Was he early? He probably was - Cole didn't mind, he liked being early. And he didn't want to show it but he really was looking forward to be getting out of his own department.

Arriving at the Confrence room, the twenty seven year old spotted the only person in the room and was glad he wouldn't be completely alone in the room for the while. "Umm .. hello. Isobel?"

Was she the department head?

Was she early? Was that alright to be early and stuff? The twenty-two year old made sure all her workers were all set down in the daycare with the children, and once they are she whisked away to level nine for this meeting for whatever it was she volunteered for. Frankly the blonde could not remember for the life of her what it was, but anything for science,yeah? The closet!Science researcher. As excited to be doing things for research reasons. She was ready. " 'mornin." she said to the two others in the room... obviously early.

He felt as if he'd stepped out of one meeting and right into the next. Had he known they'd be meeting again so soon he wouldn't have volunteered. People, he would have to see people again. The Ever-Locked Room was so close yet so far. As he made his way to the Conference Room, he had to remind himself of his reason for being here. Attention, he'd be getting a good amount of it. He might not have liked people but he was in no way opposed to being fussed over and given attention. He rather liked it. Felt he deserved it. And why wouldn't he? He was Gavin.

Gavin took a seat in his usual spot and murmured a "Good morning." to everyone already present.

If he was lucky, this meeting wouldn't take nearly as long as the last, but knowing his Department Head, there would be a lot to say and he'd be forced to listen to something that wasn't the sound of his own voice.

Maybe he'd ask to hold a meeting one day, then he could freely speak and they'd all listen. Surely he wasn't the only one who liked hearing himself speak.

Elinor had only been down to the Department of Mysteries once or twice in her whole career, and was proud that she only got a little lost didn't get lost at all. Still, she was neither too late nor too early, as other people were starting to arrive, and she wondered how many other volunteers there would be.

The lab director glanced at the plate of doughnuts and muffins and decided to take a small sample of the latter option, simply because her own breakfast this morning had been scarce. The woman sitting at the end of the table appeared to be the Department Head, but Elinor wasn't positive of that. She smiled and nodded her head before taking a seat.

Just what had they needed volunteers for? That thought didn't seem to matter to Elinor when she made herself a volunteer, but now she was a little nervous. The Department of Mysteries was known for being dangerous. And mysterious, obviously.

Victoria sighed as she headed to the department of mysterious. Why did she volunteer for this again. Oh that was right, because she felt she needed a change, to get out there and meet people. What better way to meet people was to volunteer for another department. Even though after a meeting the other day with a certain coworker in her own department she was wishing to be on her own floor looking cute.

Sipping on her coffee she walked into the meeting room and looked around. Of course not a single person she knew. Oh wait a second she did know someone. She smiled and walked towards Gavin, was this his project that needed volunteers. Well if anything at least she was helping out a friend, if he considered them friends.

"Good morning" She said to everyone around the table and then turned, "Good morning Gavin. How are you?" She hadn't seen him since the day at the shop when Bart was extra hyper. Gavin was his name, right? She would feel horrible if she had gotten it wrong.

When Izzy had been going on about needing volunteers for something ministry related Tasha had without really much thought agreed to help out. Now though she was feeling slightly nervous and apprehensive as she took the lift down to level 9. Stepping out on level 9 Tasha walked the short distance to the conference room and proceeded inside. Spotting her sister munching on a doughnut Tasha proceeded over to the table. "Good morning Isobel and everyone!" she greeted brightly.

Taking a seat next to her sister she grabbed herself a doughnut with icy frosting. Biting in to it she murmured to Izzy. "Yummy, did the food court make the doughnuts?"

Manolo tip-toed walked in, sending a quick wave to anyone who he locked eyes with. "Hello everybody." Oh my Merlin! DOUGHNUTS. He swooped in and grabbed a couple before making his way to a seat. Alright, he's totally ready for this meeting now.

Azazel strolled into the conference room extremely pleased with himself that he had managed to find the place. Maybe he was getting better at finding his way around this new building or more likely he just got very lucky. Either way he was here and relatively on time. The Department of Mysteries was a pretty fascinating place. There wasn't one anywhere around back at his old job. Not that he would be let in or anything if there was, but it certainly heightened is awe of the whole situation. Oh and there was free food too! He pondered to himself how hard it would be to steal take more than his fair share and save the rest for free meals later. Unfortunately there were too many people gathered around to chance it.

He'd decided to apply as a test subject to really do something exciting at his new job. Now that he was here though he was starting to have a little bit of reservations. Don't worry about it. He told himself. If it wasn't perfectly safe they wouldn't be allowed to do this would they? And if something does go wrong then you can sue the Ministry and collect a hefty pile of galleons for your troubles. Unless of course his brain turned to mush or he died or something... But if he was dead/unable to think he wouldn't be able to be upset about the whole ordeal. So, um, it'll be fine?... Anyway as long as he didn't think too hard about it and waited for the anticipation of the situation to kick in he was going to be perfectly fine. Plus the department had to be just so thankful that such a perfect specimen as himself had decided to volunteer.

Flashing everyone a confident smile he sat down in an empty chair. "Hello everyone." Oh and he recognized that girl. It was Victoria, the wonderfully nice girl from the park/orientation. "Hey Victoria. It's a surprise to see you here. How are you?"

Leaving the ever locked room just for a few minutes, Evelyn peaked into the conference room before quietly entering, keeping her distance towards the back and near the door before giving a small smile to Isobel. She wanted to observe just who had volunteered for their testing and it wasn't a bad crowd either from what she saw so far. More than two showed up, not counting that one guy from her own department. And thankfully, there was no sign of her boyfriend. Smart move.

So.......


..... were they getting paid for this? Because Rusty could do with the money. Really. And he needed to know about possible side effects and the like, given it'd be a problem if it interfered with his ability to take care of his daughter.

.... also would they be fed? That was another priority. Rusty took a seat in silence, giving polite nods to those who looked his way but otherwise keeping to himself.

New people in this meeting. Sherman didn't WANT them here.

There were so many. The elderly man was feeling rather skittish when he wheeled into the conference room. He soon busied himself with the task of trying to take note of all the females in there. Which ones could claw him with their talon-like nails if he was too bothersome while doing his job? That one.. oh, this lady, she practically had razors for fingers.. the one across from that guy in the corner, Merlin, did women ever clip their-

OH doughnuts, he wanted one! Him! How many could he take?

Muffins, too! Izzy was his favorite.

At least the notification had seemed civil enough. Dorian hadn’t exactly thought through the problems that could have been put into motion when he’d put his name up as a volunteer for Isobel’s department’s little experiment, but then, he’d somewhat been actively not thinking about what had occurred at the orientation when Natasha had revealed that her parents had met him and approved of him. His own work had been a good distraction, what with questioning goblins and everything else that being CMEC head entailed. Paperwork and just coming up with other methods of not thinking about whether or not this was going to be a mistake. He’d gotten good at avoidance over the years, considering there had been the advantage of this not having caused any insomnia like the incident with Gabriel had done, and he figured this would just be a simple experiment and then he’d be back to work. Things were going to be perfectly fine and he wouldn’t miss anything up on Level Two. Besides, Isobel could tell Wes if anything got too complicated, or at least he was going to assume that.

Plus, Anna seemed competent enough to be fine on her own for a morning, so he’d headed down to Level Nine after a quick stop in the office and his usual espresso run. As such, he’d had his coffee cup in hand as he’d strode through the conference room door, noting the inhabitants calmly until he’d seen a familiar blonde head. Of course ran through his mind, walking over to stand near Natasha as he snagged a glazed doughnut from the plate. It would go well with the espresso, anyway and the sugar might help with any awkwardness that might ensue from having both his girlfriend and her sister in the same room. She wouldn’t decline a chance to help her sister, and he simply gave her a nudge. They could speak later, but he’d turned his grey eyes toward Isobel, noting the presence of Elinor and also a Mysteries employee or two that he’d seen at Wes and Isobel’s wedding. It was almost a reunion of sorts, except for the collection of others who presumably also had volunteered. “Good morning Isobel. Everyone,” he said politely. Maybe they could get the meeting underway?

So she officially was able to skive off having people fall in love with her. Yay for remaining quiet long enough. Lenny and Gavin were good victims. Not that she didn't think she was good enough, but love was just .... a sensitive subject and brewed or not, well she just didn't quite feel right about this ...

But that did not mean she wouldn't attend the second meeting and be supportive of her co-workers. She was quite the potioneer in her Hogwarts days, so regardless she should still be able to use her AWESOME observational skills towards the test subjects for a bit, in between observing and researching her normal space duties.

Slipping into the conference room, she surveyed those present and was quite surprised to see so many willing to risk their hearts for ... research? Money? Was there even galleons involved ... she had no idea. Maybe they were just here for the food, like she was.

Chuckling to herself, she took a seat next to Sherman and selected a Bertie-Bott flavoured muffin, and picked a piece off with a real jelly bean in it, chewing thoughtfully.

Meeting, meeting, meeting. Saxon made her way down to the appropriate level that she was supposed to be at. After getting lost for a few minutes she had finally found the room where the meeting was going to be held.

She looked around herself and didn't see too many recognizable faces. But, maybe by the end of this all she would know more people from the ministry? Anyway, she was happy to be doing more around the Ministry and get herself more out there when it came to her work.

Saxon went to go awkwardly stand in the corner of one wall, keeping to herself and not bothering anyone.

Oh, God. What on earth had Harland gotten himself into this time? He would have never signed up for this if he'd known he was basically getting a second job the day before this thing. He sighed as he entered the room and ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. He gave a nod to those who acknowledged him, grabbed a donut, and flopped into a rolling chair in a casual but kind of sultry way. That was just his thing. Especially in the morning.

Victoria sipped on her coffee as she watched others coming in. Her nerves were starting to pick up and she was wondering if this was a bad idea to be here, but she had volunteered and she would see it through. Thoughts towards her recent encounter at the coffee cart came into her mind. This could possibly screw that up and that made her even more nervous. Giving Gavin a small smile she wondered if he was taking the potion as well, no he probably made the potion. Well at least she knew someone that she thought she trusted in the room.

Hearing her name she looked up and brown eyes fell on Azazel. "Hello, what are you doing here?" He didn't seem the volunteer for a love potion type. She remembered a few of the questions he had asked her at the park, was here hear for that kind of stuff or just to volunteer she wondered. Then a thought moved in, oh please tell her that they weren't going to end up falling for people in this very room. That could make things just as awkward.

Fidgeting with nerves Victoria walked back to the food, maybe some food would settle her down. Picking up a muffin she found a seat and looked up seeing a familiar face. Alex, right... "Hello... Are you part of this as well?" She played with the muffin wrapper, but didn't really eat it. Maybe food wasn't the best option right now. She just really wanted to know more about what was going on, that would help her nerves to know everything they would be doing. Eyes seeing another person walk into the room she smiled and waved at her fellow department member Saxon. "Hey Saxon.. You volunteered for this?"

Popping another piece of jelly bean muffin into her mouth, Alex took note of those present, noting familiar faces for the first time. Dorian. She met him once or twice, didn't she? Yes, she was pretty sure he looked familiar.

Oh, it was Victoria! She knew her too! And it seemed Tori recognized her right back. Giving her a small wave with her fingers, she grinned slightly and shook her head. "Hello Victoria! No, no... I mean ... sort of." She wasn't going to be testing the potion - MERLIN NO! "Well I work down here, so I'm just gonna be helping with the administering of the potion really. And whatever else really." Mhm. Astronomy may have been her first love, but potioneering was a good pasttime. "So you're gonna test it out for us?"

That was a very good question actually... what was he doing here? It had all seemed like nice adventure but he hadn't really thought about it that much, or at all really. Having only briefly skimmed the memo he didn't even remember what they were supposed to be testing. Wasn't it a lust potion? Er, wait no it was a new love potion or something. Lust potion would've been a lot more fun though. If there isn't a lust potion out there that should be the Departments first priority. "It looked exciting. How often are we going to be let into the Department of Mysteries anyway, and then to get to try out some mad potion experiment, who wouldn't sign up?" He said with a smirk. Even though his job technically let him survey most of the Ministry for security threats Azazel was pretty certain that he wouldn't be allowed to go poking too deeply into what all was going on down here. "What's your excuse to want to do this?"

Speaking of love potion, what did a new love potion mean anyway? The old one was stupid enough on it's own, why on Earth would they need another? Ugh, he really hoped things wouldn't get too emotional in here. Glancing around the room Azazel realized that there were a lot of people who signed up. He hoped that didn't mean that things were going to get chaotic in here.

At first he was content to sit there and watch others filing into the room and as the numbers steadily rose to somewhere around ridiculous too many people a good amount he raised an eyebrow. Just how many people had his Department Head recruited for this train wreck? And he thought this wouldn't go well before.

Gavin looked from person to person, not very impressed, but then, he was hardly ever impressed, that wasn't anything new.

At the moment he wasn't sure whether he was happy he didn't know anyone present or if that would only make it more annoying. Before he could ponder this a familiar face entered. "Hello Victoria." There was a polite nod that went with the greeting. She was here as a volunteer too? Interesting.

Then someone he knew from his Department. Two actually, Sherman got a nod then there was Alex. Pity she hadn't volunteered to take the potion. "Come to get a closer look at the train wreck in progress?" He knew she didn't agree with this experiment anymore than he did, actually, he was sure she was more opposed than he was. Good on her for being Professional enough to drag herself here anyway.

Then he heard it, that. The reason why he didn't trust just anyone near the new batch. People like that one guy over there. Gavin fought to keep his eyes from rolling. Front row seat, he had one but now he was questioning how much of a good thing that was.

Females who didn't have talons for nails were Sherman's FAVORITE. Gavin got a nod, too, but ladies first. "Morning, Alex!" Was she excited about the muffins, too? Weren't they brilliant? The elderly man, though, was busying himself with a jelly doughnut. Because he'd only spotted one and it was his.

Hah. No one else got a jelly doughnut.

He was being nice, though, and not taunting them with it.

Isobel mused quietly in her seat as the people arrived. Well it was a good turn out really. And people from her own department were here. That was good. She was excited about this, so she was glad some of them had come. It made them all look excited for it. "Good morning." She murmured to them all as she sipped at her coffee. She would start the meeting in a few more minutes. It didn't seem that everyone was here yet. And she really did not want any to miss the start after all. Because well it would be a bit bad. "We will start in a few moments...." She murmured a few minutes later. "Just waiting for a few minutes for any others to arrive."

Okaay. It was clear that nobody else was going to arrive. Hm. That was okay. She'd just owl them the information to see if they were still interested. If not it was fine. They had a good number of people who wanted to take part. "Okay...we'll start now." Because she did have other things to do. "Welcome to the Department of Mysteries. For those of who you don't know I'm Isobel Ferguson and I'm the department head." Hence why she was talking to them all obviously. "I'm very glad that you have chosen to taken part in the testing of Amortentia Number 2. We in the department are very happy to have you." Because they wouldn't be able to do the testing without them. Which was very important.

"The testing will take place in a couple of weeks. I just need to talk you through what will be going on, how the testing will take place. I then need you to sign a couple of consent forms." Because they really could not do anything without consent forms. but that would come at the end of meeting.

"For the purpose of the testing we will be using a pensieve and your memories to gain access to the effects that the potion has on you." Which seemed pretty self explanatory. "As you may or may not know to keep a love potion working it needs to be given a number of times, so to ensure we can get a good idea of the effects of the potion you will be given 5 doses of the potion over a duration of a month." So the testing would take about a month.

"If at any point you wish to withdraw from the testing you are very free, and just need to come and tell me." And she was not going to make any one take part in the testing. "Those being tested upon will also receive 20 galleons for taking part in the testing." Because they were basically letting them mess with them. She took a short pause here, to let the information settle in.

Zoe had been standing quietly at the side of the room, just taking it all in. A room full of little children, no problem. A room full of adults, scary!! She knew she wanted to be part of it, but she wasn't sure what her department head would think of her leaving her post in the day care.

Either way, there was food, and that was reason enough to stay. Hoping to not make a scene as she made her way to a seat, Zoe gathered up enough courage to make her way to the nearest chair and plopped down in it.

At hearing her name she smiled. He did remember her, well that was a plus, right? "So if I remember correctly potions is your profession. I'm going to assume you had part in this today." Which made her for some reason a bit calmer. From what she remembered he seemed to enjoy his job which meant to her he wouldn't just do a half skilled potion. Why was she doing this again.. Oh that's right she really knew no one and if nothing else it at least got her to meet people out of her department even if the potion was scarring the hell out of her at the moment.

Looking back at Gavin, "Do you do this often. These lets test out our potions on coworkers and hope things go well events." Giving him a grin she hoped he knew she was sort of joking on that. Looking around she couldn't believe how many people were in the room already and she chuckled, "You know Gavin if you want wanted to find someone I think just asking them out instead of forming a potion would be easier, don't you?" Smiling towards him she wondered why she was giving off such dumb little jokes, was her nerves from the realization of this potion getting to her? Maybe she needed to stick with conversations with a ten year old, because that's what she was use to.



Merlin no?? Was it that bad.. Vic's stomach flipped a bit. She had never volunteered for anything before, so why did she have to pick this specific one to be her first. She continued to fidget with the uneaten muffin as she looked around. Eyes darting around the room again. She loved to people watch, but today it was just making her nerves worse. Giving a nervous chuckle she nodded, "Yes I guess I am... I'm not sure what got into me to do this, but I'm here if nothing else." Taking a sip of her coffee she turned "So before all this starts.. Tell me did you help make it then? I guess I asked Gavin the same question, but you two are the only two I know in the department." Actually they were on a small list of the people she knew in the entire ministry. Glancing towards were Gavin was standing she couldn't help but wonder what the deal was with him. He always seemed sweet and nice, but had the opinion that others did not feel that way towards him or maybe he didn't think he felt that way she wasn't sure.




Victoria listened and couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Azazel had always been an interesting one to her. As always it seemed he was here for other reasons than he was saying. So he was actually liking the idea of being here. She was at first, but now that she was here looking at all these people her nerves were getting the best of her. "You aren't afraid of acting like an idiot in front of people with this spell?" because she sure was at the moment. Always professional and keeping to herself mostly and now.. Who knows what she would do or who it would be towards. Who would it be towards.. this made her heart race even more. What if it was someone that turned out to be horrible, or what if it was something she did like and that would ruin things. Her mind went to two different people and she took a nervous breath.

"Why am I here.. good question.." She chuckled nervously. "Well I just wanted to get involved more and volunteered. I guess I should have thought more into it." Because falling in love she did that once and it failed, why would she ever think doing it with a potion wasn't gong to end in a disaster if she couldn't even do it well normally.

Barely having managed to slip into an open seat right next to an elderly man who somehow looked oddly familiar. Something about his eyes couldn't help but make Emma think of young Alice Fischer back at Hogwarts. She gave the rest of the group a brief smile.

Then the meeting started. Emma sat silently as she listened to the Head of the Department welcome them to the Department of Mysteries. After the short and brief welcome, Miss Ferguson went on to inform them about the testing of Amortentia 2 was going to take place in the next few weeks. The young blonde couldn't help but wonder how the love potion, Amortentia, was able to manipulate someone's mind and trigger the emotion of 'love'. Hmmm... It was silent. The silence jolted the woman away from her thoughts. Had someone asked a question? No. No. It was just a pause.

She glanced about the silent room and waited for the Department Head to continue.

Harland looked up as someone addressed the whole room. Ahh, it was Isobel. He recognized her from several previous Ministry functions, though they rarely worked in close proximity to each other. As she spoke, Harland couldn't help but let his mind wander to the possible causes people had for being there in that room. Then again, he barely understood his own reasoning other than boredom and a need to get out of the office once in awhile, which he rarely did.

Now, a month wouldn't be so bad, but that invasion of privacy? He had never taken a love potion before, but Harland doubted his memories would help research very much. He shifted in his seat slightly, just a tad more uncomfortable than he had been before. His mind wandered again as she brought up the money. That didn't matter to him, but maybe it was incentive for some of the others who were there.