The office that now belongs to Ashby Summers is simple in decoration, as he doesn’t really aim to spend too much time in here, much preferring to be with his employees. There is clear influence from his wife in the room, as the decorating clearly matches the oak desk in the middle of the room. Above the fireplace is a family portrait showing Ashby his wife and their two children. Apart from this portrait there is little personal articles, as Ashby firmly believes that personal lives should not influence a person’s work.

Ashby likes to keep his desk neat and tidy. To one side are two trays; one for outgoing letters, and one for incoming letters. He keeps his parchment and ink tidy in a draw down to the side of his desk, and his quills are neatly lined up to the right hand side. He hates people messing up his items, so be warned. Don’t mess up his desk.

The wards on the office are a little less intense when compared to the previous owner, but Ashby still requires that you knock on the door before entering.

Ooc; Please knock on the door before entering otherwise Ashby won’t be very happy.

Through the standard means and secure delivery postage channels, a very important piece of owl mail is placed on the Mysteries' Department Head's desk. The missive is on special letterhead and sealed with a lime green wax seal.

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Text Cut:

June 8th, 2084

To the Ministry Department Heads:

If you have not been informed, St Mungo’s Hospital, in conjunction with Mr. Anthony J. Cresswell and his team of Ministry Healers, will be conducting Health Evaluations starting late this afternoon within the Ministry building.

Levels 1 though 4 will attend their examinations in the Technology Lounge on Level 1. Levels 5 though 9 will proceed to the Atrium on Level 8. Appointments are being scheduled for you and your employees and will be sent out via memo shortly.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation during this time.

Wandastian Epitaph
St. Mungo’s Head Healer
M.H.D.

Ashby hummed to himself as he wandered down to his office, his daughter's OWL schedule clutched in his hands. She had better get good grades after all this trouble of getting her accepted on the Hogwarts Exchange Program. The department head raised an eyebrow as he stepped into the room, noticing the mail on his desk. Shaking his head, he strode over to his desk, taking a seat, and placing the exam schedule onto his calender.

"Hmm..." He recognized the seal of course, and picked it up. "What in Merlin do St Mungos want." He had not been to the hospital in a long time. He broke the seal, and quickly read the letter. "What... the." Mental health screening? Did the speciality area not think that his employees had enough to do without needing screenings too.

The man shook his head, standing up, and discarding the memo onto the desk. He was going to go and find out what was happening, before he even mentioned this to employees.

Slowly, but surely this place was starting to look like an office again. Jasper's objects, which were trickling in slowly here and there as the change from employee to employer had been rather impromptu, must have reflected their owners scattered and perhaps exotic life. A mission style desk however, a gift from his friend and fellow seer Lady Xoc dominated the room and seemed to never truly be out of space to store the office essentials including the seers latest personal almanac, a quick quotes quill and unused prophecy orb. Against the back of the room, perches and a cage for his pet raven, Sandra, though she preferred to think of herself as more of a free-range raven with her little black head boppin' about freely.

There was stacks of books, unfinished, dog-eared and book-marked here and there and wards? What wards?

If Jasper is in here, he might be checking hours for the payroll, archiving prophecies and seers or cross-referencing a prophecy.

Edward walked to the Door of the Department head. He thought he'd like to see what was going on with the new fellow until a permanent replacement was found.

He knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"You can come right in, Mr. Lennox. There aren't any wards up at the moment." Jasper was sitting behind the rather large desk holding a quill; a large blank ledgered tome was in front of him and a box of prophecies in their little ball homes was beside him on the floor. "Do watch your step, though. Wouldn't want any of these prophecies to escape." Or worse. He finished writing something, a name, then stopped to properly greet his fellow Unspeakable.

"How are you today, Mr. Lennox? How are things in the love dividision?" He said, asking about Edward's work, though superficially it might have sounded a bit like a personal question.

Edward stepped in to the office that had been until recently, occupied by Summers. With the transition, it was in an understandable state of slight disarray. This didn't bother Edward much as his area at times looked similar. Especially if he was hot on the trail of some expected breakthrough.

Good day. Things are going well. About the way one would expect in the love division. Hard nut to crack, that one. Not sure how I ended up studying love, but it seems to have suited me. Edward made sure to avoid stepping on anything but flooring. It wasn't too bad.

Thought I'd check in with you since you've come over this way. See what I could do to help things out, what with the transition and all. He hesitated, but knew it would be best to get things out in the open at the start. Also thought I'd come in, see what your expectations were for what we do here in the department, specifically my own division.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

Edward stepped in to the office that had been until recently, occupied by Summers. With the transition, it was in an understandable state of slight disarray. This didn't bother Edward much as his area at times looked similar. Especially if he was hot on the trail of some expected breakthrough.

Good day. Things are going well. About the way one would expect in the love division. Hard nut to crack, that one. Not sure how I ended up studying love, but it seems to have suited me. Edward made sure to avoid stepping on anything but flooring. It wasn't too bad.

Thought I'd check in with you since you've come over this way. See what I could do to help things out, what with the transition and all. He hesitated, but knew it would be best to get things out in the open at the start. Also thought I'd come in, see what your expectations were for what we do here in the department, specifically my own division.

"Ah yes. Love is very tricky. Even at my age I haven't been able to figure that one out." Thankfully, the wife had it all figured out. Or maybe she had it half figured out and somehow this worked as a catalyst making Jasper's relative cluelessness seem less pronounced just by simply standing next to her. Love knowledge by osmosis ftw!

Jasper's smile remained placed and the effort to keep it there was eased by Edward's question. It made his job a great deal easier when his people took the initiative. "I find your work fascinating, Mr. Lennox and specifically, I am most interested in the research aspect of it. But that is, of course on a personal level. I feel that I should ask you where you are at in the Ever-locked room. Have you made any discoveries? Do you think there is a specific direction you'd like to see the work you've done take?"

Jasper paused to let the man answer and considered the positions he had available in the department. "Also, Mr. Lennox, whilst I have you here, I could really use a good wizard to act as Department Liaison. It's not a constant job that needs doing and won't take you away from your work too often, but on occasion a go-between for the Department of Mysteries and the others, in particular, the minister's office is needed. Would you be interested?" Although, he did not know the goings-on in the love room as well and Mr. Ashby, he had noticed that Edward was the punctual and present sort and thought that would be valuable in such a position.

Edward nodded. He agreed. It was unbelievable how little that muggles knew about love. It was even more amazing how little grasp wizards had on the issue. In the time he'd been working there, it was volumes of study, but not much in the way of communicable results. The effects were evidence. Causes and uses not as much.

Thank you, Edward responded to the statement about his work. The research is challenging. It's difficult to find out how exactly to conduct research on the origins of love and how it can be used to benefit wizardkind. Edward pondered a moment before continuing. Albus Dumbledore had written a large number of notes on actions and results of sacrificial love as well as parental love. As for that type of relationship, there's still difficulty understanding why one's maternal instinct is so much more developed than another. I've been particularly interested in studying adolescent love and it's transitional nature. Still working on research parameters and if it's possible, I'd like to go to Hogwarts and do some observational study as well as conduct surveys. Edward had grown rather attached to his work and he wanted to see it be more successful.

When Jasper asked about being a Department Liaison, Edward folded his hands and placed them to his lips. After some brief consideration of the implications, Edward nodded. I think I would be interested. Always willing to help advance our work and I think serving as a liaison would serve that purpose well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

Edward nodded. He agreed. It was unbelievable how little that muggles knew about love. It was even more amazing how little grasp wizards had on the issue. In the time he'd been working there, it was volumes of study, but not much in the way of communicable results. The effects were evidence. Causes and uses not as much.

Thank you, Edward responded to the statement about his work. The research is challenging. It's difficult to find out how exactly to conduct research on the origins of love and how it can be used to benefit wizardkind. Edward pondered a moment before continuing. Albus Dumbledore had written a large number of notes on actions and results of sacrificial love as well as parental love. As for that type of relationship, there's still difficulty understanding why one's maternal instinct is so much more developed than another. I've been particularly interested in studying adolescent love and it's transitional nature. Still working on research parameters and if it's possible, I'd like to go to Hogwarts and do some observational study as well as conduct surveys. Edward had grown rather attached to his work and he wanted to see it be more successful.

When Jasper asked about being a Department Liaison, Edward folded his hands and placed them to his lips. After some brief consideration of the implications, Edward nodded. I think I would be interested. Always willing to help advance our work and I think serving as a liaison would serve that purpose well.

"Ah, yes. The fact that love cannot be artificially produced does make it difficult to study in a variable-free lab setting." He concurred with Edward's shared thoughts, though that was probably not all that made it challenging. Jasper knew that he was really only hitting the tip of the iceberg with this, but he did not wish to appear unforgivably stupid in front of his co-worker. Ravenclaws. "I think that would be a fantastic idea, Mr. Lennox. Perhaps, if you would not mind it, some of your co-workers in the Ever-locked room could join you and help you gather notes and information. I shall write to the Minister and the Board to see about granting you access."

Jasper wasn't sure what Edward would say in regards to being the departments Liaison. He was hoping Edward would agree, but it was a rather large responsibility and Edward did seem deeply entrenched in his work (a good thing!) and so maybe he wouldn't want to be torn from it for any length of time. "You'll do it, then? Fantastic, Mr. Lennox! I knew you were the right man for the job."

"Before you go, Mr. Lennox, did you have any further questions or perhaps comments regarding the department?" In case there were other things his co-worker wanted to go over but hadn't mentioned yet.

Edward nodded with thinly veiled excitement. Perhaps he'd really get a chance to do some field study. He didn't relish the idea of heading back to Hogwarts, but he did want to push the research forward. I'm sure they would enjoy the opportunity to study more than notes from books and anecdotal evidence.

Ian would be completely thrilled to have the chance to represent the department. He'd grown excited about it the more time he spent here. It was one of the more difficult parts of the job not being able to speak about it more. It really was exciting stuff, even if it was difficult to understand sometimes. It would be an honor. Thank you for the chance.

Edward shook his head no. It seemed that this initial meeting was nearing an end. It certainly seemed to have been rather productive. He would probably need to see if Jasper would like to walk around the ever-locked room sometime to see some of the projects they had going on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Penguin

Edward nodded with thinly veiled excitement. Perhaps he'd really get a chance to do some field study. He didn't relish the idea of heading back to Hogwarts, but he did want to push the research forward. I'm sure they would enjoy the opportunity to study more than notes from books and anecdotal evidence.

Ian would be completely thrilled to have the chance to represent the department. He'd grown excited about it the more time he spent here. It was one of the more difficult parts of the job not being able to speak about it more. It really was exciting stuff, even if it was difficult to understand sometimes. It would be an honor. Thank you for the chance.

Edward shook his head no. It seemed that this initial meeting was nearing an end. It certainly seemed to have been rather productive. He would probably need to see if Jasper would like to walk around the ever-locked room sometime to see some of the projects they had going on.

They would. Jasper had the fortune of being the prophecy collator in a division that hadn't a prophecy collector, which translated to he got out often enough. Everyone else, though. He hadn't recalled them leaving ever. Perhaps the Ever-locked room was filled with orchids and soft sofas, nonetheless there was no replacement for a bit of fresh air.

"Very good, Mr. Lennox. I look forward to seeing you when we are back in session." He preferred not to say good-bye outright. "Would you mind leaving the door cracked open a bit? I don't want anyone thinking I've left just yet."

Edward nodded as he stood. I appreciate your time. I also appreciate you taking the time to listen. S'pose I'll head back and start working on love some more. with a that! Edward headed out, leaving the door about 1/4 open as requested.