We Have An Accord

Gideon liked the dark. He walked the Ministry corridor alone, and he made his way upstairs to the offices of the Minister and the Deputy Minister. The only lights that were on in here now were the night time security lights. There was a certain amount of Lupins tastes that Gideon had not liked. Minister Lupin had allowed some of the formality but he had deliberately blended in comfort so that it was less imposing. Now that the old man was on medical leave, Gideon was sorely hoping that the Deputy Minister would see fit to restore the dignity that Lupin seemed to despise. Gideon mentally was redecorating the outer office, and then he boldly opened the door to the Minister's office, walked in as if he owned it, and decided to make himself at home.

Gideon switched on the desk lamp and sat down in the chair behind the desk and allowed himself to enjoy sitting, literally, in the seat of power. Again, if and when he could manage for the job to become his, he would make sure that the chair was more formal, more imposing. Lupin didn't care for image much, Gideon saw. A mistake, Gideon thought.

He found the firewhiskey, poured himself a glass and then lit a cigarette, flicking the ashes into Minister Lupin's teacup. He rather liked the irony of it. It also amused him that Lupin would clearly have to suck up the fallout that was mounting from those who didn't like the marriage law. Gideon hated old men, and if one old man had to be a political sacrifice, well, then, it wasn't much of a loss.

He leaned back, propped his feet up on the desk and made an imaginary toast in the air.

"Long live the king," he said, with a sardonic smile.

Ana was far too busy for her own good. Where had Elijah gotten off to anyways? She had been running meetings, and in just two days she was set to go to Hogwarts and start meetings there. How was she supposed to run meetings in two different places at the same time?

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she stood and collected her files and put them in her extendable folder. She brushed off her skirt and made her way down the hall to the Minister's office. Ana needed to leave the files where Eli could find them if he needed them before she headed home for the night.

She pushed the door open and lifted an eyebrow at the man sitting before her. "Gideon." She greeted, letting the door shut behind her. Ana opened the drawer where her files belonged and put them away before turning to face him.

"How have you been?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the desk so she could face him. They hadn't really spoken as much as of late, with the meetings taking up her time. But after working on the law together, it felt strange not to spend time with him anymore. They had gotten on pretty well.

"Ana," Gideon smiled. "How nice. I didn't think there were many people here this late. Good to see you. I'm well. And you? As long as the proverbial captain has left the bridge, I thought I might as well get acquainted with it. Did you know he smokes?"

He opened the desk drawer and drew out a pack of Lupin's imported Italian cigarettes and tossed them on the desk. They had been unopened--until Gideon had found them.

"They're not a bad smoke, either," Gideon said. "But I haven't found a...oh, there it is." He spotted the rightful ashtray on the credenza behind the desk. He picked it up. Glazed stoneware. And it looked handthrown. "Rather earthy," Gideon said, turning it upside down. "KL--2016," He read. "I'm wagering its the same KL who painted the seascape over the floo," he gestured to the large oil painting over the fireplace. He had heard, vaguely, that Lupin's wife was an artist of some sort. "Perhaps Mrs. Minister," Gideon grinned, setting the stoneware ashtray back on the desk.

"You know, I'm thinking we need to add some nonverbal leverage to our meetings for the marriage law. Perhaps we ought to give this office a bit of a facelift and hold the meetings here. After all, there is a bit of tradition in respecting this space. I do believe it would be in the greater good if we would use it. It might reduce a bit of the friction, don't you think?"

He believed if the office lost some of Lupin's efforts to make the space more relaxed and approachable, restore it to its grandeur, and then hold the meetings there, it might hold the proper atmosphere to encourage compliance with the new law. Perhaps.

Ana regarded Gideon with amusement from her perch on the desk. “I'm a bit swamped with the meetings, honestly. I spend more time in that office than I do doing anything else.” Sighing and leaning back on her hands, she watched him poking around in the Minister's desk and wondered vaguely if she should reach a hand out and stop him. Deciding she was too tired to care, she let him be.

Tilting her head to the side, she thought over his suggestion. “I don't see why not. It wouldn't exactly be up to me, though. I can bring it up with Elijah.” Frowning, she glanced at Gideon, an idea running through her mind. Ana bit her lip for a moment before decided to just ask.

“Speaking of Eli,” She began, watching Gideon carefully, “He isn't available for most of the meetings as of late. Would you, perhaps, be interested in assisting with the meetings? Who knows the law better than the person who helped to write it? You could join me in a couple if you need to, then take over some of them. I have to go to Hogwarts to start the meetings with the students, so we need someone to continue meetings here.”

Ana could only hope he agreed. She could really use the help, what with Elijah being away so often with his other duties needing him. She really couldn't handle the meetings all on her own. Not with her needing to be in two places at once. Hoping it would help, Ana gave him a small smile and sat up straighter in anticipation.

"Always delighted to be of service, " Gideon smiled. He did like Ana. Personally, he had a bit more of an aggressive personal agenda in this new law, but at this point, he did not need to do anything with it. He had mentally laid those plans aside for now.

For now, Elijah Krum was acting as Minister while Lupin was, well, wherever he was, recovering from the assassination attempt that had sidelined him. The underground rumors were that the attempt had nearly killed the minister, and there was no report on his condition or when he might return.

Nor had the Chief Warlock been available since someone had attacked her. Gideon found himself having a bit more sympathy for the woman. From the auror reports, she had come within a breath of being killed in a werewolf attack. She had been extremely critical for weeks. Every witch and wizard knew how damaging a werewolf could be. She had been lucky to have survived. He did not expect her back quickly. Much as it wasn't a pleasant thing for her, it did benefit Gideon

It also benefited Gideon that Krum had not been around much at all as of late either. The ship did appear to be going rather nicely off the liberal course and back to tradition and in preserving the Wizard race.

"I presume that the meetings have been rather successful, have they? I haven't heard anything about anyone being sent to Azkaban yet for it. Are there any of the matches that appear troublesome that perhaps I should be aware of?"

(OOC: Sorry I'm so darn behind D: I had massive amounts of Keiran and Avery muse and didn't know what to do with myself.)

Ana smiled down at Gideon in return, glad to have someone to pick up where Eli had been forced to leave off. With everything going on in the Ministry, Ana knew it would be nice to have allies backing her law and helping her to keep too many people from going completely nutty over it. “Wonderful.” She replied, in place of thanks. They didn't seem the type to be overly wordy when it came to such things. As a duo they were fairly to the point, which she appreciated.

His questions nearly made her laugh, though she had a feeling it probably wouldn't be the best way to go about explaining everything. Rather, it had become a mess of a tale that she had to word carefully depending on who she was around.

“Successful would be putting it nicely. I've only had one meeting in which the people matched seemed genuinely okay with everything. They were.. shockingly cozy, which was strange compared to everyone else.” Ana stood to settle herself in her own chair, letting herself shrug a bit as she continued. “The others, not so much. I've had several people come in claiming they're already engaged. Mind, those matches have petitioned and are under investigation. To ensure that we're not being messed about.”

Frankly, only one of those cases genuinely concerned her. “The only one I'm worried about is Jack Dyllan. Granted, she claims to be engaged to someone who apparently is 'out of country' or something. It didn't help her case that her match was killed in a raid the other week. It doesn't look good at all.” She paused the think over the other meetings before adding, “The main problem, aside from having to actually do some work with the petitions is figuring what to do with the folks who are left without their match. I suppose they'll have to be re-matched. Merlin, what a hassle that will be.”

If only she could get through all of the assigned meetings. Then she could go about matching the rest up with whomever was left. Certainly that would be easier than switching things up as she went along? It had to be. At this point, easier was better. “Hopefully we can make it through some more meetings without having to make some sort of settlement like we had to for Theodore Rookwood. That was a disaster in itself.”