Open Got a Lot to Say, No Time to Play

[Celia Vuong]

The Minister for Magic election was just a few weeks away, and Celia could feel the tension back at campaign headquarters. James Cade might have been known as one of the more relaxed candidates, but there was no doubt his campaign staff and volunteers wanted desperately to get him elected. There was admittedly less at stake for Celia if he lost. She wasn't a New Zealand resident, and she would be leaving the country for good as soon as she graduated from Hogwarts. But she still wanted to be able to put "volunteered for a winning political campaign" on her resume. Plus, she was eager to see him reform Hogwarts.

Today Celia had a long list of Brightstone households she needed to canvass. It wasn't exactly the most glamorous work — she'd already had seven doors slammed in her face — but she knew it was necessary. This was one of their last chances to appeal directly to voters before the election. Celia also privately hoped that if she paid her dues now, she could do more interesting work the next time she volunteered with a political campaign. How exactly she would explain her work for a magical, foreign campaign to a muggle, American one, she had no idea. But that was a bridge she would cross when she got to it. For now, she just had to focus on being the best volunteer the Cade campaign had ever seen. So, clipboard in hand, Celia made her way to the next house on her list and knocked firmly on the door.

 

[Aleena Thorne]

Aleena was used to a quiet house. She was glad to have Caleb and Delilah home even just for a few weeks before they'd be off to school again. But they were growing up so fast and were out of the house more and more these days. So while they were home she still ended up alone most of the day. When she heard an unexpected knock at the door she stood quickly to answer it. Part of her expected it would be someone delivering bad news, even though she had just gone through the worst already. So she was surprised to see a young girl standing on her doorstep. "Can I help you?" she asked tentatively and glanced around the street to see if there was anyone with her.

 

[Celia Vuong]

As Celia waited for someone to answer the door, she glanced down at her clipboard. Thomas and Aleena Thorne. Unfortunately, Celia was quite familiar with that surname; it belonged to one of the most annoying boys in her year. She just hoped that these Thornes were not related to Caleb in any way. There was a decent chance Thomas and Aleena didn't even live here anymore. As a lowly volunteer, Celia had been given the most outdated voter lists to work off of.

A woman opened the door, and Celia pasted on her brightest smile. "Hi! Yes, I'm looking for Aleena or Thomas Thorne?" The woman did look like she could be old enough to be Aleena. "My name's Celia, and I'm a fourth year student at Hogwarts. I'm going door-to-door today on behalf of James Cade, who is running for Minister for Magic," she explained, perfectly reciting the script they'd been given. Memorizing it hadn't been difficult. After all, she'd already canvassed dozens of houses this election season.

 

[Aleena Thorne]

Aleena blinked as the girl introduced herself and explained why she was at her door. There was still a tender spot in her chest that ached at the mention of her late husband but she did her best not to let it show to the girl. There had been so much paperwork to sort through, they had apparently missed the one that would have taken Thomas' name off what ever directory the girl was using. In the end she smiled. "I'm Aleena." she confirmed. "You might know my son then. He's a fourth year as well." Caleb didn't tell her much about school so she wasn't really sure who his friends were. She did admire Celia's eagerness to get involved and felt a little bad her alliances laid elsewhere. She had been helping on Siobhan's campaign for the past few months which had been the distraction she had desperately needed. But she figured it wouldn't hurt to let the girl give whatever speech she had most likely worked very hard on. "Oh, I know who's running for minister." she said with a kind smile. "But I don't know much about his platform to be honest."

 

[Celia Vuong]

The woman's expression was unreadable, but at least she wasn't trying to stop her so Celia forged on. Fortunately, this woman was Aleena. Unfortunately, she was also related to Caleb. "Oh! You must be Caleb's mom." Celia hoped her smile did not look as strained as it felt. "We're in the same house." She hesitated for a second, wondering if she should try and claim that they were friends. But that lie would very quickly unravel if Aleena even mentioned her name to Caleb. "He's a good duelist." Complimenting Caleb pained Celia, but she reminded herself that this was all for the greater good — a James Cade ministership.

Celia forced a small chuckle as Aleena said she already knew who was running for minister. "Of course." She knew there was a good chance the woman was just humoring her, but she wasn't about to ignore the opening to talk about Cade's policies. Though the campaign had given her a script, they had also told her to try and leverage personal information during these conversations with voters, and that's exactly what Celia planned to do. "Well, you might find this flyer helpful," she said, holding out a leaflet outlining Cade's platform. "Before James announced his campaign, I didn't know much about him either. But after reading some of his proposals and listening to him speak, it became pretty clear to me that he cares a lot about making Hogwarts better and preparing students for their future careers. One of his ideas is to hold career fairs at Hogwarts and create a mentorship program that pairs students and Ministry workers. I don't know about Caleb, but for me at least, I've been thinking a lot about what classes I'll need for future jobs since OWLs are next year. A lot of James's plans are aimed at making sure students know what options are open to them." Celia assumed Aleena also cared about the quality of her son's education and his postgrad success (even if Caleb didn't seem to care much about school himself). "Also, unlike some of the other candidates, he actually went to Hogwarts New Zealand, so he's very familiar with the school and knows how to implement his proposals."

 

[Aleena Thorne]

Aleena felt a wave of excitement as Celia confirmed that she was in fact one of Caleb’s classmates. She resisted the urge to ask her all kinds of questions about what he was like at school. She wasn’t here for that after all. But Aleena smiled when the young girl said that he was a good duelist. She had heard him talk about the dueling championship at school but she didn’t realize how big of a thing it was for him. “Oh yes. Thank you,” she said patiently when Celia handed her a flyer. She skimmed it absentmindedly as Celia continued to talk, most likely hitting all the points she was supposed to. Aleena looked up and nodded along as she went, trying her best to seem engaged. She knew most of this already since she had done research on all the candidates while working but it was sweet to see someone so young being so passionate. Personally she thought James Cade was fine, but his plan to bring back the tri-wizard tournament was misguided as well as several of his policy ideas. “Education is important.” she agreed. “And a career fair is a good idea.” she said thoughtfully. “Do you know what you’d like to do?” she asked curiously. She was already so driven, Aleena was sure she had big plans.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Aleena definitely seemed receptive, and Celia nodded encouragingly. "Honestly, I'm a little surprised no one has thought of holding one before." It still baffled her that Hogwarts didn't have anyone whose full-time job was to provide career counseling. She knew some of the most competitive high schools in the United States had upwards of eight, nine, even ten college advisors dedicated to helping students plan out their futures. For Hogwarts not to have even one seemed like a grave oversight. Maybe that's why so many its students went on to work in retail. "I think a lot of students would find it helpful to talk directly with the people in the careers they're interested in."

Celia nodded at Aleena's question. She had the next ten years of her life already planned out, including her dream school, her dream law school, and her dream internships. But those were plans she couldn't really share with Aleena. There was always a risk the woman held unfavorable views of the muggle world. "I want to work in the Ministry, in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. I haven't yet decided if I want to focus on law or diplomacy, but I'm leaning towards diplomacy." That wasn't quite a lie. U.S. ambassador had always been one of her dream jobs; this was simply the magical equivalent. Though Celia had always envisioned a future in the muggle world, it had recently occurred to her she had twice the number of opportunities as most people thanks to her familiarity with both worlds. "I'm sure you can already tell by the accent, but I'm not from New Zealand." And it sounded like Aleena wasn't either. "Another thing that I really like about James is that he's made international magical cooperation a major part of his platform."

 

[Aleena Thorne]

Aleena listened attentively as Celia continued. She tried to think back to when she was her age and wondered if she had ever been this passionate about anything. Then she remembered a time she had argued with a professor over a single point on an exam and realized that she in fact had been. “Yes, I think it would be helpful. It’s hard to know what things are really like but asking questions and getting answers is always a good start.” she agreed and folded her arms before leaning against the doorframe. She had a feeling this might be a longer conversation than she bargained for. But she raised an impressed eyebrow when Celia had a very specific answer prepared when she asked about her future. She wondered if Caleb or Delilah had any secret plans she didn’t know about. Merlin knew she never asked, not really. That had always been Thomas’ concern even though she knew he could be hard on them. “That sounds very ambitious.” Aleena said kindly and laughed lightly when Celia brought up her foreigner status. “International relations do take a certain kind of person to handle things well.” she said before gearing up for a question of her own. "I am curious. Do you live here in the country? And if not why take such a strong interest in this election?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia smiled at the compliment. As far as she could tell, Aleena seemed fairly normal and reasonably intelligent. She had no idea how Caleb had ended up so immature and obnoxious. Maybe he took after his father. Celia's gaze drifted over Aleena's shoulder in an attempt to see whether Thomas might be in, but she quickly snapped to attention at the woman's comment. "That's true. And James is definitely someone who can do that."

She shook her head at the question. "No, I'm from the U.S." That wasn't where she lived, but it was definitely home. Her presence on this side of the global was not by choice, and as soon as she graduated, she intended to head back. "I'm sure you already know this, but the Ministry basically controls Hogwarts. It funds the school and sets the curriculum. If Hogwarts wants extra resources for certain programs, it has to go to the Ministry." Celia had always known that Hogwarts was a public school, but she hadn't realized how dependent it was on the Ministry until she'd talked to Professor Corrins. "I figured it was my duty to advocate for myself and other students, like Caleb," she added in a not-so-subtle attempt to remind Aleena that her son's future was at stake. "I really do think James Cade is the candidate who is most open to reform at Hogwarts. The other candidates seem to be mostly satisfied with how it's currently run, but James is pushing innovative ideas and wants Hogwarts to establish itself internationally. Things are good, but they can definitely be better," she said, referencing the campaign slogan. "And he's the only one who recognizes that." Celia paused. "So, Aleena, can James Cade count on your vote?"

 

[Aleena Thorne]

Aleena smiled at the girl’s conviction and hoped it didn’t seem condescending. James Cade seemed like a fine man but there were parts of his politics she wanted to stay very far away from. Not to mention she was working with one of his opponents. But she was curious why her parents had decided to send her to New Zealand if they were from the U.S. and she assumed they still lived there. If they hadn’t had to move she would have made sure the kids had gone to Hogwarts Scotland. That’s where she had gone and met Thomas. Not to mention his family’s long history there. “Quite far from home then.” she said with some sympathy. It was hard being away from places you call home. She had considered going back to London but it didn’t seem wise with Caleb and Delilah still in school. Besides, she wasn’t sure she was ready to face what would be waiting for her.

When Celia mentioned Caleb’s name again she realized her mind had wandered for a moment and brought her attention back to the conversation at hand. “Well you have certainly given me a lot to think about.” Aleena said diplomatically. “You are obviously very bright and if he has you supporting him then he must be doing something right.” she added. She didn’t want to lie for the sake of Celia’s feelings but she didn’t want to completely shut her down either.