Griffon was looking forward to Career Day at Hogwarts. He wasn't sure why- but it sounded like fun. And, instead of pawning it off on his underlings, Griffon decided that he would go himself! Who better to get information from than the head of the RCMC after all? Besides, he was looking forward to chatting with the deputy headmaster and some of his students. He had just agreed to loan the man some employees and dragons for a class for the older students, and was curious as to what exactly O Morain was planning to do with the dragons. And also to make sure that the students would be trustworthy enough around said dragons.

He arrived early to set up the booth. Griffon wasn't certain which of his employees were going to come around- but he had extended invitations to multiple departments. As far as demonstrations... well... that was another thing all together. It wasn't exactly practical to have the RCMC bring in dangerous creatures to control. But Griffon could just wing it as needed, he supposed. Maybe some games or something.

After getting everything read- a few pamphlets on different departments, some really awesome pictures, and then a few articles detailing the RCMC and the WCU's progress capturing werewolves the last few months, he sat down on a stool and leaned back, lounging- waiting for the students.

Kia in Uniform

Kia worked her way through the crowd with relative ease, the tails of her leather jacket slapping loudly against her leather boots. People stepped out of her way, avoiding the silver spikes that dotted her boots and gloves, as they eyed the skull like mask on her hip. The WCU uniform was something a bit... different, then what people expected. It made it clear that she meant business, business being 'hurting bad guys'. 'What the 'ell... look at 'er acting all scary'" she heard one of the students murmur as she marched by them. Stopping abruptly, her head snapped towards them and her pale eyes locked on the young child, no more then a second year, with such ferocity that it froze him to the spot in terror. She kept this stare on him for a moment, unblinking, before she turned away and marched off just as abruptly. "'oly 'ell..." She heard him exclaim and she smirked to herself. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.

Her satisfied smirk fell quickly as she neared the booth and witnessed what was going on. Apparently no one had thought to inform her that she would not only be representing the WCU but that she was the ONLY one representing the WCU. As far as she could tell, it was just her and 'uncle' Griff. Not that she minded it just being the two of them, since she liked hanging out with the gruff old man, but she wasn't keen on having to answer questions or... well.. represent anything. When she learned she would be wearing her uniform for this gig she had been excited, assuming that she was going to be in the backround looking scary. Now she wasn't so sure that it was going to help recruit anyone to the force. Was Bagnold trying to kill her?

"Hey Uncle Griff..." She said with a weak sigh in her voice as she slid behind the booth. "... Sorry I kept you waiting... This uniform isn't the quickest thing to get on..."

What was with the crowd of people? Heliotrope found her usual path outside to the grounds and the lake blocked by a swarm of people surrounding pitched booths. She darted her eyes back and forth, looking for an opening, trying not to run into anybody. She twisted and skipped and sidestepped. Swimming amongst a mass of bodies was different then simply swimming in the water.

An opening closed on her, some older year students backing into her, knocking Heliotrope aside. She struggled to control her fall for one path held the spiked armor of a woman behind a booth. Heliotrope's arms flailed for support. Her hand slammed onto the booth's counter, saving her from falling face first. She repositioned her feet and then stood. A glossy pamphlet had stuck to her gummy, webbed hand from where she had splayed them for balance. She tried to shake it off but it was too clingy.

((So sorry for the delay. Life has been crazy. I think I'm back on top of things now, though.))

Griffon smiled at Kia. "Not a problem," he said with a cheerful smile. "Glad to see you're here though." He figured any boys lurking around the booth would be equally glad. He knew that Kia was a pretty girl, and didn't think it would take long for the seventh years to realize that.

It wasn't long before other students began filtering in and out. And soon a small girl fell forward, catching herself on the booth. Griffon looked curiously as the webbed hand which was stuck to a pamphlet, and grinned a little when she tried to shake it off. He reached forward to pull it from her hand with a smile. "Good morning," he greeted.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Griffon said, hoping that she wasn't too embarrassed. He didn't want to make her feel awkward by noticing that she fell- but if she'd injured herself, then that was something to take care of.

The pamphlet was removed. Heliotrope looked up at the man behind the booth who spoke. "Good morning, are you alright? Didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"I am not injured," Heliotrope said. Her hand was stinging a bit from the impact but she cooed at the odd tingling sensation. The pamphlet no longer stuck on her hand, she glanced at it. On this side it highlighted differences with "Being" division (Relate with Goblins! House-Elves! Hags! Vampires! Veela! Giants!) and "Beast" division (Control Dragons! Centaurs! Werewolves! Ghouls! Merpeople! And much, much more!).

Having never been told by her ancestors why Centaurs and Merpeople objected to Ministry classification, Heliotrope was confused by seeing Merpeople related to "Beasts" and "control."

"Why are merfolk in this 'Beast' Division?" she asked.

(Uniform: http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh54/Puddytat_03/Next/dressuniform.jpg  )

Colonel Kabir Ahmed was possibly more aware of the pretty girl at the booth than any Seventh Year could have been; because not only had she visited him in Saint Mungo's, she had been kind to him in the aftermath of the Ides of March attacks. Fortunately his confinement during the April Full Moon had come and gone with no untoward effects...

Since the DOIMC panel wasn't till after lunch, he took advantage of a momentary lull to walk over and say Hello. If he'd heard what Kia said about taking  a long time to get into her uniform, he could have related. He felt ridiculous in his parade uniform, though at one time his late wife had commented that it became him. However after all these years he was still not used to all the fuss and feathers and would have been far more at ease in his field uniform.

He hastened his steps when a little girl...who had long blond hair that had apparently turned green from swimming in over-chlorinated pools...tripped and caught herself on the table. Ahmed heard Griffon Manley ask her if she was all right; but before she could answer Ahmed noticed her splayed, webby fingers. They reminded him somewhat of a frog; and at that point he guessed that her hair must not be green from swimming pools. A Veela? he wondered. Or perhaps a Rusalka? Her teeth didn't seem to be pointed though...

He would have helped her with the pamphlet and even reached out his hand to do so...but Manley beat him to it. "Good morning. Are you alright? Didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

The child appeared distracted by the pamphlet. "I am not injured," she answered, with the sort of formality Ahmed himself often spoke with...indicating that English might not be her native language. He found himself very curious as to what it might be...

"Why are merfolk in this 'Beast' Division?" she asked.

"Excellent question," said Ahmed, in his North Indian lilt. "I have always wondered why sentient beings...who are often wiser than ourselves...are referred to as beasts. "

Oh this was embarrassing. She had barely stepped into the booth when a gangly, greenish... girl? tumbled into the table. The smell of damp hair and river water washed over her and she quickly deduced it was coming from the child. Why would she be swimming now of all times? Kia considered whether it was worth asking but before she got up the nerve, Griffin beat her to it. Clamping her mouth shut, Kia took her normal place in the background and studied the girl in silence. There was something... off about her. Her skin wasn't the right pallor... and her hands were webbed and covered with something akin to slime... and her voice had a gravelly edge to it that didn't seem human. What was she??

Her thoughts on the matter were sidetracked with the arrival of enough wool and tassels to outfit an entire regiment. When the rather interesting looking turban/hat revealed the disarming gaze of one Kabir Ahmed, Kia felt her opinion of the suit change somewhat. Before it was a bit goofy and overdone, but on him it was suddenly dignified and even a bit imposing. Minus the hat... she still thought the hat was goofy. However, with that fierce gaze of his lingering on her, she didn't really notice it. As a bit of color touched her cheeks, she wished that she had wore her mask. Tearing her eyes from him, she focused back on the girl as she fiddled shyly with the skull-faced mask on her hip.

"Why are merfolk in this 'Beast' Division?"

Aha, a merefolk mix... that is what she was! Kia should have known better considering the webbing and smell. Then again, she had never seen a merefolk and human crossed together. The two copulating wasn't really a thought she normally pursued. The girls question brought up an interesting topic, but there wasn't an easy answer. Biting her lip, Kia stepped back to let the others try to make some sense of it.

"Excellent question, I have always wondered why sentient beings...who are often wiser than ourselves...are referred to as beasts. "

That wasn't an answer! It was another question and, though she had not been asked, Kia felt like she was expected to answer it. Fiddling nervously with her hair (since there were three people and three people were a crowd and speaking in front of crowds were not her strong point) Kia licked her lips and spoke up, "It is because they do not see what is past outward appearances..." She had first hand experience with this fact. Her quiet, aloof nature combined with her looks made people assume that she was stuck up or high maintenance, and more often than not they would avoid her without trying to find out the truth. "... They fear things they don't understand and all we can do is show them that all creatures deserve to be treated fairly and equally..."

Focusing on the girl, lest the looks she was getting from others made her even more nervous, she decided she might as well do some representing for the WCU "... Take the WCU for instance... Everyone thinks that all the members are anti-werewolf... But I believe that there are good werewolves and bad werewolves... just like there are good people and bad people. The bad ones need to be caught and punished like any other bad person... it just takes a different sort of...er... catcher then normal..."

The sight of the tiny first year flapping her peculiar hand, if you would call it such, caused Daryl to smirk at first, not rudely but with boyish amusement. There had been that awkward moment were he and everyone else watched silently trying to make up their minds on whether they should intervene and free the girl from the pamphlet. After throwing an uncomfortable question towards Professor Manley, he thought she might take his assistance as a ranger releasing a bear from a trap instead of plain empathy. Smiling weakly, he stood tall at the side of her to join the group and anticipated an ambiguous reply.

At first, Daryl thought he might've been seen as the overdressed for merely wearing a grayed out, formerly white shirt and cricketing jumper but it looked as though Kia Ferris had taken some serious bribery from the professor. Daryl squinted his head as he looked over the fine details of the outfit before settling upon Ferris' eyes and quickly averting his gaze. He wasn't entirely sure of where she and Manley were going with this, if it was typical werewolf hunter bad guy attire or just for show. To Daryl it was all the same and something about being in the company of the WCU made him feel as comfortable as he would of in an abattoir amongst slaughtered creatures. He knew the woman was as gentle as they came for a Ministry soldier but Daryl's compassion towards both magical and non-magical beings forced him to look away from her as though she had insulted him greatly.

Take the WCU for instance... Everyone thinks that all the members are anti-werewolf A controversial subject and Daryl did sympathise somewhat with Ferris; she was probably ordered to speak like a politician and usually he would feel bitter towards someone for protecting what he viewed as a corrupt panel of witches and wizards with questionable attitudes towards the rights of 'beasts'. It seemed to become tangled within territorial warring and the eagerness to label anything outwith wizardingfolk as a threat.

"What about the right to privacy?" Daryl spoke strongly. "The Ministry could restrict the publications of Rita Skeeter, especially after the way she wrote about Greyfriar Knox. She writes a whole lot of filth about werewolves and nobody cares." He had felt a little guilty as the words seemed to roll off his tongue but teenage angst and frustration rose to the forefront. There was a lot of outrage with the death of Ramona Flickwick and to quiet the public, the Ministry clawed back all the confidence it had left and slammed new regulatory guidelines on werewolves. "Maybe the 'bad' ones are fed up of being taboo and having to hide in the shadows. It doesn't matter how well they regulate their wolfsbane or follow the Ministry's rules; the public reaction is the same because of the way they see the Ministry deal with werewolves."

He might have been given detention or worse, dismissed from the fair but Daryl felt right to indulge in the dwindling pleasure of free speech. It felt slightly risque for a simple careers fair but it was the opportunity to clear a few things up and gain an insight into what it was really like to work within the magical creatures branch of the Ministry at least.

"What about the right to privacy? The Ministry could restrict the publications of Rita Skeeter, especially after the way she wrote about Greyfriar Knox. She writes a whole lot of filth about werewolves and nobody cares."

Kia looked away from the girl and focused on the teen that had just made his way to the table. He looked familiar… wasn’t he Sophie’s friend? She had to admit she was a bit surprised to hear him arguing against the WCU, considering Ramona’s recent death via Direwolf. It left her speechless for a moment and all she could get out before he went on, his voice fueled with angst and anger, was “Well… Yes, Skeeter does do that, but I don’t see how…”

"Maybe the 'bad' ones are fed up of being taboo and having to hide in the shadows. It doesn't matter how well they regulate their wolfsbane or follow the Ministry's rules; the public reaction is the same because of the way they see the Ministry deal with werewolves."

"You're being naive." Kia said flatly, her fierce gaze locking steadily on the boy. She respected the fact he was able to stand up for his beliefs, but as someone who nearly lost a family member to a werewolf, she couldn't say she agreed with him. "... Werewolves are discriminated against because of those ‘bad ones’. All the Ministry does is offer them a chance to show responsibility by registering, and the WCU make sure that they take their wolfsbane and are secure during the full moon… It’s all those ones out there that refuse to register, either because they don't want to be responsible or they simply enjoy being a killing machine, that end up killing innocent people... They're the ones that give them a bad name...”

She paused for a second, a tad surprised. This was probably the biggest speech she had ever made, counting the recent one at a press conference. Normally that would make her nauseous just thinking about, but she was too angry to notice. “…Besides, the publics prejudice regarding werewolves is on their shoulders, not those of us that work at the Ministry. Not all of us discriminate or seek to hurt innocent people who have been cursed by Lycanthropy, and I appreciate it if you wouldn’t go around suggesting otherwise…”

Heliotrope absorbed the words as the Werewolf Catcher spoke them. The Merfolk of Loch Lomond spent plenty of time keeping good and bad creatures in check so the attitude was of no surprise to Heliotrope. Naughty beasts were cordoned off to a cave, anchored to the bottom of the lake or hunted if a terrible menace.

She glanced through the interior of the pamphlet, seeing pictures of wizards dealing with various creatures, partially listening to the debate of werewolf rights. There were a few she recognized but there wasn't much information on aquatic creatures, except the Loch Ness fiasco. Heliotrope was starting to miss her loch even though she knew she wouldn't be going back until summer. That meant boating season, when a lot of people took to their clippers, speeding along the surface. The tribe would confine themselves to a secluded nook, staying underwater and shifting to a nocturnal sleep cycle.

"Do you deal with Kelpies?" Heliotrope asked but as she was still looking at the pamphlet there was no way of determining who she meant to ask. "We have some in Loch Lomond, both good ones and bad ones."

Then, as an afterthought: "We caught a Kelpie in the lake last week."

It was unfortunate that even in his old age that Griffon's attention span was not what it ought to be. The young girl informed them that she was, indeed, quite alright and he was glad for it. Then she asked about why merfolk were considered beasts- and others answered before he had the chance. Well- if you could call the Indian man's response an answer at all. It was more like a musing. He was territorial about his department, and did not like others poking their noses in when they did not know the answers or did not belong. It was a problem he faced quite often with the Aurors- who seemed to think they had run of the entire ministry. Bu this was not the time or the place to start an argument. Were he anywhere else, Griffon would have made his displeasure known. Instead he simply ignored the man's presence.

"To better answer your question, Merfolk have chosen not to be considered beings. Much like the Centaurs. By remaining classified as Beasts, wizard society and its problems remain no concern of their own," Griffon said to Helio. "It's not a slight to them in the least- we extended the offer and they politely declined."

It was not long, however, before werewolves were brought into the mix. He was not surprised. It was a very sensitive topic lately, and very prominent in the media. "Unfortunately my department does not have the authority to restrict the publications of any media source," Griffon said to the boy. "That is something best taken up with the Minister of Magic or you could ask the DMLE about how that law works more specifically- because it is certainly not our area of expertise.

He would let Kia field the rest of it. She was a member of the WCU and needed to get better with public speaking, anyway. Instead he focused on the young girl who was now asking questions about kelpies. "We're often having to rehome them to keep them out of the public eye. Muggles are fascinated by the legend."

"In the lake here?" Griffon asked. "Or was one caught at your home?"