The State Dinner

[Justin Ross]

9/30; Dinner & Dance at the Museum of Magical Miscellany

The Tudor room had been the one most easily booked for the dinner aspect of this shindig, and Ross was rather glad that Queen Elizabeth's portrait dominated rather than her father. Bloody Mary was looking rather murderous in a corner, and Museum staff were clearing away the remnants of the dinner. 

Ross was milling about, as one was supposed to do at campaign events. Luckily, smiling had always come naturally to him, and he was perfectly happy to be chatting with strangers for as long as it took to convince them that he was the ideal Ministerial candidate.

"The Hogwarts scholarship fund is key," Ross said to the individual he was talking to, "The more educated our population is, the better we all are, after all. We'll actually be donating the proceeds from tonight's event tickets to it."

  

[Roslyn Ross]

Diligently, Roslyn stood at her husband’s elbow, looking every bit the proud wife—no one who did not know her intimately would ever guess she would rather they both be tucked away at home rather than here, campaigning to see him made Minister of Magic. Of course she was proud of all Justin had accomplished, of all he hoped to accomplish, and if it was what he wanted, the witch would use her dying breath to help get him there. That didn’t stop the nagging what ifs in the back of her mind, though. After all, Minister Urquart and his family had all but had their lives destroyed by the limelight. Were she and her family to be next?

At least her family—large as it was—had all turned up for the occasion. And it was a family affair, with Konstantin wrangling the political side of Justin’s campaign just as Ros herself had a firm grasp upon the social aspect. She flashed a quick smile across the room at one of her siblings before turning her attentions back to the conversation at hand, thus far a largely silent partner in the discussion.

She’s just here don’t worry about me in post order unless you address me directly xD

  

[Edgar Pomfrey]

While Edgar spent most of his time at Hogwarts grading papers and whatnot, he sometimes left the grounds (with permission from the headmaster, of course) to venture out and attend various events. Always one to to want to stay updated with current events, the political season was definitely important to the professor. He'd naturally decided to support Mr. Justin Ross, who was once his classmate and boss while he worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as an obliviator before he'd become a professor.

He'd approached the man to engage in small-talk, his eyes every now and then wandering to the pretty, brown-haired woman — er, Ross' wife, he promptly reminded himself — as they spoke about Hogwarts' scholarship fund and the importance of education.

"I completely agree. Ever since working at Hogwarts, I've had to see perfectly bright students leave school because of financial difficulties," he responded, "It would be much better, I think, if we could make education accessible to all, not just the brightest of the poor. If upper class students of average intelligence can attend school, then lower class students of average intelligence should be able to as well." That would be a much fairer system, he thought.

  

[Justin Ross]

"I agree completely," Ross said. As Edgar Pomfrey was now the Charms Professor - it was rather odd to think of him outside of the Ministry -  his support for Ross' point meant a great deal more than a random Ministry employee's approval would. 

"Even just reaching their O.W.L.s would open up so many career opportunities," Ross added. The respectable poor could often afford to send their children to that benchmark, but the very poor certainly could not.

"Would you say other professors agree with you?" Ross asked. 

  

[Mina Anwar]

Justin Ross was quite a favorite for some professors and especially lower class and other people who felt that all children should have a thorough education, regardless of their wealth. This was all well and fine, really Mina just figured it was a way to get the masses to vote, what parent who genuinely cared for their child wouldn't want them to be able to get a full education? But what really caught Mina's attention was his stance on half breeds and on trying to figure out a way to be more inclusive and to cut down on hate crimes. She was surprised at his forthrightness, most politicians liked to make vague, maybe promises or abstract platforms.

So like her compatriot Edgar, she wanted to see the man herself. Travelling by floo earlier that day she visited an old friend and tidied herself while she waited for the dinner. The dinner passed by with no incident and afterwards she chatted with some acquaintances and eventually she saw the Charms professor engage the man of the hour. She politely excused herself and walked towards them, catching the hopeful Minister's last words. "I can't speak for everyone, but I know I feel the same way." Mina smiled at the small group and introduced herself and her position. "It's always disheartening to see a student miss out on a proper magical education simply because they haven't the means. Frankly its a travesty and it does nothing to further our community as a whole."

  

[Edgar Pomfrey]

Edgar looked to Miss Anwar, one of the other professors who had appeared. She made it no secret that she agreed with his stance, though as he pondered on her words he realized her opinion wouldn't really make much of a difference anyways — she couldn't vote. Nevertheless, he would look to his former boss and ministerial candidate with a nod and smile.

"For a professor to disagree with such a stance would be most shameful, in my opinion. Teaching is a path chosen because of a love of educating others, and to pick and choose who to educate based of socioeconomic background seems to go against the selfless nature associated with such a position," he pondered aloud.

"Many careers requiring OWLs — such as some paperwork-oriented Ministry jobs — don't even require a skilled use of magic despite exam grades being required. Getting lower-income students into those positions would surely help society overall, don't you think?" he asked. Whether it meant helping students reach their exams with financial assistance or simply lowering the requirements for certain positions, there had to be a way to help!

  

[Justin Ross]

It certainly meant something to have two professors agreeing with him, although Ross supposed that 'a population with a basic education' was a low benchmark to have people agree with. Still - it was something, and successful campaigns were in the end built off of conversations like this. A whole big pile of somethings.

"It would," Ross agreed, "Not to mention more trained mediwizards and trained healers, which we proved we needed in 1884. Besides the benefits to us all, there are a number of benefits to the individual - having a basic level of education allow many to break out of the cycle of poverty." 

  

[Roslyn Ross]

But if everyone is a healer, who will farm our food or work our shops? the witch thought critically, but would never say as much aloud. With her husband, she might engage in lively debate, but here, in public—here she could not afford to be anything but entirely supportive of her husband, a man who had earned that support a hundred times over. Let him win the Ministry, if that was his lot in life, and let someone else temper his kind heart and idealism.

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[Mina Anwar]

Mina smiled. "Quite right, poverty is quite a nasty cycle, if we can give them a means to step out of the murk, I'm all for it." It didn't seem fair that one's life was dependent upon whom they were born to. Mina had quite a view on many different things but she knew they wouldn't be taken seriously, especially ones deeply personal to her, and all the more so because she was a woman. It was quite ridiculous, but there it was. She looked to the other woman present in their little circle and smiled, she was pretty and there was warmth and something nurturing about her in her gray eyes.

  

[Edgar Pomfrey]

"There are plenty of lower class students who show signs of great potential — but also signs of great financial struggle. Hopefully the problem of funding for those students can be solved soon." He didn't want to see certain students leave his classroom because of financial difficulties. "Who knows? We might lose the change the cure lycanthropy or dragonpox because the student meant to cure it couldn't finish their education," he commented.

  

[Justin Ross]

Although Ross was not sure he'd go as far as Pomfrey had, he nodded. "Lycanthropy is certainly an area where we need more research," he said, "We have to protect people, and the current system is not working." 

Obviously. They couldn't have unregistered werewolves running around Irvingly; Topaz Urquart, or any number of others, could have died on that night in July.

  

[Roslyn Ross]

“Until the public perception of such individuals shifts,” Roslyn pointed out, speaking out at last, “it is unlikely that research or security are likely to progress in any meaningful fashion.”

To be sure, until the incident with Miss Urquart, Roslyn herself had held the general, bad opinion of werewolves. After all, her sister's finace had been killed by one! It was only once such victims were given an innocent, fragile young face that she found her beliefs shifting—she doubted she was the only one, but she also doubted that Miss Topaz Urquart would be enough on that front.