Violet Slughorn (laodicean) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-04-28 19:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | violet slughorn |
WHO: Violet Slughorn
WHAT: Unsuccessful attempts to get foreign aid
WHEN: April 11th-23rd
WHERE: Various countries
WARNINGS: None
Being half-French, Violet had been to France many times over the course of her lifetime, but she’d never experienced the country’s tourist attractions or spent any real time in any muggle areas. She’d spent the past couple of days decompressing from her situation, giving herself a much needed mental vacation from all of the horrors left behind in Britain. She stayed in Paris, visiting the Eiffel Tower, Disneyland, and the Louvre. Having never been especially interested in muggle culture, she only knew who some of the more iconic characters were at Disney World, such as Mickey Mouse, but it was pleasant enough and the children there all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Visiting the famed muggle art museum was one part curiosity and one part spite toward Gerald Avery and his repulsive murder-art. Being born in France and having dual citizenship made France the most logical place for her to start off, even if she wasn’t contacting her French relatives for a visit. While she might have to sneak around later depending on how people responded to her leaving the country, her first visits to other countries would be recorded simply because she was reaching out to foreign Ministries - even if it was in an unofficial capacity. She’d already phoned the French assistant to the head of foreign affairs in the French Ministry and set up a lunch meeting for the next day. Now she was typing up an omail to the assistant to the head of the Spanish Ministry’s international cooperation department. Having played gatekeeper for her own boss and been in contact with other assistants in foreign Ministries, this was her best option to get information to the people she needed without bringing undue attention to herself. Since she was already acquainted with everyone she planned on writing to, she opted for an informal approach. Hello Luciana, This is is Violet Slughorn from the British Ministry, writing to you from my personal omail. I’m taking some time off from work to travel and would love to meet with you for an informal lunch or dinner at some point over the next week. Please let me know what day would be best for you. I look forward to hearing from you. It has been far too long since we last saw one another. Regards, Violet Her other omails were similar - all requests for an informal meeting, written with a friendly tone, and no hints at what they might be meeting about. She suspected that some of her peers at other Ministries might be less inclined to meet with her if they knew what she wanted to talk about, so it was best to keep things light hearted and friendly for now. April 16th: Madrid, Spain “Holy shit. Wow.” Luciana Garcia Lopez was normally an eloquent woman, but she was struggling to find words to adequately express herself after Violet explained everything and showed her the photos of Diagon Alley, the Daily Prophet issue that covered Gawain Robards’ death, issues of the Beacon, screencaptures of conversations where murder was casually discussed publicly by convicted Death Eaters, and the aestheticwarrior account on Hooter. “So to sum it all up, things are absolutely terrible in Britain,” said Violet grimly. She sipped her latte from Starbeaks, then put everything neatly back in her purse. “We knew things weren’t fine, and so did other Ministries...everyone pulled away for a reason,” Luciana lamented, “but this...well. It’s so much worse than I’d imagined. I can see why you left.” “With all of this new information, do you think Spain could spare a few Aurors to help? If every country in Europe were to send just three, there would be more than enough Aurors to take down the Death Eaters in a matter of days. I don’t know exactly how many they have, but if they had a lot of people, I think they would have been much faster to silence vocal dissenters and bring in Order suspects.” Luciana sighed, regret etched all over her features. “Violet, I am so sorry, but I seriously doubt I’ll be able to convince the Minister to send even one Auror. Interfering with another country’s war is a complicated mess. This might be enough to push for an increase in refugee assistance, but only for those who manage to get to Spain in the first place.” This was almost identical to her meeting on April 12th with Gaetan Beaulieu from France’s Ministry. Violet wasn’t surprised by the response, but she was a little disappointed. Spain’s Minister had a reputation both for being compassionate and yet tough on crime. “If you claim refugee status, I can make sure that your claim is expedited and that we get you promptly enrolled in our healthcare system,” Luciana continued. “We can definitely help a young expectant mother fleeing a warzone. But as for Britain’s situation….we’ll unfortunately be continuing our hands-off policy. I have no doubt of that.” April 19th: Rome, Italy “Listen, Violet...it’s not that I wouldn’t like to help...” Lorenzo Bianchi started as he glanced over the evidence she’d presented him with. He grimaced when he looked over the issue of the Beacon where Gawain Robards’ corpse was sitting within the DMLE office. “But it’s difficult to intervene in another country’s war?” Violet asked. Her meeting on the 17th with Ines Hermans in Brussels, Belgium had similar results to her meetings with Luciana and Gaetan. No help, but like Luciana, Ines had extended an offer to expedite a refugee claim. “Well, that...and there’s a few families here who think the Death Eaters have the right idea. A few members of them even act friendly with the muggle mafia families, but it’s only so they can profit from hurting and killing muggles. Fortunately, they’re in the minority. It’s just that they’re an unfortunately wealthy and influential minority, and I really don’t want to give them ideas about what a few wealthy and influential families can get away with if they work together to terrorize the general population.” That sounded all too familiar, and Violet could understand Lorenzo’s hesitation. “Ah...would this include the Delucci family, by any chance?” “Delucci? No. They’re wealthy purebloods, and they’ve definitely got that old blood pride that a lot of pureblood families do, but I’ve never heard of any of them doing anything violent or even particularly outspoken against muggles or muggleborns. Why?” “My brother’s girlfriend is a Delucci. They’ve been together for almost ten months now.” Lorenzo chuckled a bit at that, drinking down the shot of lemoncello that was included with dinner. Unable to drink alcohol, Violet had already given him hers. “Don’t worry, bella. If everything works out between them, the in-laws won’t be anywhere near the level of crazy as the ones you almost had.” Violet couldn’t help but laugh. Lorenzo’s easygoing demeanour was just what she needed to forget her troubles, if only briefly. It helped that the food was also quite good. “Anyway, let’s work on getting you set up with a refugee claim, eh? You’ll have to keep quiet about most of this Death Eater mess, but I don’t feel right leaving a young mother on her own. You can stay with my mother. She’s been hounding me for grandchildren. Maybe having a baby around will make her give it a rest.” April 23rd: Berlin, Germany Mila Hoffmann was the eldest of all of the assistants Violet was meeting with. A senior woman with tidily cut short light grey hair who could have gone on to run international affairs herself had she ever wanted the job. Back when Violet was the assistant to the head of trading standards, she remembered Mila Hoffman joking that she already did run international affairs. The formidable woman was an interesting combination of intimidating and matronly. Violet suspected there was some truth to Mila’s joke. If there was anyone in Violet’s contact list who could push their nation’s Minister to provide aid to Britain, it was Mila. Her response, while somewhat expected, was disheartening. “Even if the Death Eaters were not in control of your government yet, foreign interference always requires discussion and deliberation. The International Confederation of Wizards has protocols that must be adhered to. What complicates your situation is that Britain has lost its spot in the Confederation, and the Death Eaters are in government positions. Also, no responsible Minister wants to attract the attention of the most dangerous dark wizard to exist since Gellert Grindelwald.” Violet looked crestfallen, but refused to give up hope entirely. She’d gotten this far. She could push for something. “But no one really knew how bad things had gotten. Surely the Confederation makes exceptions for emergency situations? Like the British delegation that was sent to the United States when Grindelwald was there.” Mila sighed, looking worldweary. “Even just bringing topics up to the Confederation can take months. Now, because you have gone to this much trouble and I hate to dash the hopes of a nice young woman, I promise I will push my boss to bring this to the next Confederation meeting. However, you need to be aware that at this stage, all this means is that they will talk about it.” “Thank you,” said Violet, a smile breaking out onto her face. It wasn’t much at all, but it was better than complete inaction. “Don’t thank me just yet. They will talk, and they will probably agree to talk about it again, and they may even get to a voting stage, but the fastest that any aid might come of this would be over a year later, and more likely two years later. Bureaucrats are inefficient, full of themselves, and somewhat cowardly.” Mila huffed, clearly not impressed with some of the people she’d worked with over the years. “That seems to be a universal truth.” Violet scanned the dessert menu, pleased with the chocolatey options, even if she wasn’t happy that this meeting hadn’t been much more successful than any of the others. “Best that you learn that lesson while you’re young. It’ll help you in your future career,” Mila advised, taking a drink of her beer. “We should talk about getting refugee status, health care, and a false identity for you. Just because your ex might have said he’s not going to come find you doesn’t mean that someone might not come for your child in a few months. That’s not happening on my watch.” Although she wasn’t going to give up just yet, it seemed like the most she would manage in the short term with her current approach would be what Mila had promised - to get Britain’s situation discussed by the International Confederation of Wizards. Maybe foreign journalists were a better bet. They could bring the situation to the attention of the general public, who could in turn lean on the government to act. But first, there was something Violet had been neglecting. She needed to follow up with Percy. She didn’t like how things had been left between them. She also wanted to thank Charlie for his kindness. If anyone had warded her since the 9th, she couldn’t see it, and if no one was trying to contact her, either they didn’t want to contact her, weren’t in a position to contact her, or they were dead. Although she didn’t like any of the options, she hoped they were at least alive and as well as could be. Only one way to know for sure… She opened her laptop in the hotel room in Berlin and started typing up an omail. |