are having someone who has been employed here for less then a month... and has a debilitating fear of public speaking... giving a speech on the most sensitive subject of the year in front of the entire country.... So..." She paused again, taking a sip of her tea for dramatic effect, or perhaps because she was parched, before asking "...Why me?"

"I would suggest not insulting your co-workers, Kia," Griffon suggested. "They are not complete buffoons. Everyone is talented in their own way. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps this is a test of some sort?" he asked, giving her a very serious look. "It is not uncommon for people to be tested to prove their mettle- and considering the department that you are working for, being tested probably goes quite the long way."

Griffon arched a brow at her when she finally asked why. That was a very valid question, he supposed, though he was not very accustomed to being asked why. Since he'd come back to the ministry, most people just did what he said because he was the boss.

He settled back into his chair, took a long sip out of his cup, and carefully bit into his doughnut. Griffon studied her, wondeirng the best way to approach that question. "The longevity of one's employment shouldn't dictate whether or not they are given the opportunity to prove what they are capable of. Bagnold likely delegated- and chances are some people other than you told him no. That would be my guess, anyway. If I had to put money on it- I'd say you are the only one who agreed to take on the task."

"And a woman in your position shouldn't be afraid of anything. You chase werewolves, Kia. You bring in some of the most dangerous creatures our world has to offer. Standing up and giving a little speech shouldn't be too awful."

"But if you really think you can't do it, then I suppose I could take it over. I have the time to get it taken care of. I'm sure Bagnold could use you out there tracking those insane wolf things that were out in the day." He shrugged a little, and shuffled the papers and folders. "It's up to you. If you don't want to do this, then leave whatever notes Bagnold left you, papers, folders, case files- whatever- and leave me to it. But if you wan't help with this, then stick around. We'll take care of it."

When he asked her if she thought it could be a test, Kia paused and considered this. She supposed it could be the case. Bagnold had said she was under probation until she proved herself, so perhaps this was a way to verify that she was up to the job (though Kia personally felt that she had proven she was on the night of the attacks). Then again, maybe she had proven herself already, to his disgust, and this was just his attempt to mess with her head and get a good reason to kick her off the team. As rational as she tried to be about it, she couldn't help but feel the latter was the case. It was Kurby Bagnold afterall, he wasn't known for being subtle.

But regardless of why he stuck her with the task, she was going to do it. Whether she was proving herself an asset to the team or proving him wrong, she had to do this. Kia was a competitive person by nature and it was personally repulsive to her sensibilities to even think about quitting something she had started. It was why she hadn't stormed out of the room after Bagnold verbally harangued her during her interview and it was why she remained steadfast in her goal of becoming a full-fledged WCU member, despite all the horrors that had happened over the last week. So she couldn't just back down and let Griffon take this over, even though  she was terrified beyond belief of what would happen when she stood on that stage.

"No...No you don't have to do it. I'll... I'll try...to do...it." She said slowly, uncertainty still coloring her tone, before she straightened her shoulders and said with more confidence "No, I mean..I will do it."  It was as if her mind was trying to convince her churning stomach that things would be alright. "I just... Need some coaching. I don't want to...uh... choke up. It wouldn't look good for the team if the person speaking for them can't actually, you know, speak." She said the last part sheepishly, ashamed of her fear.

Griffon smiled. "We can work out beforehand what you're going to say, and then it's just reading it to the press. We can get you an anti-nausea potion to take beforehand, that might help. They make potions for everything these days, you know," he said to her.

"And it doesn't really matter whether you make the team look good or not," he commented. "After what happened the pubic is going to think we're incapable of doing our jobs. Until we have answers they're not going to like anybody involved, and to be frank we don't know a hell of a lot of anything at this point in time. Direwolves, they're calling them," Griffon said. "And I've never heard of anything like that."

"I suppose I should talk to the guys down in the capture unit about how they would feel if the department of mysteries got involved to do a little investigating."

He pulled a few pages from some folders, and handed them to her. "When I was in Tibet, we had these. Standard speeches with blanks inserted. Fill in the blanks with names, times, dates, and events. Lots of people got attacked by yetis in the more recent years, it was easier to keep these around. This will help you structure what you need to say and how to say it."

"So what is it about public speaking that has you so spooked?"