Kieran said his name, but Jude refrained from looking directly at him because he hadn’t yet quite managed to smooth over his creased expression. He didn’t want to argue. He didn’t want to feel hurt about this.

He forced himself to look in his general direction, once he had mustered a better show of unaffected lightness, trying to feign business as usual. “So – did you learn anything else while you were on this?” From the Ministry, the Wizengamot, any other political rumour regarding who had voted how; anything useful he had heard but perhaps not included in the article. “That you can share, I mean.”

---

  

---

Jude wouldn't look at him. Kieran was staring at him like he could bore a hole through Jude's skull, thinking look at me, but maybe some of the gossip he'd dragged in with him would help Jude at least make eye contact with him. He took a large sip of his pint. "Some of the progressives are worried about the clause of an employer's recommendation," he said, "Once it hit the Wizengamot, Ross proposed owning a wand and being seventeen or older to be the requirement, but it was sort of too late by then."

He added, swiftly, "Berkwood from the committee wouldn't tell me anything when I ran into him the other month, but I told him he ought to come here. Maybe he will, and we can really learn something."

The following 1 user Likes Kieran Abernathy's post:1 user Likes Kieran Abernathy's post
   Jude Wright

---

set by MJ!

He couldn’t resist the urge to listen seriously to anything Kieran could say – it was too important a ruling – so Jude nodded along intently, forcing himself to set aside the personal. Because he too was worried about the power this gave (potentially-conservative-leaning, potentially uncooperative) employers; it was a relief others might have already contested the issue. Perhaps there would be legal workarounds in practice, to enshrine protections for said employees – and hopefully this would be the first stepping stone, and not the end of Dempsey’s committee-led reforms. If the changes could only gather a little more momentum...

More than any Wizengamot revelations, it was Kieran’s mention of meeting Berkwood from the committee and telling him to come here, that actually made Jude soften enough to meet his gaze again honestly, with a wordless you did?. He followed it up with a small smile, a thank you. “Well, maybe,” Jude agreed, sounding more hopeful. “I suppose we’ll see.” He wasn’t sure Kieran’s effort to recruit someone to their circles would truly pay off, but it would be illuminating if it did; and if it didn’t, the thought itself meant a lot.

---

  

---

Jude was perking up; Kieran's muscles relaxed, and he leaned against the bar, feeling more happy by the minute. "It almost feels as if it was too easy," he admitted, because Jude's small smile meant that he could amid things again. "Like — without bodies on the line, without jail time on the table with people they think matter, they took the middle path."

They both knew that progress could be slow. But was it still enough?

  

---

set by MJ!