August 25th, 1893 — The Leaky Cauldron, Wright's Open Fourm

The Leaky Cauldron was not Isobel Valenduris's normal cup of tea and as supportive tolerant her family tended to be of her political activities, she was pretty sure they would not be supportive if she mentioned she wanted to go to a political rally hosted in a working-class pub. So she hadn't asked. She'd borrowed some of Lou's clothes and slipped out using the chaos of a large family to her advantage. The fabric was rougher than she was used to but somehow still soft, clearly worn with time, and easy to move in. She found she quite liked it. Of course, the maid would have a heart attack when she found them gone which was why Sobie was determined no one would notice she nor the clothes were gone.

But when she'd seen the poster for the gather, well she'd just had to go. Wright was one of the few candidates that seemed to even consider women's rights worth discussing which immediately put him straight on her radar. And well there was Miss. Whitledge now but to Sobie the girl was too young and without the necessary connections to make it in the political world - at least at this time. So as much as she'd love a female Minister this turn round, she wasn't counting on it. So she would check out who was posing to be the next best thing. She hadn't taken her turn speaking to Wright personally yet. Instead, she'd used the time to scope out the crowd and listen to his conversations with others who somehow seemed more like they belonged here even if she was wearing the right clothes. (Maybe that was because of how young she was not her upbringing. Maybe.)

"Have you spoken to him yet? What are your thoughts?" Sobie asked, turning to the person next to her.

Open to anyone in attendance or who just happens to be at the Leaky Cauldron.

  

Jessamine had no intention of being anywhere near a place like this other than to quickly pass through to reach Diagon Alley, but her elder sister slipped away from their chaperone in the middle of a shopping trip and she was determined to find her. She called her sister’s name as she searched the streets, only when she noticed a pamphlet on the ground did she realize where she was; Minnie made a sour face and pulled the hood of her cloak up and slipped into the Leaky Cauldron, fully ready to tell her sister off for abandoning her, only to be met with a small crowd she couldn’t quite see past all surrounding one speaking man.

She was still trying to see over the crowd when she heard a lady’s voice speak to her, causing her to flush pink as she was trying to not be noticed. Her eyes widened a little bit when she realized she was her own age and could possibly tell people that she was attending such a gathering. “I, well, no I haven’t spoken to him,” she replied, she didn’t know much about this Jude Wright, aside from the pamphlets she’d seen making it sound like he was just the sort of radical that her sister was attracted to, “But I imagine he has a lot of big ideas… the kind that would make a lot of people angry should he be elected.”

  

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Immediately her face pinched. While technically, nothing the other person had said was incorrect, her tone was enough to set Sobie defensively. Surprised by how young the voice sounded she figured it probably wouldn't hurt to pay attention to who she'd actually approached. Which in hindsight she should have done in the first place because this girl clearly did not belong. Even if all she could see was the girl's cloak, she looked far too well-bred to be here (even if Sobie would have looked the exact same if she hadn't stolen her maid's clothes but she'd at least gone through the effort of dressing to the occasion). It was at that moment she realized out of the shadows of the hood that she recognized the girl. Jessamine Parkinson. The head of the transfiguration club as well as in a few other clubs with Sobie and frankly - in Sobie's opinion - far too concerned with what her parents and society thought and she utterly wasted the brain she'd been given.

"People are going to be angry no matter what candidate is elected," Isobel snorted. "So you might as well choose someone who is going to make a difference." Now why couldn't she have run into Miss. Parkinson's sister instead? That would've been a million times better. Well if Jessamine was here maybe it was only because her sister had dragged her along. That seemed far more likely than Jessamine Parkinson coming here of her own free will.

  

Once the two girls actually turned to look at one another, there was some instant recognition, as they shared many classes together as well as clubs. Jessamine couldn’t be completely sure, as she was dressed far more drab than she would expect a Valenduris to be, but she looked an awful lot like Isobel, and she supposed the girl had a reputation for being like her elder sister, and the kind of person who took an interest in politics, especially women’s rights in regards to it. Speaking of which, Jessamine still couldn’t see her among the crowd and so it seemed she would be stuck here at least for a little while longer.

“That’s true,” Minnie sniffed, she would give Isobel that much credit, it didn’t matter whether this person or that person got elected, someone was going to be upset, but she was sure that very little would be happy if a man as radical as Mr. Wright was elected, “However, I don’t know what you’re on about, choosing someone is going to make a difference. You do remember that you can’t vote, right? It hardly matters what you think of their policies.” She told her sister that all the time; she doubted women would be voting in the elections anytime soon and she didn’t think it was a good idea for them to be doing so anyway.

  

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"I am well aware I can't vote - I don't need yet another person rubbing that fact in," Sobie started harshly. The whole thing was stupid. She wasn't even seventeen yet and she was sure she could make better decisions than a fair chunk of the men she'd met so far. "But you are utterly inept if you think just because women can't vote that we have no business paying attention to politics." The whole thing only served to illustrate how much of a waste it was. She'd heard of Miss. Parkinson's grades. And Grandpa wouldn't have allowed her to become president of his club if the girl didn't have a brain. But clearly she cared more about other things than using it if she was that placent and naive.

"Most women might not be able to vote but even without she still holds a significant amount of power. A wife may sway her husband. You may sway your father or brothers with a well-placed debate. In social gatherings, she may ask pointed questions to candidates whose responses will make others around them think about the candidate in a new light. She may attend rallies or protests. Frankly, she should be invested in this because those candidates will make decisions that directly impact her day-to-day life. A conservative candidate may remove a woman's right to work. To attend school and obtain her NE.W.T.s. Change her rights in regard to freedom of travel. Or how she can spend her free time."

"Pushing for a candidate such as Wright who will take our concerns to heart and would shift the voting registry would ensure that we are no longer left to whatever whims someone like Maxine, Picardy, or Lupin might have with no say in the manner."

  

Jessamine bit her tongue and she was sure the sour expression on her face was quite evident to Miss Valenduris as she laid into her about how she was wrong about women having no place in politics. In truth, at one point, Minnie had aspirations of doing things that were important, and she sort of still did. She wanted to become an animagus and even get into the The Society for the Transfiguration Arts just as Miss Sweetie Whitledge, one of the candidates for Minister, once did, maybe even work as a Healer in one of the hospitals, but she knew that wasn’t ever in the cards for her. Just like her eldest sister, she’d be a debutante, married to whomever liked her dowry, she’d keep house for him and that would be the end of it and maybe she was so critical of her other sister because she was jealous that she had the courage to tell everyone she wouldn’t be doing that.

She scoffed at the very idea of being able to sway her father or her elder brothers; though she was sure her closest brother would be voting for someone more progressive simply because he thought more like their sister did. Minnie supposed she hadn’t thought about the rest; she was able to take her N.E.W.T.s because of women who came before them and fought for it, as well as the ladies who worked rather than keep house, even if she didn’t approve, they had that opportunity. “And do you really think someone like Wright can win?” she suddenly asked, “Even if you are right and he wants to help ladies do things, what makes you think any man would vote for him? Perhaps you’d yearn for things less if you lowered your expectations a little.” It didn’t make Minnie happy, exactly, but she was disappointed less in life, she supposed. “You’ll never find a husband if you act like this, you know,” Minnie added, “No man wants a lady who seems unhappy and bitter about what she has.”

  

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"He won't win if everyone thinks like that," Isobel snorted. "And why shouldn't he be capable of winning? Those same men have already voted in six different females for Minister of Magic in the past century even without women having the power to vote. Surely to your sensibilities, a sympathetic man could win the vote far more easily than a woman."

"I don't seem unhappy and bitter about what I have. I am unhappy and bitter. But that is perfectly fine because I have no intentions to marry because I know my value isn't intrinsically tied to having a man want me." She stopped, looking at Jessamine with a pointed expression. Because the girl before her was clearly someone who thought that. "I am my own person with my own goals and dreams. And even if I do marry one day, it isn't going to be to a man who wants to knock me down and keep me from reaching my full potential because his insecurities make him fear that I'll shine brighter than him. So why in the world would I lower my expectations? I don't think they are that high to begin with. I'm asking to be treated with respect as a human being regardless of my gender. I'd rather yearn for things as you put it than just take everything life and me laying down with no sense of my own person."

  

Minnie didn’t hold any ill will toward Mr. Jude Wright, she didn’t really know anything about the man, and if he won, she supposed that would be that, but honestly she couldn’t see someone as progressive as him being selected because he angered too many people. “Six out of how many former Ministers?” she questioned, sure there might be some ladies who got through, but it wasn’t common enough for Jessamine to get her hopes up on the subject. “I agree, he has a better chance than Miss Whitledge, simply because he’s a man, but even so, there are many other men safer to vote for,” and if there was one thing she learned from growing up in the Parkinson home - nobody liked rocking the boat and keeping the status quo was far easier.

There was an audible gasp when Sobie declared that she had no intention of getting married; for a brief moment, until she shook the thought, Minnie wondered if she had other inclinations the way her sister did and that was why. “You’re pretty, so you still have a chance even if you insist on being difficult,” she folded her arms, pinching her face slightly, “I do hope you change your mind before you debut and end up a lonely old maid.” Jessamine understood though, in truth, she was dreading her own debut and she had less time to prepare for it than Sobie did. “I don’t dislike you, you know, I only want to help. I just don’t see how any of this is going to help anyone. It just makes people angry and when people get angry, people get hurt,” Minnie sighed, “We will never be equal to them, you know. Even if we did get the vote, we won’t ever be treated the same.”

  

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"Six out of thirteen," she replied automatically. Of course, she knew the answer when so many of those women served as her role models. Well, sort of. Many of them had been questionable people and none had been elected since 1855 which clearly meant they were going backwards but what Jessamine didn't know wouldn't kill her. But they'd held positions of power and were obviously female so clearly she aspired to be like them but better. Still, she felt a twinge of guilt when Minnie mentioned Miss Whitledge. Surely if she advertised herself as a feminist she should be backing the only female candidate. but frankly, she didn't think Miss Whitledge had what it took. She was barely old enough to run, had little to no support in the form of allies, and had little to no experience in politics. While Wright might have not had a ministry position, he had over a decade of experience in civil rights. "Safe doesn't make progress."

"I don't want to be known as pretty, Miss Parkinson. I want to be known as intelligent, ambitious, and responsible. I want to be invited to academic salons, not balls. And I'm not becoming a debutante. I'm entering a career in the ministry. I don't need someone else to make me happy or complete. I am perfectly capable of doing so on my own. I have wanted this since I was small and two more years will not change this fact."

"Progress does not occur without passion, and what is anger but passion? If they won't listen to us when we are demure and soft then we will be loud and present. And maybe... maybe we won't ever be treated the same, but it isn't just for us. It is for my sisters and nieces. It is for your children. The same way the women before us fought for things like our access to education."

  

Okay, she wasn’t expecting Miss Valenduris to actually know the answer right off the bat and she really wasn’t expecting the answer to be around half of the chosen Ministers. Her shock and the way she was caught off guard showed in her expression, even underneath her hood, which she still wore so she could deny she was ever here in the first place if Isobel decided to tell everyone. She stopped folding her arms only to smooth her dress, feeling rather crowded and overly warm in this pub and she lost all hope of finding her sister before this meeting was over; she was probably hiding from her at this point. “I never said it did,” she replied, relaxing her features again, “But, what makes you think the majority wants to progress? People are always more comfortable keeping things the way they are. If they weren’t, we’d have more than six ladies out of thirteen ministers.”

Once again, Jessamine’s lips were parted in a little ‘O’ of shock when Isobel said that she wasn’t even going to debut properly; she was going to go straight into a career! Was that even something someone in her class could do? Certainly not! A middle class lady might get away with it, but an upper class lady? That just was inappropriate and she wondered if the rest of Isobel’s family was okay with this behavior. “If you do that, you know people will start saying not so nice things about you,” she warned, “And if you change your mind and start wanting a family, no man is going to want a lady who works. What does your family say about all this nonsense? Certainly your mother wants grandchildren and your father wants you to marry well.” She pinched her face as once again she was reminded of past women giving her the freedoms she took for granted, and for a moment was a bit moved that Isobel wanted a better future for the next generation, but Minnie just couldn’t wrap her head around this way of thinking. “You’re going to get yourself hurt,” she said, “Bad things come to ladies who are loud like that.”

  

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Talking to Miss Parkinson was starting to feel like she was talking to a brick wall. She was actively proving Sobie's opinion of her intelligence right! Her expression twisted into one of obvious disapproval. "If it was the majority that didn't want change we wouldn't have half of the elected ministers as women. So, then. Are comfortable going back to not having electricity in your home? Not having warming spells? Not having access to education? Or books? If we only did what was safe we would still be living in the dark ages Miss Parkinson. I do not see why we should not progress just because some people are uncomfortable with the idea of something new and unwilling to try it." She flicked her hand in dismissal not understanding Jessamine's reluctance to progress. Yes, new could be uncomfortable but surely it couldn't be more uncomfortable than spending your entire life with no more value or rights than a broodmare.

"I'm not going into the Ministry for someone to say nice fluffy things about me, Miss Parkinson. And if I ever change mind, I wouldn't want a man who places no more value in me than he does his broodmares. A marriage ought to be a partnership and I will not go into one as a subservient participant. He will approve of me working or there will be no marriage to speak of, that is all. As far as my family - my mother is dead and has no opinion and my father and stepmother are just fine with it. My sister also works. And Grandfather encourages us in whatever we want to do. I intend to make enough to support myself and I have quite a large family. With four siblings she has other chances for grandchildren. Medea wants children I believe. Besides, I have older siblings. It isn't like I'm set to inherit."

Disregarding the luck that her father was the eight child and somehow the heir. That meant something would happen and she didn't want to think about anything befalling her siblings. Even sixty, seventy years in the future.

"Bad things? Like what? An ability to go where I want when I want? To be completely in control of every aspect of my life? To not have to rely on someone else for the basic necessities? Or subjected to their whims? I do not care about what some socialite thinks of me." She didn't care what someone like Jessamine Parkinson thought of her.

  

Jessamine huffed, rolling her eyes, thinking rather the same thing about talking to Isobel about this topic; there was no way either of them were going to get the other to agree. “First of all, my family avoids muggle technology,” she pointed out; they didn’t use anything with electricity as they would either do without or find some sort of magical alternative. Regardless of her opinion on the subject of muggles, her father at the very least was incredibly purist and would never approve of such things in their home, “I never meant that progress altogether was wrong. Just that ladies have a certain place and it would bring the whole of Society itself to a standstill if we were just doing whatever we pleased, acting inappropriate and like…well, you.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Jessamine didn’t mind having books, of course, and she thought that getting an education was important, as a proud Ravenclaw, but she would never agree that women should be out there working or acting like men.

Once again, Jessamine was gasping in horror, her gloved hand delicately covering her mouth as if she was trying to act extra prissy for effect, but this time it was because she thought Miss Valenduris was being inappropriate with her references to breeding as if she was some sort of street woman who knew about such things before marriage. “I can’t believe you just said that!” she chastised her, pinching her lips and placing her hand over her heart as if she needed to calm herself down before she required a fainting couch, “I see now what the problem is. Your family has done you a great disservice and taught you wrong. I do hope your future husband will forgive you for being this way.” Jessamine would like to believe she was as perfect as her father wanted her to be, and would marry very well, soon after her first season. “Even if you are not to inherit because you’re a lady in a long line of men doesn’t mean your husband won’t and he will need a wife who can handle running a home properly,” she felt the need to remind her. Maybe Isobel ought to go to a finishing school - perhaps that would fix her up.

“If you’re going to act like a man, people are going to treat you like one,” she told her, though it was clear in her tone that it wasn’t a good thing, “And that will make you ruined, you know.” It was just then she finally spotted Heather among the crowd. She was filled with relief, because honestly she was certain that neither she nor Isobel wanted to speak to each other much longer. “There she is,” she sighed, waving over to her, hoping that she would see her so they could leave this dreadful place, “Miss Valenduris, I do hope you rethink your future soon. I’d hate to read about your ruination in the society pages.”

  

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