Now that he head was not leaned against the back of the sofa and his eyes were open, Armen at least didn't feel like he would fall asleep. That would be highly unprofessional to be found sleeping in his office during a work day. Really anyday to be honest, he didn't want people to think he was homeless.

"That's because I am sweetheart." he said quietly looking at her. "So what are you up to this morning besides brightening my day." He wasn't lying a garden gnome coming in and biting him on the toe would have made this sleepy morning at least eventful.

Mmm. This couch was nice and comfortable. She liked it, and knew that she was definetly coming down here more often. "Did you not sleep well?" She asked, still looking concerned. Isobel cared about Armen a lot, and didn't want him to be stressed or anything. That would be really bad. At least he had a nice comfortable couch that he could take a nap on. This was his department afterall, so she assumed he could do what he liked.

What was she up to? Well she was going to work, clearly as she wouldn't be here if not. "Work?" She asked, grinning at him. Although she did think of something then. "Then I might head off to lunch with a certain department head..."

Finally, he'd recognized them as employees, not messengers. Leo had just been thinkink maybe he'd made a mistake. Maybe they'd said level two not six. But thank Merlin, no. "No thank you, sir," Leo smiled politely whe offered a drink. Leo took the farther seat, allowing Mickie the one close to her. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir."

She swallowed hard, what was her problem?! Medea was usually a very well composed woman. This was insanity. "Me? Errr." She pulled her hair off her neck and around to her shoulder. Under her heavy robes she was sweaty glistening. "Yes, of course I'm fine." Medea managed a weak smile. "No, no. You're fine. Thank you."

"Yes Mr. Recard I really should be going." She was downright flustered at this point. She meekly shook his hand, "Chat?!" The woman was confused; was he asking her out?! "No.Umm.Yes." Huh?! She needed to get out of this office NOW. Trying hard to control unsteady voice, "Yes, a chat would be lovely. Over coffee maybe?" Oh yea because that is a great idea. Tempt yourself further.

She nodded, and before he could respond she slipped out the door.

She asked him if he had not slept well the night before and he nodded slowly, closing his eyes again. He wasn't exactly sure why it was so, probably work related but oh well. He had a job to do, he may have to go get a pepperup potion.

"Work eh? Good one smarty pants!" he chuckled and pinched her leg teasingly. She was great company, even when his head was pounding from lack of sleep -- a great quality for a girlfriend. "Oh you are now?" she had better mean him and not one of his collegues, although he had nothing against her going out with Gina, Erica or one of the other female Department Heads, it was just the males he wouldn't have been comfortable with.
"Suit yourself." Armen said kindly, sitting the bottle of Gillywater back in the cabinet and closing the door. The man headed back to his desk and sat in the high backed chair across from the two new employees. "Its a pleasure to meet you aswell Leo. Now are you both ready to start work?" He asked excitedly. "Well our first task won't be exactly Magical Transportation, we have a memo from the Minister himself asking each Department in the Ministry to liven up and make their work spaces more airy and open." Armen paused to allow this to kind of sink in, it was a bit of a random request from the Minister but it was Lord Borr we were talking about.

"So we have a two teams set up working on this, one in the Visitor's welcoming area of the level who are working on a koi pond, right where you all got off the lifts no doubt? And a second in the cubicles area working on hanging various Transportation items and plants around the room. You are free to chose which one you would like to join and help out with!" Armen was excited to get these tasks over so they could begin working on actual work, that was for sure.
Now Armen was really confused, this woman was obviously....perspiring (usually he was gentlemanly enough not to take notice but they were in the office alone, what else would he look at?) yet she didn't want him to do anything to allow her to be more comfortable. Woman could be so confusing sometimes, at least Isobel hadn't shown this sort of side yet.

Oh ok she was leaving now, he sure hoped he hadn't done something wrong. But good she agreed to have coffee. Why wouldn't she though, they were friends now right? "Ok see you then!" he yelled cheerfully to her retreating back as she left his office with a hurry.

"What a nice lady." he grinned and began to pick through some folders on his desk.

Ahh. Isobel shook her head. He really did need to get some sleep, it wouldn't do him any good to be tired at work. And she was pretty sure that Borr wouldn't be too happy with having one of his department head's tired on the job. "Are you worried about something?" She asked, thinking that that could easily be causing his sleep troubles. Although she did feel that she was asking a lot of questons. Maybe she should just shut up...

"Well.....I wouldn't be here if I wasn't going to work..." She mused, nudging him gently. Well that was kind of a lie really. Isobel would probably come up here to see him on her day off. "Mmm..." Isobel nodded, as she stood up, and wandered behind his desk, taking a seat in his chair before looking back at him. Mmm....this chair was rather comfortable. "That's if he wants to come with me...." And she had a feeling that he would not be saying no at all.

"Great," Leo smiled. "I'll head down to the welcoming area and get to work!" Honestly, that seemed like the easier and a little bit more fun option. Leo had never been great a decorating, so hanging things around the room would not be a good choice. He therefore left the room with his typical grin, and headed to the welcoming area.

Armen watched as Isobel sat in his chair and he grinned smally and layed his head back on the couch's back, his eyes closing again. He really was tired but could probably get up the energy to go out for lunch. He rubbed his hands over his face and listened as she asked if something was worrying him.

"Well honestly I can't take meeting all these people in Knockturn Alley on top of my responsiblities here, I'm a Ministry Department Head for Merlin's sake not a lackey like I used to be!" Armen said beginning to let his frustration out, not really realizing who it was he was talking to.

Armen nodded as Leo stood up and waved to him as he left. "I'll see you over there, I plan on heading over to help aswell." Yeah, he couldn't just make his employees do all the work!

Yes. This chair was really comfortable. Isobel wandered whether Armen would mind her stealing it. What's mine is yours right? Or was that just when you were married...? But she was brought out of her nice relaxing moment when she heard him speak. Knockturn alley? He was meeting people in Knockturn alley? She shunted forward, leaning her arms on the table.

"You're going to knockturn alley?" Isobel asked, looking really suspicious. What on earth was her boyfriend involved in? She watched him, kind of going to auror mode. She had a feeling that maybe he hadn't meant to tell her that, and so would maybe try to lie to her to get himself out of this situation. "Is there something you're not telling me Armen?"

After saying the stuff about Knockturn Alley, Armen was still unaware of what he had just done, for he continued to sit on the couch, as tired as before. Ugh...he was seriously thinking about taking the rest of the day off and going back to his flat for some rest. Maybe Isobel would take the day off too, and they could nap and then go out to do something?

He was about to ask her to accompany him on his hookey mission when he heard her slam on his desk. "What in Merlin's beard is wrong Izzy?" he said sitting up, a look of dumbfounded astonishment on his face. Why was she slamming things around in his office? "Wait wha--Knockturn Alley?" He was confused, yeah he met people there it was part of his assignment for the....

CRAP! "No its nothing, don't worry about it." he said shaking his head and waving his hand as if swatting a fly away. This wasn't happening....SEE THIS IS WHY PEOPLE NEEDED SLEEP!

Isobel knew that he hadn't meant to tell her that. Of course he wouldn't. She was an auror! You didn't go around telling aurors that you were wandering in and our of knockturn alley meeting people, even if that auror was your girlfriend. So yeah. There was no doubt in her mind that he had tole her that by mistake. And...that kind of hurt. It made her feel like he didn't trust her.

"Nothing?" She asked, shaking her head. She was not dropping this at all, and Armen had better have known that, especially by the look on your face. "If you going to see people in knockturn alley is nothing why have you waited so long to inform me?" That had been dating for half a year. But by the looks of it Armen really didn't want to talk about this. Shame that she really did. Shame for Armen that she was an auror too. Isobel knew how to get people to admit things.

But she had to stop looking at him for a seconds, and try to at least calm herself down a little bit. Yeah, sure she was angry at him, but she really didn't want to fight with. Armen meant a lot to her....she didn't want to lose him, not when he'd really been the only decent guy in her life ever. "Don't lie to me Armen."

Armen sat up in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees and planting his hands hard onto his face--a long sigh left him. He did not want to deal with this at the moment but it was obvious that Izzy wasn't going to drop this rubbish anytime soon. Bloody fantastic! Why hadn't he told her? He stood up quickly and walked over to his drink cabinet and poured another Gillywater and then turned towards her and spoke a bit more sharply than before. "Because I knew you would act like this. Everyone freaks out about that place when its nothing, its part of business." he drained the glass.

Oh and then she was trying to make him feel bad? Like he didn't feel bad about joining the Cult again already. Sure the perks and such were nice now but he hadn't forgotten being black-mailed into the whole thing but he wasn't about to divulge a bunch more information to the Auror interegating him now. "Izzy I didn't lie to you." he said slowly. He just never mentioned it, there was never any reason to.

Oh. He was going to talk to her like that was he? Isobel sighed, looking away from him. Part of her wondered why she was so bothered about this. Did it matter that he went down knockturn alley? It could've been to do with work. Maybe she shouldn't be doing this? But something was telling her that there was more to this. She frowned, looking back at him. "Do not speak to me like that! I'm your girlfriend, not some little employee of yours!" Or at least she had been his girlfriend. She didn't know how this was going to end...

He didn't lie to her? Yet he hadn't told her that he was going down knockturn Alley. It was probably because of her job. Well. He hadn't had to date her if he didn't like her job. She'd made that clear when they'd gotten together. "Sure." She couldn't help but not believe him, and it made her feel bad. She was supposed to trust her boyfriend, but right now she really couldn't. At all.

Don't speak to her like that? It was a free country was it not? (besides that damn Statute of Secrecy but that was another point) "I know you aren't one of my employees!" She was one of Evander's....that was it, he was behind this wasn't he?! "Evander put you up to this didn't he? I knew it! He's been having his Aurors following us around any chance we leave the bloody Ministry Complex! Yes I've noticed, he's got you all trained so well." he said practically spitting the last words out.

He was in a fury now. Armen felt as if he was being attacked by his girlfriend no less. He had thought you were supposed to accept each other for who they were. He was a Cultist who willingly began dating an Auror...he just didn't know it seemed to be a trap now. Armen knew the Evander comment was out of order but he was an animal trying to keep his head above water now...and out of Azkaban. But MLE couldn't stand against Armen, the other Cult Department Heads, the cronies roaming Diagon and Knockturn Alley, and the Minister of Magic himself.

Isobel sighed, standing up. Part of her didn't want to be anymore, not if they were going to argue. But she felt like she had to get to the end of this. If they were ever going to get better they needed to talk about this. Waiit. He thought Evander put her up to dating him? "Do you seriously think Evander put me up to dating you?" Because if so....she had really gotten Armen all wrong. "Armen...." Isobel sighed, walking out behind his desk, and over to him. "I dated you because I wanted to date you....not because of anyones elses thoughts...." But something he had said really did bother her.

Us. What did he mean by us. That, and the knockturn alley, lead her to one thing. "Armen...." She paused, looking up at him. Yeah. He looked really angry, and she felt really scared right now. "Are you in the cult?" She asked, as she subconsiously took a step back. Yeah. She was scared of her own boyfriend. What a great auror she was.

Armen was seething as images of Isobel and Evander in his office planning her detail on following him around. It made his chest burn and he angrily pushed those thoughts from his mind as he looked at his girlfriend's face. She couldn't do that to him, she wouldn't! He banged his fist on the table, not out of anger towards her but at himself for thinking of that stuff. "I really want to believe that Isobel." he said trying to calm down. He didn't want to lose her but he couldn't afford nor take her thinking of him as a common criminal.

Before he could go on any further, she asked the question he knew was coming and yet he still was not ready or prepared to answer. Armen looked at her for a second, and noticed how she stepped back. Great this was exactly what he didn't want to happen and why he hadn't told her in the first place. He pulled out a small golden object from his pocket and slowly attached it to the right side of his suit jacket. "I am." was all he said.

Shiny brightly as if a beakon to his secret hidden from Isobel was the Cult of Walpurgis pin.

Isobel jumped a little as he banged his fist on the table. Yes. That was what she was scared of. What if he did that to her? Part of her didn't think he would do that though. Armen didn't seem like the type of guy to hit girls. Although...that had been before she had known he was like this though. He really wanted to believe her? So he didn't? That kind of hurt, and did make her believe that Armen didn't trust her at all. Had the last 6 months been a complete waste of time then? "Then believe me Armen." And she really hoped he would believe her.

She watched him, seeing if he was going to lie. But then he reached into his pocket. Her eyes widened a little, thinking that maybe he was going to get his wand out, and obliviate or something, but he got a little pin out. Oh. Oh mann. Her boyfriend was in the Cult. She was an auror and her he was in the cult. That was like...wrong. But instead of like running away like she thought she would, she stepped forward, and wrapped him in a hug. "Oh."

Armen's anger was still pulsing underneath but he was mostly in reserved silence now. He didn't want to do anything to jeopardize his rocky relationship at the moment or to further inciminate himself with a member of the MLE department. He nodded curtly when she asked him to believe her and was slightly taken aback when she hugged him, her face so close to the blasted Cult pin.

Although it felt nice for her to be there with him, in this hug, Armen didn't return in and just stood there a few seconds. Arms by his sides he just let her hug him for a second before using his hands to pull her from his chest slowly, "I can't do this right now Isobel. I'm sorry." He walked over to the office door and opened it, "I think you should go. We will talk later ok?" he looked at the ground, he couldn't look at her. Too many emoitions were going on inside his head. He was angry at her for looking at him like that when he said he was in the Cult but he didn't want to hurt her. Before she left though he whispered. "Keep this between us please?" The last thing he wanted was for Evander and all the aurors to pull his file and stamp a big red 'CULTIST' on it and come to collect him.

Isobel hadn't expected him to return the hug, not really. He'd been pretty angry, but it did shock her when he went over to the door. Was he just going to walk out, and not talk about it? Did she seriously mean that little to him. She looked up at him as he spoke. Can't do this? What. Isobel blinked, staring at him. "Are you breaking up with me Armen?" Maybe this had all been a plot. To get inside MLE? She had no idea right now. But man....this sucked. She didn't let herself get close to men for this exact reason, not since Evander had broken her heart. She sighed, walking over to the door. She had no idea what to say to him, so she decided not to say anything else.

What?! He wanted her to keep this between them after he'd gone and just broken up with her like that. Part of Isobel wanted to go straight to Evander to tell him, but then she knew he'd have been right all along. Anyway, she knew that she'd never be able to do that to Armen anymore. Sure, he was in the cult, but she still cared about him an awful lot. "I would never tell anyone..." She mused, looking up at him, even though he wasn't looking at her. Yeah. Brave man Armen....

Standing at the door waiting for Isobel to come towards him and leave so he could be alone with his thoughts, she spoke a question that broke his heart. He finally looked at her and saw the sadness and disbelief in her eyes. "No, honest Izzy, this is not the end. I'm a Cultist you are an Auror but that doesn't change anything." he said slowly. He was angry but he still loved her.

Then she went to leave without promising to not tell anyone?! He would have to contact the Cult members in the Daily Prophet and the MLE probably couldn't do anything anyways, everything else was Cult run these days. But he couldn't believe she would go tell on him and he was releaved when she said she wouldn't. "Thanks." he said smally and then slowly shut the door behind her. He walked over to the couch against the wall and fell over on it. He needed to be alone now.

Bloody fantastic day he was having eh?

A sudden flash of pale-violet appears in the office, and upon looking up, one can see that an interdepartmental memo in the form of a folded paper airplane has made its way in.

Once caught and unfolded, the memo inside will read:

Minister Berty Borr has called a mandatory meeting with the Senior Undersecretary and all Ministry Department Heads. The meeting will commence immediately in Courtroom 10 on the tenth level of the Ministry of Magic. Please be on time and bring with you all ideas and responses to the recent memo regarding the rejuvenating of our spirits and the oxygenating of our halls.

Armen lifted his face off of the couch, leaving a line and some markings where he had been laying directly on the leather as he heard a small pop and then a flash of Ministry violet appear on the coffee table in front of him.

Reaching forward and grabbing the paper lazily wondering what on earth it could be he read it. As he got half way through he bolted upright into a sitting position and began to straighten himself up, tucking his shirt back in and fixing his hair. He put on his suit jacket, grabbed the memo and left the office.

--------------------------
Returning from Dept. Head meeting in the Courtrooms

Armen walked into his office and locked the door behind him. Yeah now he could relax. He hung up his jacket on the coatrack and loosened his tie. After running a hand through his hair, he walked over and poured himself a nice Fire Whiskey a grin spreading on his face.

Armen had done it alright. Ahh... He walked over and sat at his desk, reclining back and placing his feet on the wood.

Isobel was actually fuming as she got down to Armen's level. How dare he? It was almost like MLE deciding that they weren't going to protect anyone anymore. Sure Isobel loved Armen, but it didn't mean that she was pretty much annoyed at him. He was going to get a mouthful. and he was going to listen too her. Thankfully she had managed to compose herself a little as she walked through his level, and over to his office. Part of her really didn't want to shout at him, but he needed to know that this wasn't right. It just wasn't fair. At all.

She wasn't about to knock on his door though, and went to open it to walk, but Armen had only gone and looked the door. Oh. That was so typical. "Armen Recard. You open this door now, before I blow it down!" She spoke, loud enough for him to hear, but not loud enough for the whole department to hear.

Taking a sip of his drink and setting it down, Armen reached his hands back and placed them behind his head, closing his eyes for a short nap. One needed to take such breaks when you single-handedly gave a whole department a piece of your mind. He had just begun to doze off when loud knocking and threats emmitted from behind his locked door.

Half falling and half jumping out his chair Armen grabbed his wand and went to open the door. Wait...was that Izzy's voice? The door was unlocked and then opened. It was. "Isobel, what on Earth are you doing? I have employees on this floor! Get in!" he said in a hiss, scooting her into the door with his free hand and then slamming the door shut again.

Oh. His employees? Well he clearly didn't care the employee's on the MLE floor. Isobel stood still after he had slammed the door shut, and she just stared at him. Oh, she was so annoyed at him, but seeing him, melted her heart a little. "You know what this is about Armen..." The blonde sighed, her guards tumbling down a little. They always tumbled down when she was around Armen. "Why? You know they hate me already don't you?" Like. The whole department probably hated her, before this. What were they going to think now?

"And no. This is not alll about me. How are we supposed to protect the wizardly world when you've taken our licenses of us. If we couldn't do the job before, how on earth are we meant to do it now Armen?" Isobel sighed. She really wanted to stand up for him around her collegues, but when he did things like this she just couldn't. "I love you Armen....but I never thought you'd be capable of putting something like this into motion."