July 26th, 1888 - Minister's Office

He had still been in his office when he got the note from Mrs. Skeeter, at which point Ross summoned her and waited for dawn. The sun had just started to rise - they were sat in amicable silence in Ross' crowded office - when his assistant appeared with a copy of the Prophet. He handed it off and left. Ross read through quickly, largely skimming, face expressionless. It was unfortunate for Power to be caught, it was unfortunate that vampires were yet again a problem, but it was worse still that they were just a day off from the werewolf attack in London. Six dead, two arrested, one turned - and now one dead, and Merlin only knew what to follow, if they had a vampire without control next to the city of Hogsmeade. It was the audacity to kill in Padmore Park that really made things worse. Ross reached the end of the article.

"Well," he said, "Shite." Knowing Mrs. Skeeter, she would probably not be particularly surprised by his turn of phrase. He handed off the paper to her.

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The days when a summons to the Minister’s office had been a thrilling treat were long behind Morwenna. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate being in the, well…the only thing to call it really was the inner circle she supposed, but given their relative lots in life she didn’t think either she or the Minister were really the sort to belong to any kind of circle. No, she very much enjoyed being one of the people the Minister felt he could call upon, and his recent inclusion of her in the Wizengamot only heightened that feeling, but being here now inevitably meant that something had gone spectacularly tits up.

“Quite.” She drawled dryly in reply, nonplussed by the language, as she finished scanning her eyes over the paper she had already read thoroughly. “This bloody fog,” she grizzled, slapping the paper on the table. “Ideally I’d send out the capture unit and ask for the hit wizards to assist but I can’t see what they can do other than throw their boots at suspected vampires. Perhaps the goblins have some swords they could borrow for the time being?”

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   Cassius Lestrange

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

Ross pressed his lips together into a thin line, displeased - although clearly not with her. Mrs. Skeeter ran her department much more effectively than the last fellow had, and, well... He had been expecting this to happen ever since the fog had hit. That it came following a werewolf attack in Hyde fucking Park was the worst part.

"All that's coming to mind is strapping garlic to half the gas lamps," Ross said, "And that would just chase them to the Slums, practically speaking." Where bodies were more densely packed, but less famous. Conri fucking Power.

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Morwenna snorted with grim amusement at the suggestion, but she doubted he was serious. She had encountered, ridiculous though it was, a great number of people over the years that simply thought rounding up any undesirables and hoping they went away was a viable solution. Each and every one had found themselves firmly on Morwenna’s mental shit list.

“Best not to suggest that to the Wizengamot,” she raised a wry eyebrow. “I imagine some of them would see that as a two birds, one stone solution.”

She was reasonably sure the majority of them had never even been to the Slums. Christ, most of them probably couldn’t point to it on a map despite it being right on their doorstep.

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

Ross snorted audibly. Thank fuck for equally snarky progressives.

"The thing is," he said, "Most of the vampire regulars would never attack someone so high-profile."

There had to be a new one in town, in short.

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In the fetid quagmire that was the life of most vampires – and known werewolves, she thought with a cold drop in her stomach – there was a degree of desperation that she thought might lead to them taking the life of somebody high profile if the situation was dire enough. But on the other hand the fog might well have been designed to allow vampires a greater range of freedoms so she couldn’t think why this would happen now.

“I suppose in the dark they might not have known who he was?” She had only barely heard of Power and for the time being she was still firmly amongst the civilised.

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

"I suppose," Ross said, "But even so, Padmore Park -" It was one of the more well-trafficked places in Hogsmeade, after all. "I'm wondering if anyone new has drifted in. Or been turned."

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“The trouble is there simply isn’t a way of knowing for sure,” Morwenna admitted morosely. She had contemplated sending members of her department out into the gloom but was it really worth the potential risk? If vampires were growing in number and gathering in the shadows then could they justify putting more people at risk than they needed to?

“Not until this fog clears at any rate and who knows when that may be…” She tilted her head questioningly. “Have any of the groups in Irvingly managed to make contact?”

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

"We're having issues with communication," Ross admitted with a sigh. This was high-level - and mostly classified - but Mrs. Skeeter was high-level even if it had little to do with her department. "MA&C tells me there's something of a - limited time anomaly, in Irvingly."

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"Oh?" Morwenna replied, eyebrow raised. She had a son and two employees in Irvingly and had begun to wonder whether she was being deliberately kept in the dark to keep her nerves under some modicum of control on the orders of Mrs Parkinson, whom might have been trying to do her a kindness. It was, however distressing the news, a relief to know neither the Minister or her colleague thought her hysterical simply because her son was in the midst of danger. "Perhaps Mr Mulciber ought to try?" She suggested with only a small hint of distaste in her voice. "Time is more his department I would have thought."

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

"It's a bit of a mixed bag," Ross admitted, "Between the two of us, there is - at least one Unspeakable working in Irvingly." The Department of Mysteries told everyone else so little already that Ross was hesitant to share anything with anyone, and even so Ross did not know if the unspeakables were actually helping or just observing.

"Also between you and me, I think this might drive Mrs. Parkinson to retirement."

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“That would be a shame indeed,” Morwenna mused aloud, not especially expecting a reply given that she assumed the Minister’s thoughts on the possibility to be much the same as hers. Mrs Parkinson would be a substantial loss so Morwenna only hoped her nerves were up to the challenge; which was far from an easy feat when one considered that they didn’t even know what was going on. At least the werewolf crisis didn’t have overly mysterious origins.

“I’m amazed they told you that much,” she managed a dry, humourless chuckle. “I mean, you’re only the Minister of Magic, far too unimportant for them to share any information with, though at least you can be assured of a thorough report of what we all ought to have done after the fact.”

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat

Ross snorted. "I take my victories where I can get them, these days," he said, in a tone that was snarky for all that the sentiment was honest. At least - and he kept reminding himself of this - at least his first national incident was not a plague, or someone's transition into a werewolf. He had that going for him.

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“Don’t we all Minister,” Morwenna replied flatly, unable to remember the last incident in her life that couldn’t be considered, at best, an obstacle to overcome. Merlin, it had been a year again and it wasn’t letting up yet. But she couldn’t think about what came next just yet – first and foremost she had to worry about Mason coming home.

Because if he didn’t… small victories would be the least of the Minister’s worries.

“I must get on,” Morwenna got to her feet, brushing down her robes and offering the Minister one final sly look. “I shall see you at the next Wizengamot meeting Minister. I’m very much looking forward to it.”

  

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MJ knows my soul rings to the rune of this iconic hat