First Public Appearance

[Avory Brandt]

Avory finished up her hair and make up, looking herself up and down in the full length mirror in her bedroom. She cringed as she looked at herself, dressed in such a light coloured dress, she was trying to portray herself as a professional woman with high family values. The last part wasn't something that was really hard for her, she was a mother and for a brief time, a wife, with a husband she loved very much. Although it had been a while since she had seen her children, well up close anyway, but the mothering instincts never left her. For now though she would have to put her acting skills to the test and pretend, pretend to be a loving mother and a caring wife. For the man and young boy sitting in her living room weren't her real husband and child, no they were two random people that she had cast under the Imperius curse.

When the previous Minister for Magic had announced that she was stepping down Avory had decided to take the plunge and come out of hiding to run for Ministry. Since she was a child she had despised muggles and muggleborn children. She herself had blood from a muggle family coursing through her veins as at least one grandparent from each side of her family had come from a muggle family, something which drew her to killing her own parents after Graduating from Hogwarts Scotland. This is where her platform to bleed out all the muggleborn students accepted to Hogwarts came from. She knew she would get some backlash from her platform but in the last elections Thomas Hensel ran the same sort of platform and he was Deputy Minister, so she knew she would have some supporters.

Of course she couldn't be seen as herself, so standing facing the mirror she placed her wand over her head and in the blink of an eye the main features of her face were transformed slightly, altering her look enough so that if she were to meet someone she once knew she would be unrecognisable. It wasn't because she didn't want old friends or family to know she was running, it was because on one of her last missions she was almost caught and she didn't want to run the risk of the Auror that almost caught her to recognise her again.

A short while after she found herself walking down the streets of Obsidian Harbour, the official candidates of the new election campaign had been announced and she was making her first public appearance. With her husband on her arm and her son on her other hand she held calmed herself as if to put an air around of her a normal family having a normal family day out - although it would be nothing of the sort as she was sure journalists and the public would be out and about, hoping to talk to the candidates.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene Finch hadn't really found any of the election candidates particularly compelling. Three of them sounded like they were cut from the same cloth, promising to back the aurors in seeking out the Scitorari. That was all well and good, but the Scitorari wasn't the only threat around and the Aurors weren't the only department in need of assistance. Everyone in the Ministry worked hard at their jobs, and she hated that the Ministry always touted the work of the Aurors and ignored everyone else.

That was why Irene had made her way to the appearance of Ms. Brandt. She was the only woman in a sea of men, a position familiar to the woman. The female candidate was also the only candidate who had focused on issues aside from the Scitorari. If she was truly going to vote for her, she wanted to hear more from the woman though. Striding forward with her daughter's hand in her own, Irene waited for the woman to finish speaking with another person. When the woman was free, Irene stepped forward. Ms. Brandt, I'm Irene Finch, head of the apparation and portkey department. I appreciate that you are focusing on more than just the Aurors and the Scitorari" she stated crisply, jutting her hand out for a quick shake. Handshakes were always telling of a person's personality.

 

[Ava King]

Following the elections was something Ava Davershire didn't think she'd ever see herself doing. It was never something she followed when she was younger, or even right up to the previous Minister. She usually couldn't care less about politics but this time round she found herself being very interested. Ava figured it was because she was the Headmistresses and was curious as to what each candidate had to bring to the table where her school was concerned. Ava had read the Daily Prophet, and found herself discussing her thoughts with Nicolas.
However, today was the day to go out and meet a specific candidate. Ava made her way out, dressed warmly, as she went to meet Avory Brandt. The Headmistresses waited her turn, before approaching the lady. She held out her hand in introduction. "Hello Ms. Brandt. I am Ava Davershire, Headmistress of Hogwarts New Zealand. I read that you are wanting to stop Muggle-borns from entering my school. Why do you feel this necessary, if it hasn't been any massive problems in the past? Why should we keep any potential great wizards and witches from learning what they were born to do?" Ava asked curiously.

 

[Avory Brandt]

Avory was happily surprised with just how quickly she had been recognises seeing as the announcement has been made public by way of the Daily Prophet article just the previous day. Then again she figured that since the previous Minister's announcement had been made sometime ago people would have been hungry for any word possible on who would be the person to take over the prestigious position. With a smile professionally positioned on her face Avory happily talked to everyone that approached her and posed for pictures where necessary. Of course the pleasant 'hellos' from passer-bys soon faded and then started the question probing. Of course Avory had expected this, and she also knew that it could be what built her followers or what would knock her down. Of course Avory remained professional throughout all of the questions and made sure they showed her in a good light - and if that meant lying to people then so be it, after all, she was a politician now and that's what they do best.

When approached by another woman Avory automatically outreached her hand when she introduced herself to Avory, "Wonderful to meet you Ms Finch, it's always a pleasure to meet Minitry workers who do so much for this fine country." She said with a firm but gentle handshake. It was almost like she had read a 'How to Run for Minister for Dummies' book with all the little tricks that she had up her sleeve, such as a poor handshake could loose you a voter and always smile, no matter how much pressure you're under. "I'm glad you feel that way. Personally I feel that the Aurors are doing a fine job and there is more important things to focus my time on. Why fix what isn't broke?" She said with a small chuckle. To be truthful to herself, she couldn't care less about the Aurors and felt that if anything they should be chasing down muggleborns and getting them out of our world instead of the Scitorari, of course she was biased on that topic.

Once finished talking to Ms Finch, Avory was approached by yet another woman, not much older than herself judging by her appearance. Shaking the woman's hand she fixed her face to show enough concern so that the woman would know that Avory cared about her opinion on her platform for the election. "Ms Davershire, such a pleasure to meet you. Now I fear you have been misinformed on my platform, I suppose you can't really rely on good journalism these days." she said, shaking her head. The only way she was going to get out of this was by tactfully twisting the truth. "The journalist in question has really taken me out of context and I am glad I have the opportunity to rectify the horrible mistake. I wouldn't dream of hindering our future Ministers for Magic, Professors, Healer, Aurors and whatever else they can dream up for themselves, from entering your fine establishment."

Good, good, butter her up. She thought to herself as she masterfully thought on her feet. "What I merely meant was we need to protect our world from the muggles finding out about us and the problem lies with muggleborn students finding out about us for the first time, coming to the school and telling people when the go home. What I hope to accomplish, if I become Minister, is to cut down on the amount of discoveries and if that means a few muggleborn students, or students with a muggle parent, from going to school here then it is an unfortunate step that may have to be examined." She finally finished. Of course her end goal really was to stop muggleborn children from entering the school completely, even if she had to curse a few people in the process.

 

[Briar Rowan-Cullen]

the election was causing quite a stir at work, even in a department as unrelated to politics as werewolf support services. the leader had retired when the minister had announced that she was stepping down and Briar had taken on the roll. she was actually glad for it, sure it was more paper work and less fun things but she had grown used to it, and being the leader of the small department gave her slightly more say over the affairs of her kind and her clients. today was one of her days off and she had called into obsidian harbour to collect some wolfsbane potion for herself, Dee and some of her less proud clients. she had Willow with her, the girl had just turned three and although it was cold she was wanting an ice-cream. saying it was a birthday treat she had said she could get one and the little girl was full of energy with excitement talking about what flavour she wanted. as they walked Briar saw that there was a stand with one of the candidates for the new minister there. when she had seen the list published in the daily prophet she had read each of the candidates profiles though she had been fairly sure who she was voting for just after reading the names as one person was married to a lady who had done so much for her it was the least she could do as a thank you, besides she trusted that ladies judgement implicitly. the other too male contestants also sunded good however there was one contestant that really had annoyed and somewhat offended her, miss Avory Brandt. and briar was almost happy to see that she was the lady who was here today. "wills, you can have two flavours of ice-cream if you are a good girl for five minutes while i talk to this important lady" she said quietly bribing her daughter into good behaviour a trick she tried to avoid but desperate times restored in desperate measures.
As she reached the stand she saw that the other two ladies there were familiar. "ahh good afternoon Professor Davershire, how are you? and good afternoon ms Finch" she said greeting her former headmistress and transfiguration professor and flying teacher before addressing the potential (though not if she had her way) minister. "Ms. brandt, I am happy to meet you. I am Briar Rowan-Cullen" she said offering her hand to the lady in a hand shake. "In your summary in he prophet i saw you had some rather strong words to say against muggleborns" she started. "as team leader of werewolf support services i wonder what your stance is on people like myself who are suffering with a condition which is not out fault, and what your stance is on supporting them especially as many of them are already outcast from family and friends." she said. pausing again. "and also where you stand on other minority groups such as our friends who may have veela, giant or goblin blood in their veins" she said thinking about her sister Madlyn as she said that. part of her hoped, and hoped beyond reason that there was a journalist about to capture this response as Briar was not immune herself to the journalists, their attention to her had loosened but leaving pro quidditch after one whirlwind of a season with the local team to fight for werewolf rights within the ministry was somewhat of a statement after all, and Briar was the kind of person not to make a show when she felt the need and not turn down the attention.

 

[Avory Brandt]

Sorry for the delay

All in all, Avory thought that the public meet and greet was going well so far. True she could tell that she had a few people who opposed her ideals and would probably not be voting for her but that was still such a small number and in the grander scale of things she probably had quite a number of supporters who just hadn't made themselves known as of yet. Of course Avory wasn't going to let this dampen her spirits, she knew the number of Scitorari were great and the number of those that were prejudice members was enough to keep Avory's spirits up and the fire alive to win this election campaign. The group around the blond woman grew steadily larger as the buzz in the town started to spread. Yet another woman joined the group, she seemed to know the woman that Avory had already been talking too, she seemed quite young to know so many different people but Avory knew not to discourage the idea of building acquaintances from a young age - it definitely helped later on in life.

Shaking the young woman's hand when she finally turned her attention to Avory, the candidate listened to what the woman had to say - never loosing the smile on her face to show her interest. Although as the woman continued to talk Avory began to feel ill in the pit of her stomach - she had just touched a werewolf. Avory was surprised she couldn't smell the scent of dog from the woman. Despite feeling physically sick Avory never let it show on her face, she was professional and was going to lie her way to the top. "Ms Rowan-Cullen, lovely to meet you also. It's always a pleasure to meet a woman of power, especially at such a young age." she started, it was always a good method to butter up possible voters with a compliment or two before getting into the boring stuff. "Personally I have no issues with members of our community, no matter what their background. As I was just saying the Headmistress here," she said, indicating to the woman she was talking too previously, "The Daily Prophet has taken what I said completely out of proportion and would never dream of taking away from the minorities in out community and would be more than willing to work with yourself and anyone else who has a say in the matter to make their lives in the community better." This, of course, was all just a bunch of lies. If she got her way, once she was in power they would all be banished in one way or another and she will have a pure wizarding community with no imperfections.

 

[Seraphine Rowan]

The soon-to-be former Minister approached the next woman candidate, which made her somewhat disappointed. Seraphine looked toward the woman and knew that there was something about her that she did not like at all. Especially when she spoke to the Headmistress. She stepped up to the woman, and narrowed her eyes upon her. "So, you are willing to cut the education of said fine establishment to the muggle-born students? That sort of backs up what the prophet says about you, Mrs. Brandt. As you can see, I had the education stance, so that is the most important field for me. There is a department made for those that might discover magic, which will not have to resort to such medieval tactics you seem to consider." Seraphine raised her eyebrow, and a small smirk graced her pink lips.
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