Oriana was absolutely livid. It did not suit her well that her family was getting threatened because of their blood status and viewpoints, as that certainly was not allowed in the slightest. How could it possibly be her fault that some people were just born better than others, privileged as they should be? As if she was supposed to live like a scoundrel on the street, or a whore with loose morals; no, she certainly wouldn’t. She was a Greengrass, even if her blood had been tainted because someone couldn’t keep their legs together long enough to find someone worthy of reproducing with. It was an embarrassment, really, which is partly why she wanted to give to Cecilia the best blood that she possibly could. Cecilia was nearly perfect, thanks to Oriana, even despite her flawless ability to act like a gorilla in her best of days. Oriana cared very much for her family, from her lovely daughter to her perfect step-son and splendid husband. They were of sound beliefs, something that was far to come by as everyone flocked to ignorance. That was not the Arnesen line, not in the slightest, and Oriana would be beside herself if she allowed the naïve and stupid members of society treat her family as if they were barbaric animals that needed to be caged.

This was why Oriana let her heels perfectly click against the hardwood of the floor leading up to the Aurors department, waving off someone who tried to ask if she needed assistance. There was no way she was going to allow the foolish simpletons to lead her when their blood was hardly pure. Although her blood wasn’t pure, this was her family and she would not trust those who didn’t deserve magic to use magic to protect her. If she wanted to hand off her family to their demise, she’d invest in a bunch of idiotic muggles to do their best. Swinging her arms back and forth, with her chin held high and a serious expression on her face, she pushed through to the Minister’s office, knowing that she had probably known quite a few of their wives or girlfriends, having tea with them frequently. Lifting a hand, she knocked loudly on the Head of Aurors door, frowning when she noted that the light was off. Merlin, no one did bloody work around here, she thought to herself as her eyes narrowed and looked about.

“You, there,” she stated firmly to a woman, finding manners to be acceptably skipped over given the circumstances. “You can get me tea while I wait for your Head. Is he going to be long? I have places to be,” Oriana stated, annoyed. Her nose snuffed at the woman, her eyes narrowing as she vaguely recognized her though she couldn’t put her finger on the recognition. Either way, this was no place for a woman’s work, so clearly, she must be the assistant…which was nearly acceptable enough, she figured.


Outfit
@persephone

It had been an interesting day so far. She had been happy that her boss had offered her a recruit to shadow her and train. She loved training and teaching. It had become a passion, though she was a bit more stern with recruits, though never ‘mean’. She meant business and if her boss was going to trust her to teach them then she would give no less than a hundred percent. It had been a bit of a rocky start that morning as she quickly learned that the bloke wasn’t going to take anything seriously. He was too focused on her gender to let anything sink in. Though she was very amused when he had let his eyes linger a bit too long and her husband just happened to be passing through to give the kid a stern look. She was slightly irked that it took a large Russian man to get the kid to start taking things seriously, but he had. Granted, part of her wished this was the day she could help with training on magical dueling as she would have loved nothing more than to knock him on his arse and make a spectacle of him.

Ever since that moment the bloke had done a fantastic job with retaining any information she threw out at him while she worked, even giving him his own work as she did so. She was sure he would do fantastic if he kept up in that direction. It made her happy to see anyone in the department to excel. It was drawing towards the end of her work day though she had a bit more to do. She walked up to the receptionist with the recruit to see if Benjamin had sorted if he would be shadowing her again the following day when she went out in the field when she heard a woman speak to her, quite rudely and turned to look at her. It wasn’t uncommon for Persephone to be mistaken as a secretary or receptionist when strangers came into the department. There weren’t many women in this particular field and she didn’t take much offense to it as normally people were nice about it and apologetic when they realized she was an auror.

This woman however, was downright nasty, though that thought hadn’t crossed over into her expression as she gave the woman a friendly smile. She glanced over at Benjamin’s door noticing there was no light from under his door and silently cursing him for being gone when she knew this was not going to be easy to deal with. Then again this was what he had hired her for. She turned to her recruit with the same friendly smile. ”Please go get our guest some tea, if you wouldn’t mind.” She asked kindly, watching as he nodded and walked away without a word. He probably was looking for an excuse to get away from this situation. ”I apologize for the inconvenience as I am unsure when Mister Duncanson will be returning.” She said to the woman before offering her her hand. ”I’m Persephone DiTraverso, an auror in this department, and I would be more than happy to assist you until Mister Duncason returns.” She said kindly wondering briefly just how difficult this woman was going to be. At least her day would be a bit more interesting now.

Outfit

For years, Oriana had been working on training her daughter to be an acceptable woman for society, only to have that all blown out the bloody window whenever she went back to school. Oriana certainly never understood it, but she figured it certainly had to be due to the fact that her daughter had been sorted into that blasted good-for-nothing house that bred idiots. Sometimes, Oriana really felt that it was in Cecilia’s best interest that they pulled her out of the suffocating school and brought her up with someone that could teach the proper ideals of society. However, they kept her at Hogwarts for whatever the reason was, seeing that as a means of training Cecilia what not to do. With all of that aside, Oriana knew that Cecilia would be the most likely to be off on her own doing something rebellious this summer and that certainly was not alright if that meant that they were receiving death threats. She did love her daughter, despite what she might think, and she wanted her entire family protected by the unintelligent of the world. She certainly wouldn’t trust anyone outside of the Head of Aurors for providing the protection, unless his mindset was completely shot as well in which case, they were as good as dead.

Her eyebrows narrowed as the receptionist suggested to a younger bloke to grab her tea, watching the interaction carefully. Something wasn’t quite right, Oriana knew, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. “An auror, you say? Interesting selection they have here,” Oriana asked, letting her eyes look over the woman’s fashionable choice of attire. She hummed quietly in disapproval as she sorted through her thoughts, now unsure of utilizing the department as a source of protection. “This world really is falling apart,” she sighed heavily in disgust, clearly figuring that they were lacking in solid men to apply for the position, thus leading them to hire women that could dress decent enough to gain attention. The woman had good taste in attire, though with such a manly woman, it was surprising as clearly this woman hadn’t known how to properly be a woman, associating with positions above her league. “Persephone DiTraverso, the same Persephone DiTraverso that works at Hogwarts?” Oriana asked, now seeing that the school truly was putting false ideas in her daughter’s head, what with sending women to work in a man’s job. “Oriana Arnesen,” she stated briefly with a nod. “I’d prefer working with Mr. Duncanson, the proper man for an actual job, so you can just give him a call and let him know I am waiting and that whatever it is he is doing can wait as this is an emergency, of course. I wouldn’t be standing here if it were anything less than such. Where is that tea? Honestly, did he run off to the shop and get lost?” she asked, glancing back to where the boy had disappeared to. Clearly, this is what happened when women were in a position they shouldn’t have been in, making men lose themselves in the process.

On days that Persephone knew she would be going outside of the office to do work she typically wore black slacks with a feminine button up shirt and her wedding rings. There was really no reason to get dressed up as she was going for professional yet she could still be active if gods forbid something got out of hand. Paperwork days were the days she took as an excuse to get a bit more dressy. She enjoyed dressing up, even if she didn’t come across as a ‘girly girl’. Now she was wondering if her attire was working against her with this client. It became very clear, very quickly what this woman supported a misogynistic way of doing things. Obviously Persephone probably didn’t look like a rough and tumble auror and more like a stereotypical clerical worker. She was half tempted to ask the recruit to take care of the woman, though she almost liked the idea of doing it herself and possibly making her uncomfortable in a sense.

Persephone nodded to the woman’s assessment of the department having an ‘interesting selection’. It was quite obviously a jab at the fact that there was a female auror in the department. It had been a long time since Persephone had to actually deal with someone who was so against a woman working in that specific career. It was difficult, and there was a lot to prove at times but the auror did enjoy a good challenge. A small smile came over her face as she recognized her name, though she typically used her married name as a professor. ”That I am. I am the head of Slytherin house and the Defense against the Dark Arts professor.” She replied hoping the woman wouldn’t pass out from the knowledge that a woman was capable of doing so much outside of the home. ”Oh yes, you must be Miss Hill’s mother. Your daughter is an excellent student. I am the Professor Petrov you have been owling about her marks this past semester.” She added with a gentle nod.

It was a good thing Persephone had so much experience as an auror with controlling her facial expressions and her tone of voice, if she didn’t she would have laughed and assured the woman that if her boss were there she would gladly hand her off to him. ”I completely understand, Mrs. Arnesan. I am sure whatever brings you here is of great importance. In order to make your case easier and quicker for Mister Duncanson to assess I would be happy to take down some basic information on the case you would like to present to him. “ It was then that the recruit returned with Mrs. Arnesen’s tea handing it off to the woman with a brief smile. Persephone turned towards him with a proud smile. ”Your shift is officially done for the day. You are doing fantastic. Just plan on shadowing me tomorrow for some field work until I can touch base with Duncanson.” She added. ”Thank you, ma’am.” He replied with a respectful bow of his head before leaving. ”I apologize for the delay.” She said to the woman as she turned back around referring to the tea.

Women were becoming more ghastly by the decade, something that was certainly attributed to the gender attempting to fulfill a role that was not meant for them. If only everyone could accept the role that they were born into, including that of blood status, this world would certainly fare much better than it currently was. It wasn’t insulting for a woman to not work in positions like this and Oriana didn’t understand why some women thought it an insult; it was merely the way that the world worked. Women were incapable of fulfilling the roles of men and likewise, men were incapable of fulfilling the roles of women. One didn’t see men going around giving birth, now did they? This was the way that Oriana had been brought up and it was the way that she truly enjoyed and it was the only way that this world was going to succeed. However, this world bred women with ambitious dreams that were meant to stay just there…in their dreams. Women, for example this woman that was apparently an auror, was gifted with beauty and watching it go down the bloody drain in her desire to be more manly. At least, Oriana mused, she had the decency to dress acceptably. Those cheekbones of hers were surely to die for; such a shame watching it go to waste in such a masculine profession.

It did not slip past Oriana that the woman was using two different last names, something incredibly interesting to her indeed. Apparently, even the sorting hat was allowing just about anyone into any house which was quite the disappointment. Perhaps that was the reason for Cecilia Rowan being sorted into such a disgraceful house. Her eyes shot the ring that was on her hand, noting that at least she was attempting to pass off the perception of herself being married. Between working as a professor, holding the position as the head of a house, and taking on the masculine position of auror, it was no wonder her marriage was in danger. At least, that was the assumption that Oriana would take if the woman was going by both her maiden name and married name. “My condolences, ma’am; divorce must be difficult,” she stated. That was clearly the only option as the woman couldn’t decide which of the names would work the best from this moment on. Maybe if the woman hadn’t tried to overstep her boundaries as a married woman, she would be happily married and with child by now. Women truly were falling from grace much more quickly and if this woman was an example of the likes of who was teaching her daughter, then by Merlin’s sake, Cecilia would need quite a lot of work before she was losing Oriana’s future perfect son-in-law. “Of course Cecilia is an excellent student; I expect nothing less,” she stated with a shrug as if that were obvious. That was what was expected of a lady as no bloke would want to marry a troll.

Oriana made a face, looking over the woman as if assessing if speaking with her was even worth her time with something of such great matter. She supposed it couldn’t hurt since the Head of Aurors was off gallivanting with no purpose as clearly, he had to pick up the slack when he went hiring women in this profession. Perhaps coming here had been a huge mistake…though, she did know that the DiTraverso line was that of the purest of blood so perhaps the woman wasn’t a complete dunce. She took the cup of tea, smiling at the bloke, though she felt bad for him. He probably thought that women were completely alright to give orders. “Thank you, sir,” she smiled politely at the young bloke before turning her glance back towards the woman. It was interesting to see the woman bossing him around; apparently, he was just pathetic, taking orders from a woman. “Right,” she stated as the woman turned her attention back towards her. She made a face at the taste of the tea, setting it down on the nearest counter as she should have known better than to have even asked for tea in the first place. “Well, professor Petrov, or Ms. DiTraverso, whichever you feel like going by, my family is being targeted and I want to know what the department will do in order to prevent future issues. As you know, I have a child, I have two, actually, and I have a loving husband and I will not stand by and allow miscreants to take what is mine,” she stated sternly as if it were the woman’s fault for this occurring.

While Persephone was raised in a wealthy pureblood family she had always been taught that nothing was just going to be given to her. Some of the women still decided to marry young and start having families, she hadn’t. There was nothing wrong with anyone wanting to stay home to raise a family as that was extremely important to her. There had been a point in Persephone’s life where she knew she wanted to marry and have children, one of which did happen, but she felt the latter was just not in the cards for her. She had a dangerous job, as did her husband and part of her feared that one day something would go very wrong and a child would be left without a mother or father. Granted on occasion it did still cross her mind but she would continue to push it away. Unless Nikolai approached her about that subject she would more than likely not mention it. Right at that moment she had a family to protect and a job to do.

Persephone wasn’t expecting the next comment Mrs. Arnesen made on her surname. Usually only family brought that up about her hyphenating her name. It wasn’t that she had an objection to her married name as she used it for everything outside of being an auror. She had made a name for herself through her maiden name, and it was just for professional purposes that she used it. She laughed lightly in a friendly manner at the woman’s comment. ”Oh, I’m not divorced. My husband happens to be an auror as well in this department. It makes things a little easier not having to constantly clarify which ‘Petrov’ is being addressed around the office by using my maiden name.” She said with a smile. Honestly, what was it with people and the importance of her last name? Her own mother questioned her about it, as well as Benjamin when she first came back home. Nosy old biddies those two were, she thought in amusement. She nodded in acknowledgement to the woman’s statement about her daughter doing well in school.

Persephone wasn’t truly offended just yet. She knew everyone was raised differently in some respect, and the ‘place’ of each gender was no different. Persephone would never be the kind of woman Mrs. Arnesen would approve of as she had always been headstrong and knew that she wanted to do something important with her life. Being a pureblood had made it even more important for her to continue training hard as an auror and led her to going to Russia to better her skills. Being a woman in this field was a plus as there certain situations that did need a ‘woman’s touch’. Sometimes it was more beneficial for her to be out in the field than her male colleagues. She looked far less threatening and could lure others into a false sense of security more easily. The men had a big advantage over her physically which was nothing she could really change as naturally they were all stronger than her, but she was smart and had figured out her own ways of doing things to her benefit.

It had to be confusing for the woman to see someone like Persephone training a male recruit and she could understand that as it was definitely uncommon. But Persephone had been in this career for almost half of her life and she had made a name for herself all on her own in two countries. She watched closely as the woman took a sip of tea and made a face. She hadn’t expected that the woman would have such a large problem until she spoke again. ”Ms. DiTraverso is fine. I’m assuming this is an attack on your family due to blood status?” Persephone began her voice becoming very professional, suddenly feeling herself grow angry as her own family had been a target though it had obviously not shown on her features. Her brother’s family had been attacked and killed because of their blood purity. ”If you wouldn’t mind I would like some more information to open a case immediately. If you could follow me please I would like to give us a bit more privacy to discuss this.” Persephone didn’t like discussing anything sensitive in the middle of the office and would prefer they had some modicum of privacy, even if the most she could do was use her cubicle. Hopefully when Ben returned he would stop by her cube to see if she was still working as he sometimes did.

The DiTraversos, Oriana knew, were a wealthy, well-off pureblooded family that was slightly off in their beliefs. In her mind, they were wasting their power, not taking the responsibility that was due to them. It was a shame, really, but Oriana would respect them nevertheless. They might be idiots, but they were still worthy of the title. If Oriana wasn’t so busy trying to correct her daughter before she took the wrong path in life, she would possibly consider trying to reach out to the large family and correct their behavior. Of course, there were only a few women in the bloodline, but she knew she could reach out to them and train them as her loving husband had taught her. It was the least she could do, really. Regardless, seeing the woman here at the department was solidifying one thing for Oriana and that was that they really were way off course. Honestly, they only had a few women in their bloodline and they were wasting them away by allowing them to work in such a gruesome department. The women needed to be home and correcting the behavior, not out trying to play off their masculinity. If the women were home doing what they were supposed to be doing, their family wouldn’t be nearly as off-course as it were. The men of the family needed to have better control of their women, she thought to herself with disgust.

Oriana pursed her lips briefly in confusion before replying again. “Oh dear, my deepest sympathies. And your husband is alright with you being in this department? I suppose that problem wouldn’t exist if you hadn’t worked here,” she suggested, staring at the woman. This was precisely the problem with women like Persephone DiTraverso, Petrov, or DiTraverso-Petrov…whichever name she so desired. “I just thought that maybe you were a bit confused on whether you were married or not,” she stated with a short life. If she didn’t work in the department, they would never have the clarifying issue. “If you didn’t work in the department, would you go simply by Petrov?” she asked curiously, wondering if the woman was just not ready to be led by a man. A household could not have two leaders as eventually, they would go separate ways, certainly. This was why there was one jarvey to lead the horses. “Is your boss ever around or does he meander about frequently?” she asked impatiently. She didn’t have all day as she needed to return home to ensure supper was ready for her family.

“Absolutely, Ms. DiTraverso. Hooligans think that they can frighten my family because they weren’t as blessed and that is absolutely not going to happen,” she stated firmly, her eyes narrowing. Oriana’s features softened slightly as the woman finally responded with something useful, taking the cause seriously. “Thank you,” Oriana replied gratefully. Despite the woman attempting to be manly, at least there was a bit of hope that the department was actually going to do something about it even if the Ministry was against people like her. “Of course,” she added, following after the rebellious woman, ready to share her story in order to get the people responsible put in their place.

Persephone’s family was well known though there were quite a few people out there that thought they weren’t doing their name justice. She knew her family was marked as nothing but blood traitors, and with Persephone being the first of her family to marry anyone that was less than a pureblood it made things a little more difficult. There was no doubt in her mind there were others out there that would take offense to her possibly ‘tainting’ the blood of her family if she were to have any offspring of her own. This didn’t really bother her, as it didn’t bother her family that she had married a halfblood. That wasn’t important to them as just being good people was all that was focused on. Being a hard worker, and kind yet firm was what was instilled in them all. She was sure Mrs. Arnesen would probably fall over dead if she realized the person who ran the family was her mother and that she herself would one day be the matriarch of the family.

Persephone quirked an eyebrow at the woman as she spoke again. If her husband ever had a problem with her working they would most likely not remain married for very long. ”That he is, he has only ever known me to be an auror. We worked together before we were married. If I were to work in a different profession I would go by my married name.” She answered the woman with a nod ignoring her comment on being confused about being married or not. Honestly, this was getting repetitive. She was sure if Nikolai had an issue with her going by her maiden name he would have said something by now. If he did she would possibly drop her maiden name. Persephone kept her face impassive at the woman’s next comment on her boss, though she was chuckling internally. She was sure she had said things like that to Benjamin about his work habits all in fun. ”I apologize again for the inconvenience. He is a very busy man, but I assure you you are in good hands until his return.” She replied with a solid nod.

This was a case that was certainly hitting close to home, though she wouldn’t know for sure just how severe the situation was until she got all of the details. Either was she wasn’t about to brush this off. Sure it could be a ‘mild’ situation, but Persephone knew how quickly ‘mild’ could turn severe. Persephone didn’t necessarily believe blood purity was a ‘blessing’ as she didn’t take much stock in just how important her blood status made her. It was a relief to see that the woman had picked up on just how serious Persephone was taking these accusations. If this situation was as serious as this woman was making it sound she would tell her boss that she would like to be the one that personally took it on.

Persephone led the woman into her cubicle, gesturing to the seat in front of her desk before moving to sit behind it. She used her wand to quickly summon a new folder and various forms as well as fresh parchment to take notes. Her posture had become rigid, the friendliness no longer on her face as her professionalism had completely taken over. There would be no more small talk as she was bracing herself for whatever information she was given. ”What seems to be the problem? Please start from the beginning using as much detail as possible.” She said her quill poised to begin taking notes whenever the woman started speaking.

Obviously Oriana knew the DiTraverso name. But just as obviously, she knew that they were known to be traitorous blood, led by the deception surrounding them. They were very much mudblood lovers, which was a shame with such a powerful lineage. It was something that Oriana simply didn’t understand as she thought they would be more wise than thinking that there was fair ground for those of different statuses. Statuses weren’t a bad thing, and Oriana was growing weary of the fact that many people liked to twist it to be that way. Just the thought alone would be enough to give her a pounding headache as dealing with such ignorance was growing tiring by the moment. Even worse than teaching children, was needing to teach adults what their parents failed at expressing. Oriana prayed to dear Merlin that Cecilia wouldn’t be that type of an adult as that was nearly unbearable to even think about. There was nothing worse than to see a decent bloodline killed off by their own stupidity, letting it go to waste in this generation. This woman probably married herself a halfbreed, or worse, a mudblood…which really wouldn’t be all that surprising. She could only hope that it were a halfbreed as perhaps that bloke, if this woman was even still woman enough to marry a man, would reign in his ridiculous wife. Merlin, it was a wonder that they were even still married after a day as surely the bloke would see a lost cause when it was right next to him…though, perhaps he was one of those ‘fix-it’ types, needing to fix anything and anyone that came in his view. Oriana could only dream, she supposed, as it would be wonderful if this powerful family turned from their immoral act of siding with mudbloods.

The family, whether they knew it or not, had been filled with generations knowing that protecting the bloodline was important. Had they not believed this, they would have tainted their blood many years ago, instead of opting to marry only those in the proper class. Honestly, it was as if this generation of DiTraverso’s was completely overlooking that beautiful fact, taking it upon themselves to live as disobedient children that needed to be spanked. Oh dear sweet Meriln, with every word that this woman replied with, Oriana was growing further distasteful at it. Coming here had certainly been a mistake, and she would have to inform Klaus of such, though she was certain he already knew. She’d rather have a garden gnome protecting her family than this woman who was confused about which gender she really was. “Well, that’s certainly a relief,” Oriana replied to the comment about maintaining her name in a different profession. “No children, I take it? Interesting. I would have thought every woman would realize that children were important,” she stated offhandedly. If the woman wasn’t going to bear children, what bloody good was she to man in the long run? Certainly her husband would want to carry on his family name and yet, this woman was too busy working two jobs to give him the light of day. Honestly, he was probably off finding his satisfaction in another woman, understandably so.

“Dough, in the hands of a woman, would be in good hands. A woman, on the other hand, is really only in good hands when a capable man is in charge…I do hope there is a capable man leading this department,” she replied, forcing a bright smile on her face. Following the woman into the cubicle, she glanced at the seat with brief distaste before replying. “I’ll stand, thank you.” She watched curiously as the woman prepared, before listening to the woman’s reply. “Mrs. DiTraverso, I do appreciate your attention to this matter, but I really feel that I must wait for your boss to arrive when it comes to the safety of my family.”

Persephone was patient with the woman as that was part of her job. She wasn’t even performing legilimens and could already ‘hear’ every thought the woman was having just by her commentary and the looks she was being given. It wasn’t something she was unused to. In Russia she did catch some flack for being a woman initially though no one really minded her blood status. In England she had been used to the pretentious pureblood families that thought her family was rubbish because of their beliefs in equality. She had also known that pureblood women were almost offended that she did the kind of work she did. She never let it bother her as she had a bigger mission in life that she was passionate about. Sure she was married and would like to eventually have children, but right now there were bigger things to worry about.

”No, I do not have children at present.” She replied matter-of-factly. It was getting tiring to deal with such personal questions. She supposed being used to her family occasionally bringing some of these things up had helped her a bit in keeping face, but it was still tedious. She quirked an eyebrow at the woman as she continued. This case was personal to Persephone and she would fight tooth and nail to get things sorted. Unfortunately her reproductive organs were more important than what she could actually do. Maybe she could just appeal to the woman for a moment, and play the part she wanted to see to an extent. She didn’t reply to the woman’s comment on women needing to be in the capable hands of a man. She was sure her husband would probably get a kick out of that later. ”Understandable, but don’t you think we should leave this bit to the women? We don’t want to squander Mister Duncanson’s time on frivolities. I would hate for him to have to go through all these preliminaries instead of dictating what needs to be done in a timely manner. That would be rude to do to the man, don’t you think?” She said with a serious look on her face as if offended that she would want to waste the man’s time on this bit.