May 30th, 1888 - Coming Out Ball

Before he was elected Minister, Ross did not regularly attend the Coming Out Ball. He'd make an appearance if someone he was related to was debuting, and over a decade ago he'd met his wife here, but the longer one was married the more unappealing the general CoB became. But now he was the Minister, which meant that he was more or less expected to make an appearance at major events, and the Coming Out Ball was the definition of a major event.

So he was here, trying to ignore the vague stench of desperation.

"I'm afraid I promised my wife not to talk about Ministerial policy tonight," Ross said pleasantly to the prying individual. Roslyn had asked him to make no such promise, but this was definitely not the place.

---

  

"Not to worry Minister, it is not a policy that I'd like to propose," He said with reassurance, "I have been drawing up plans for a new summer program for young women. I've nearly completed the details, but I wanted to pitch you the idea first." Granted, the coming out ball wasn't the most appropriate place to discuss it, but Barnabas wasn't one to turn down an opportunity when it was presented to him. It was difficult to get an audience with Minister Ross. The man was understandably busy. Barnabas also suspected that he'd told his secretary to make it difficult for him to get an appointment. He couldn't imagine why, but the man seemed to dislike him. Likely, Ross felt threatened by him. Barnabas had nearly beaten him in the elections, after all.

"With the tragedy that befell Miss Scrimgeour, it had me thinking what could have been done differently --- and then I landed on the idea that we run a program specifically for young women who want to learn how to defend themselves. It would focus on simple, defensive wandless magic, but also some more advanced defense spells with wandwork. I had thought we'd have several aurors as instructors, perhaps the defense against the dark arts professor Nikolai Sleptov would also be interested."

  

---

set by MJ | Kindly tag Prudence Browne in replies

And Mr. Skeeter was just going to keep going, wasn't he? Ross supposed that he wasn't surprised, seeing as this was one of Skeeter's most publicized flaws.

Ross raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly, but stood and nodded politely through Skeeter's explanation of his initiative. "Wandless magic is very difficult to teach in a simple course," Ross pointed out, "And unlikely to be something anyone outside of the auror office would have much success with. I'd steer clear of that."

"Have you spoken to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement yet?"

---

The following 1 user Likes Justin Ross's post:1 user Likes Justin Ross's post
   Barnabas Skeeter

The Minister made a good point. It was unlikely the women could master wandless magic. He'd wanted the pitch to sound great, but now he realized that perhaps it had just made him sound idiotic.

"Not yet," He admitted, "I wanted to get your opinion on the matter before I discussed the technicalities with Mr. HeadNameHere. Do you think it would be met with some interest?"

  

---

set by MJ | Kindly tag Prudence Browne in replies

"I think they'd be interested," Ross agreed. It could be good PR for a department which was frequently shit on in the papers. "It's always better for people to be able to defend themselves."

Ross asked, "How are you going to recruit women for the class?"

---

  

"I had thought the Pendergast Roses might be interested, so I would send an advertisement to them. I had planned to inform The Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly, as their readership reaches quite a few women. Flyers put up around Hogsmeade and Irvingly as well." If Barnabas knew how to do one thing, it was get the attention of the public.

  

---

set by MJ | Kindly tag Prudence Browne in replies

"That all sounds like good strategy," Ross said, because it was true. He was not inclined to give compliments for no reason. "Did you have any other questions for me?" he asked, mildly.

---

  

"Not at the moment," He responded after a moment's thought, "I'll send an owl if I think of anything else. Thank you for your time, Minister. Enjoy your evening."

  

---

set by MJ | Kindly tag Prudence Browne in replies