Sierra had just started the walk toward the fountain when the sound of Miss Latorta's voice reached her ears. "Excuse me?" she asked, not understanding at first. A hottie? Yes, she knew what a hottie was, but why...

Wait. What?! No. No, no, no, no, no. Was she implying that Eino was her boyfriend. Though she didn't admit as much, Sierra actually hadn't had her first boyfriend yet. She was just getting to the point where she thought she could see boys as more than just friends, but this was just too much at once.

"I did not land myself a hottie," she declared. "I don't...have a...boyfriend." She held a blank face, trying not to show that the comment had embarrassed her. At the same time, though, she walked quickly toward the fountain, trying to get away from Miss Latorta before anything else could be said.

As she headed toward Eino, Sierra slowed her pace considerably. He'd just been called 'her hottie', for Merlin's sake. He hadn't heard the woman, had he?! If he had, he hadn't said anything. She eyed him just in case, but he seemed so fixated on the fountain that she doubted he heard the woman's words. Good. The last thing she needed was for her father to get word that his daughter and her boyfriend had arrived in the Atrium...

Feeling a little more confident with approaching Eino, Sierra shrugged in response to his question. "Mmm, nah. I guess it was just someone here at the Ministry of Magic. Whoever was in charge a long time ago," she said. "I know it was here before both my mother and my father started working here." She came to a stop at Eino's side, but she didn't dare look up at him. No sense in giving Latorta over there another reason to make a ridiculous comment.

"Two witched and Two wizards put it together." She said with a giggle.

"It was built..." She could not even begin to guess, "A looooong long time ago."

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!" She said her voice getting higher as she spoke. "Come on. Let's take the lifts and go to the tenth floor. I'll show you Courtroom Seven." She said making her way to the lifts.

Penny had thought that whoever was going to be their guide would know details and dates... She had invited them to ask questions.

Shaking her head slightly, she made to follow Miss Latorta to the lifts..The court rooms.. "This should be cool", Penny thought..

"Is that the courtroom were all the Deatheater trials took place?", Penny asked.

Kurumi had been hanging in the back of the group, feeling completely out of her element as it were. It didn't help that Sierra seemed to be flaunting the fact that she seemingly knew the ins and outs of the Ministry since her father worked here. Kurumi's father also was a Ministry official, for the Japanese Ministry anyway. Due to recent developments back in Japan - something to do with foreign policy - he had had to give up his post at the Daily Prophet. This meant that the coming summer offered less chances for her to interact with the wizarding world....oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Courtroom Seven? They were moving on already? Kurumi simply nodded and tried to ignore whatever it was that was going on between Eino and Sierra at the moment and continued to follow the group.

Sierra mumbled something under her breath as she stared at the retreating figure of Gina Latorta. Luckily, Eino hadn't heard anything. Or if he had, he was being smart enough to keep quiet about it. Frown on her face, Sierra followed the group away from the fountain and toward the lifts.

Why couldn't she just go find her father and leave the annoying matchmaker with the rest of the students?

Catching a glimpse of the fountain while walking to the lift, Elizabeth Davis stopped and went to the fountain. She looked upon the fountain, taking in the wizard couple and all of the other beings. Elizabeth stayed there for a few moments before turning to carry on to the lift.

It wasn't everyday she took her time to stop and admire the magnificent fountain. But today was different. Different in that she was early and she needed to remind herself that there was good in the world, and that it was worth preserving and defending.

Emily starred at the gleaming gold statures, her eyes trailing over the witch, the wizard, centaur and goblin before coming to rest on the house elf. A being so inoccent and hard working... living their lives to serve their masters. She felt a little like that at times. Elfing away for the greater good... if there even was a greater good. She folded her arms across her chest and heaved a sigh. There was work to be done...

POP!

Armen Recard Apparated into the middle of the busy Atrium with a flourish. He normally would just automatically do so on level six but he liked to do it in crowded areas that way there was a higher chance an employee of level 2 would see and be reminded of what he did. Yep, oh and today he wanted to buy a copy of the Prophet.

After getting his paper and glancing over the front page, Recard looked up and saw a very familiar woman standing by the fountain looking up at the golden figures in the water. He sneered and walked over to stand beside her, admiring the statue aswell. "An amazing idea right?" he said with a sigh. "Equality for all the races; magical beings and beasts alike. Too bad your part of a group trying to stop that progress." Yeah she knew that the Cult was pro-rights for house elves, goblins, and werewolves?

The hairs on the back of her neck had prickled before she even heard the sound of his voice. Merlin! Really? Did he have to spoil her morning? Emily didn't turn to look at him, she didn't need to be reminded of Squid boys abnormally large head. No instead, her gaze remained on the fountain and the trickling water.
"Ideas are usually amazing... in theory, but in practice are usually disastrous."
It was true... "Where logic prevails, people fail." It was human nature, and the story of her life. She knew it well.

She did however look up when he suggested MLE were trying to foil their plans. It was true they were. Because even with their good intentions, it wouldn't work. But beyond that she knew they weren't innocent, far from it.
Sure there were a few members who were all for the good and fluffy lets-all-get-along-and-live-in-harmony rubbish... and she pitied them. Izzy had told her Squid boy was a good man, so far, she didn't see that.
"I beg to differ." She didn't take it any further, she didn't need to.

"I don't know what Izzy see's in you... but if anything happens to her..." Basically Recard, you'll be in for it.

Looking up at the face of the House-Elf, Recard looked back at Emily who had begun to speak. She, of course, was against the Cult and believed they were going about things the wrong way, like Isobel constantly was saying and that was just preposterous. If they had gone the way they were going before the Cult was in power NOTHING would be accomplished. They were taking action and getting things done!

So guilt was the flavor Armen was going to let Emily sample this fine morning in the Atrium. "So let me get this straight, you Emily Browne, think that Equality for the races would be...disasterous?" Hmmm is there a Daily Prohet employee around? Anyone? "How can someone say such things? Would you have us shut our House elves in their kitchens and make them clean after us with little to no suitable living conditions? Would you make us send centaurs to reservations so we can use their forests for our own personal gain or to hide them from Muggles?" he paused, he had been pouring it on thick and just hoped others could hear him and join the Cult's cause. All this waffle wasn't the reason he joined up but some losers believed it all.

"You believe we should continue to lie and humilate the Muggles by pretending we do not exist, insulting their intelligence in the process? I just don't see how someone can exist harmoniously this way in society, I really can't Emily." he shrugged, "These are all the things your department and those who call US liars and criminals are working to prevent." The Cult obviously was right about everything.

And then she brought Izzy into it. People seemed to like to do that more and more these days and he didn't like it. Why did Izzy have to be an Auror she could have worked at a petting zoo...or an evil petting zoo.

*siiigh*

"Izzy sees a man who's a part of a group following a dream and taking action to fix these problems we face, and someone who makes her happy and cares for her. And she won't be hurt I assure you of that." he was not about to let anyone hurt his
girlfriend, Cult or anti-Cult.

Elizabeth walked past the fountain, stopped, turned around and stood in front of the fountain. She stood there in silence, observing the faces of the figures. What a lovely fountain but why is it so biased? Elizabeth wondered. We aren't better than the rest but by this fountain it looks like we are or at least think we are so we look snobby.

Emily rolled her eyes. It was like talking to a child. Did he not hear what she had said? Or did he simply have selective hearing? She was beginning to get the impression he wanted an all out argument, Squid boy wasn't troubling himself to keep his voice down. But Emily was above that, she wouldn't rise to him.
"No Squi---Recard," she started, heh that was close. "I am not against equality, far from it. I would love for every witch and wizard to be able to live in co-existence with other magical beings and beasts as well as muggles alike. But I understand that some things are not possible to achieve in our lifetime at least. The world would not be ready for it."

Seriously, he should pick up a book sometime or read the paper... oh wait, he had the paper. In that case he should learn to read it instead of just pretending. "The reason I'm not siding with the Cult, is because I don't think it will work. It will only increase exploitation and segregation. And not to mention your going about things the wrong way."
Pfft, Squid didn't care, he only cared about himself and his massive ego.

"We're not humiliating the muggles, on the contrary we're protecting them from ourselves and our world. You can't deny that it wouldn't be safe for them to be privy to our knowledge and resources. It's bad enough they get dragged into it as it is... dark wizards wouldn't hold back just because you say lets co-exist. Violence and crime would escalate." As much as it wouldn't be safe for them. Muggles wouldn't be all that accepting of their differences, and that was human nature. Not that they couldn't hold their own, but she'd rather not live through an ordeal like the Middle Ages with Witch Trials and burnings... such an inconvenience and a waste of time.

She sighed. Seriously Squid You really buy into all that dung?

"No... your wrong again. She's blinded by her love for you... I just hope you see sense before she does and get your act together. We wouldn't want your ego to be damaged when she realises what you are and leaves you." She gave him a stern look. If anything happened to one of her own... one of her family. Then they would pay.
"I'm going to hold you to that."

Wait...what did she almost call him? Armen's eye narrowed as she slipped up on his name. Really? He was like the most known person in this Ministry under Borr. Evander and Greingoth were high up there but obviously Armen was higher.

And then she went on the stupid, corny 'The world's just not ready for this.' anti-cult rubbish and Armen wished he could make snoring noises to end the nonsense. When she was finished Armen just shook his head, "Emily that sounded alot like a memorized speech, has someone told you to say that? We need to act on our own inhibitions, young one." he nodded. She was a baby here in the ministry world, no?

And finally, he just ignored her dragon dung about how Izzy was just blinded by her lover; he knew how she really felt about him and he didn't care if the other people they worked with didn't understand. "Oh so I suppose you feel the same about your boss!" He let slip.

Ooops.

She couldn't help but chuckle lightly. Yes it probably did sound like a memorised speech, but it wasn't. On the contrary, she hadn't anticipated this conversation at all, so it was completely off the top og her head. Clearly her epic Ravenclaw mind was still functioning, even if she had been encouraged to go with her gut rather than her mind since starting here.
"I assure you it wasn't rehearsed, and I can think for myself... I don't need to be told what to say or how to think or what to do." She gave Armen a venomous smile. "I'm my own person." And she liked who she was... even if Squid didn't. Who was he to her? He was a nobody, just a waste of time.

Did he?... did he just say that? That was wrong on so many levels. She could feel her blood boiling a little, but she didn't let it show. There was nothing Squid could say or do to get her to react.
"My vision is perfectly clear... I love no one."
That’s right Recard... no one. There was not a single person she had to answer to, nobody to walk on egg shells around, nobody to fight for and nobody to lose.

Armen looked at her as she chuckled slighty, yep she was insane; just as he had expected. Wait she was her own person? And he wasn't? "Um well I am too." he said looking at her puzzledly. Armen was not sure what was going on at the moment but Emily was really starting to confuse me.

Wow...that was actually kind of sad. She loved no one. Hmpf. "Well I'm sorry to hear that Emily, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, my door's always open." and with a smirk, Armen walked towards the lifts nodding here and there to people he deemed...worthy.

"It's nothing to be sorry about, Recard," she smirked. On the contrary, considering what her work entailed it was easier not to have to deal with the emotions of another person, not have to worry about them or have them worrying about her... getting in her way. And it meant she wasn't blinded. Her mind was completely focused. "But I might stop by some time for a... chat." Then she could poke his ego-inflated head some more.

She watched as he turned and left for the lifts. Honestly... such a prat.

Taking one last glance at the Fountain of Magical Brethren, Emily sighed and turned on her heel , making her way to the lifts as well. It was time to get to work.

Work once again. Tina hurried to ran toward her department but stopped for a moment by the sight of the Magical Fountain. It's just so beautiful and she couldn't resist to stare, even for just a moment. It was not actually dirty in here but the facilities in her former workplace were a lot better than the Ministry of Magic. It was warm there when it was cold outside and it was cold inside if it was warm outside. Well, she just thought that. Tina’s the kind of person who’s weird in a lot of things. Being young and spontaneous is still in her spirit. Youth and fun is still her priority but when work comes, work is going to be the center of everything. She’s old, she knows that. The mere reason why she’s got no boyfriend since birth is the fact that no one on their right mind would pluck up the courage to court her. Body, acceptable, but face? A big NO. No one knows why she chose to resign at the company she once worked, earning her twice than what she was offered here at the Ministry.

Hands full of file cases, Tina eyed the girl beside her. She's not in the same Department as hers. She looked at her from head to toe. It’s always been her habit to criticize someone, but this woman, she’s just perfect. Perfect body. Perfect face. And perfect fashion! She’s got good skin too, soft and smooth, just by the looks. She’s got long nice hair flowing down her waist. She moved closer to the woman. The woman’s over-towered Tina by about quarter a foot. “Hello there,” said Tina smiling softly. “I’m Tina. I’m new here. And you are?”

Jade couldn't believe how big the Ministry was--her new department, Accidents and Catastrophes, had numerous divisions. That was something that she wasn't used to back in South Africa where despite the magical legacy, things weren't as organized as it was here in Britain.

During one of her breaks, Jade headed outside the ministry for lunch and stopped at the fountain as she made her way back to her department. As she was admiring the golden figures of a wizard, witch, centaur, goblin, and a house-elf with jets of water spouting out into the fountain below, she heard someone start talking to her. She turned towards the voice and saw a young woman about the same age as her. The woman was shorter than Jade had unnatural looks which could be called pretty but she looked really nice nonetheless. The woman carried a few files with her.

Jade smiled, "Hello, Tina. Nice to meet you. I'm Jade. You're also new? That's good to know. I'm new too--I'm actually new to Britain really. I'm originally from South Africa and the move here has been a major change." Jade smiled serenely at Tina, "That's a lot of files. What department are you working for? They must keep you very busy if you have to carry so many files around. Do you need help with them?" She stopped at glanced at her muggle watch, "I have 15 minutes remaining on my break."

She'd become even more beautiful with that smile she wore on her face and her soft voice and her nice personality. Tina's now becoming a little jealous. She chooses her circle of friends and she definitely picks those with beauty and brains since she's got none on the former. "New here in Britain, huh? Well, I can assist you if you'd like. We can go on trips. I would love to be friends with you, dear," said Erin with a big smile baring her super white teeth.

She leaned closer to Jade and whispered in her ear, "I'm actually from the Department of Mysteries," she said shrugging. "Top secret files. I'm a specialist on Love and other things involved."

Jade's eyes widen as Tina whispered in her ear. "Oh. Well then. I've heard of the department of course but I've never meet one of the people from there. Sounds like an interesting job."

Jade glanced beyond Tina to the Atrium and looked at all the wizards and witches rushing to get to their jobs and meetings. This was completely different from where she had come from and she felt excited at the prospect. And here was a friend she could make.

She grinned at Tina, "Can I ask you something?--do the love spells, etc really work?"

"Well, now you've just met one," said Erin smiling. This confidential work, she thought, isn't her real nature. She was such a talker. Well, she needed extra care on what she'll be saying now, even on what she should be thinking. Who knows if someone here is an accomplished Legilimens.

It was her first time to explain to someone her work even before she could actually start brewing potions and research about obsession and all the other prospects in it. It was a big word, yes. LOVE. One thing, Tina never had felt before coming from the opposite sex. This is like her destiny. She was destined to be place on this part of department and on this specific work area, not to abuse her provileges but to learn the true meaning of love itself.

She answered Jade's question with a slight frown. Her job is a top secret, even her workplace was named, 'Ever-Locked Room'. She knew someone who'd been affected by a love potion before and some love spells, but others were just a fail. Well, on research thingy, not everything turns out to be right. Mistakes are usually encountered. "Some, maybe but not all. I am planning to research on..." said Erin stopping on her tracks. She shouldn't be talking freely like this especially with someone who's not on her department or work-area. "Oh, I'm sorry dear. 'Can't tell that much."

Erin ventured on Jade's work as well since they're focusing too much on hers. "How 'bout you? What department are you assigned?"

Jade shrugged her shoulders, "I just wondered because Love spells are known to be fickle and very tricky. I'm assigned to the Accidents and Catastrophes department working in the Misinformation division. I haven't get been assigned my specific job but I'm hoping to work as an oblivator." She once again glanced at her muggle watch. It wouldn't do to be late returning from lunch late on the very first day. "How long do you have left to your break?" She asked Tina

"Yeah, that's right," answered Erin. She should know of all people since she's assigned in that Department. But why couldn't she answered her directly? Loving someone in a natural way, like destiny, is still above anything. It's hard to incorporate Love spells and Love potions by someone who actually believed in true love. "In researching and creating Love spells or understanding the human emotions is really a tricky business," she said pausing for a second then added, "Even people who's in love couldn't really expalin why or how they're feeling something inside them, like butterflies and fluttering." She smiled at herself. She once felt that feeling with someone, who took her emotions for granted

Accidents and Catastrophes she is. "Oh, Misinformation. What do you really do in there?" she asked even though she already knew the answer to her question. She just wanted her to open up. Then she noticed Jade glancing over her watch every now and then. She looked at hers as well. "Oh! Not that much but I still got time," she smiled.

Jade smiled and said, "Sorry about me looking at my watch all the time, I just don't want to be late on my first day. Oh yeah, Misinformation. Well, they're still briefing us newbies but the division has a lot to do with dealing with muggles and the magical mishaps that happen around them. Since it is almost time to go back-- do you want to meet up later outside the ministry? I could use a friendly face around here--what with me not knowing anyone from Britain."

Dedicated worker. Well, newbies like her should really work extra hard. But wait, she's a new one too. "Oh yeah. Let's meet up. If only I've got time. I think, we'll be working long hours today." She smiled at her. Before parting with Jade, Tina gave her a slight hug and a kiss on the cheek like normal friends do.