Thankfully, it appeared that her strategy soon paid off, for the woman seemed to trust her a bit more. Not enough, Amber believed, just slightly. Still, there had been progress and that was always something to be glad of. Not too glad though, for that would lead her to clumsines and if that happened... well, Merlin knew what the consequences could be. She did not wish to take her chances yet, it was far too soon.

Far too soon, indeed.

And so, Amber remained careful in her approach to Lorraine, not saying too much nor saying too little, keeping her smile and look as nice as possible and yet not too nice either. All in all she just made herself a perfect image of politeness. Hopefully that would work well enough. Hopefully, who knew, she might even gain the other woman's friendship, not that that was what she was looking for. Nevertheless, it would be handy to have a few friends here and there, especially if they had high ranks within the Ministry. Hmm... It looked like she'd have to work extra hard then.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, madam," She smiled, being cautious not to call her anything else. After all, she didn't want to end up calling her Mrs only to find out she was single and hurt the woman's feelings. Even if she believed marriage to be slightly overrated (not that she was against marriage, she actually wouldn't mind to have a ring on her finger, but only in a few years since she had a lot of partying to do before commiting herself like that), she knew there were women who thought it was all that mattered in the world. Obviously, she didn't want to take a too big of a risk and insult Lorraine.

"Oh, you may call me whatever you like, ma'am," She nodded. As long as she got what she wanted, who cared for titles? "To be honest, I am used to both forms of treatment, though my colleagues and my boss back in the Australian Ministry always prefered to call me Amber." Well, except for Belden who thought to be able to seduce her if he called her Miss Thatcher. Snort. As if that would ever happen.

It was once that she was invited inside that Amber was certain that things were going rather well, even if they had gone through a rather bumpy start. "Oh, yes, please," She smiled yet again.

With a last look at Lorraine, she held her notebook tighter against her chest and gave a couple of steps into the office, keeping herself close to the door as she quickly surveyed the room. Hmm, it actually didn't like half bad. Amber wouldn't use the pink if it was her, though. She didn't have anything against the color, she simply didn't quite like that exact shade. It clashed a bit with the furniture but if one ignored that, then it actually was quite good.

"Your office looks lovely, ma'am," She offered with yet another small and polite smile.

A white memo flew all the way from level one into Lorrain’s office. It flew above the shoulder of the young woman that was waiting to step into the office , and then flew in the direction of the division head’s desk.
It stood still for a second, levitating above the desk, before slowly falling on the it.

Lorraine chewed lightly on her bottom lip as she watched the young woman, who seemed to be warming up a little. Honestly, just because she was of high ranking in the ministry, that was no right to be intimidated. Was it? She didn't think so. But yet why did the woman seem so reluctant to speak her mind, or was she just being polite? Waiting for the opportune moment to pounce? Really, young witches these days . . . Lorraine had no idea about them.

Nodding politely in return, taking in the woman's smile which seemed genuine, the brunette wondered if that was something else taught in etiquette school: to call older woman, madam. For the love of snitches, she was not married nor was she planning on it anytime soon. SO why should in all the heavens should be called 'madam'? Cringing only subtly, she sighed and just shook it off. "Madam?" she raised a brow at the woman, trying not to show insult. Because it could have been worse of course. "Lor or Lorraine will do just fine, thank you," her expression softened to show it was okay . . . this time anyway.

"Amber then, if you don't mind," Lorraine nodded once and then again, as Amber continued on about names. Australian Ministry . . . sigh . . . that made her think of Cy and for some odd reason, she missed him, despite the fact that the only 'kids' she somewhat enjoyed were her nieces and nephews (which was probably cause they were thousands of miles away). "Amber will do then."

Once it was clear that Amber Thatcher would be joining her in her office, Lorraine waited for the woman to enter. Watching her carefully as she held her notebook against her chest - what was it with these liaisons and NOTEBOOKS!? It was like they thought she was doing something illegal, which maybe she was. Heh.

Nonetheless, as Amber surveyed the room, the five foot five brunette closed the door behind them and then strolled over to the other side of her desk but didn't sit down. Noticing with rapt interest the woman's expression as she took in the decor, Lorraine was sure she was going to complain about something.

But nothing. Polite smile . . . again.

"Thank you," She accepted graciously. "I do enjoy it myself. Gives it a nice . . feminine touch." She mused lightly, before moving onto the pressing issues that she had come up from level one about.


But the moment she was about to begin the topic of why Amber was here - besides to introduce herself - a familiar looking memo parchment zoomed in and landed on her desk before her. "Excuse me a moment," Lorraine told her before looking with interest at the parchment.

Oh. She needed to scribble something down and to catch up with Angelina. Scribbling a few words down on the blank part of the bottom of Angelina's parchment, Lorraine tapped her wand as it tore off roughly from her letter and sent it on its way to Level One.

Now that that was taken care of, she affixed her hazel eyes back on Amber. "Sorry about that. Now um... there were some questions you wanted to ask of me?" she smiled lightly.

A tawny owl few into the Department Head's office. Attached to it's foot, a note from Madison.

It'd been a while since she chatted with Lorraine and Madison had a few other things up her sleeve, one in particular that she had to let her dear boss lady know. She walked up to the door and tapped a couple of times to let the Department Head know that someone was outside her door.

Lorraine was just about ready to pack up the last few things for day when she heard a knock on her door. Raising her head just a little to gaze at the door, her carefully shaped eyebrow arched upwards slightly in confusion. Her assistant was still out of the country for her wedding honeymoon, wasn't she? So the brunette thought anyway, but she had truly lost track of time.

"Come in," Lorraine called out to the person on the other side of the oak door. Probably just one of her workers complaining about some silly problem or another . . .

Madison slowly opened the door with a smile on her face. "Hello, Lorraine," she greeted her boss lady as she walked over to a chair. "I hope that things were good while I was away?" Nothing seemed out of place, everyone seemed as though they were going about their business, nothing to worry about. Wonderful!

"I came in to first, see if there was anything I needed to help you or any other department out with?" The other thing on her plate, well, she would save that for later...or last of course.

Oh! That voice just sounded much too familiar! Lorraine frowned for only a split second out of confusion, wondering if perhaps the Ministry was being haunted by ghosts the way that Hogwarts was? No, impossible, this Madison-look-alike was far too close in resemblance. Besides, she would have had to be dead to be a ghost, right? And the Daily Prophet definitely did not post anything about the death of Madison Myers - or was she Masterson at the time of her death?

No... No... No!!!

Shaking those ridiculous thoughts from her mind, Lorraine replaced the frown quickly with a welcoming expression. Nonetheless, she would have to speak with Teal about doing a spirit investigation of the Ministry. "Madison!" she rose to greet her assistant, wondering where the time went and still thinking the woman mad to want to get hitched. Granted she and Teal were definitely significant in each other's lives, but intertwining completely to the point of MARRIAGE!?! That was absurdities!

"Time flew while you were away," the brunette mused lightly. "How was your time off? How's the new . . . " she paused while she looked for the right word. "... status?"

Oh of course it would just be like Madison to check in on work as soon as possible. "Hmm... well the only things really needing to be done is to um... Well, you know we have that big election coming up? And right now I'm trying to coordinate times and locations for the debates and then of course the voting for the polls." Not really a request for help for herself nor any other division, but it'll come.

Wow! Lorraine seemed in rather good spirits as she heard the excitement in her name. Madison smiled as she pushed her hair behind her ears and took in a deep breath. Time did seem to fly over the past few weeks but now it was time for it to move slow as she knew it would be at least until the winter holidays before she saw her husband again and her body would take on a different shape by the next time he saw her.

"The status is wonderful," she grinned from ear to ear as her skin seemed to glow, or maybe it was the excitement in her face that was glowing. Either way, she was happy...for the most part. "It was my first time to a beautiful beach. Everything was wonderful and so relaxing." Never before had the young thirty-three year old been to such an exotic place.

So she would skip all the parts of what they did as she was not one to tell details of any sorts. One would be lucky if they caught the cute romantic picture of the two of them on the beach at sunset that was placed on her desk. But now it was back to work in the real world and time to devote her time towards her department to keep her mind off of the one she missed the most.

"Oh yes! I am helping with the advertising section for Reagan." It would at least be exciting to see someone new as the Minister of the English Wizarding world as she was quite tired of that Cooper man. He was just...conceited and she was not one for conceited people. "So far it has been fun but, I'm just...a bit shy. I don't really...know too many people."

Speaking of which, there was one thing she needed to chat about with Lorraine. Madi pressed her lips together as there was really no point in holding back, she just had to come out and say it. "Speaking of not knowing too many people," she began with a smile on her face. "I...er...came here today to speak to you about...some changes."

Yes there were changes and yes it was going to happen over a course of a few months and she knew nothing about what was going on except for one thing, she was extremely moody, sick in the mornings and she was about to cry from not receiving any word from her husband. If he didn't write soon, she was going to Hogwarts and standing at the gates until he showed, or better yet, Hogsmeade was not too far away and she could wait there until he showed.

Back to her Head Boss.

Lorraine had settled back comfortably into her black executive chair, as she watched Madison with interest. Oh how she missed her assistant, who seemed to be much more mellow then she remembered her. Or maybe it was just the glow from her skin that was creating an all new outlook for Madison.

"Seems like it," she agreed, feigning interest. Because if the younger witch was the type willing to commit herself to the line of marriage, then why should be upset over it. It was her life after all. "Oh. I do have to say though that I love the beach. Nothing beats the warmth of the sun radiating on your skin, like a personal exfoliate." Sadly, since becoming department head too long ago, it was one of the things that she missed most of her youthful years.

Ah, so Madison didn't waste much time? Advertising for Reagan was good; though Lorraine really did not know too much of that campaign since it was mostly being handled by Ben up on level three, she thought. And in efforts to remain neutral, then it was best to not know too much regarding who was on the two campaigns, except to make sure they kept behaviors civil toward each other. "You? Shy?" She joked lightly. "Well, I suppose I could maybe see that a little... But really, it's good of you to get involved with this."

Hmm, but what was this? The way Madison had pressed her lips together meant that she had something important to say.

Something that she wasn't sure she wanted to hear, but was going to anyway.

Something that she should have known was coming anyway.

"Changes?" She blinked, not quite comprehending, as she sat up straighter. "Please explain what you mean, Madison. You know you could tell me."

At first, Madison sat comfortably in the chair, noticing the way her Department Head was at ease. So the lady noticed some what of a shyness about Madi but, really, the only thing she needed to do was just get out and meet new people. That was the hardest part and the one fear she was trying her best to overcome.

But as Lorraine sat up in her chair, Madison's eyes widened slightly. Deep breath, everything will be okay. She'd been able to talk to her boss about anything but, this was something so sudden and after all, they just married only a couple of months back. She smiled a glowing smile as her brown eyes stayed on her Department Head.

"We...err...ummm...I'm going to have a baby," she smiled as she looked down her her fingers, then back up to Lorraine. "The Healer says everything is normal, I just have to keep the stress level at a minimum. I told her that everything will be good here." She offered quickly that everything was fine just so her boss would be okay with her news. She was beyond thrilled, her only wish was that Constantine would at least owl her back. No news to her meant bad news.

At that thought, her smile disappeared as she looked down to her fingers once again. How could he not respond? It was a disappointment and one that she'd never felt before towards him.

Lorraine's lips pulled down slightly at Madison's apparent discomfort. Yet even though she seemed thrilled about this something, which wasn't just a small something, there was still something that apparently was bothering her assistant. She was sure of it. And she was sure it had nothing to do with the health of the baby.

"Congratulations," she stated simply and politely, noticing the change from 'we' to 'I'm', which almost made the brunette question about the true status of her marriage. Even though Madison had claimed she was happily married and even though she was the one carrying the baby, then it was still to be their baby. Wasn't it? Unless, there was something that Madison was telling.

And judging from her fading smile and suddenly looking down at her fingers, Lorraine was absolutely certain by then that there was something bothering her.

"Uh... Madison? I don't mean to intrude, but well even though you said everything would be fine, what's wrong?" Lorraine asked, quite bluntly, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Madison pulled out a tissue from the pocket of her robes as silent tears began to flow. "My...emotions are taking over," she sniffed into the little cloth. "I'm just one for having a sense to control my tears, to cry when I'm ready to cry not to cry at the drop of a hat." Well, that was part of it.

"The other part, I just, haven't heard a word yet from my husband." She forced a smile on her lips, trying her hardest to not cry. She couldn't cry, she wouldn't cry. She lost it.

She turned to the side, hiding her emotions from her Head of Department. This was not easy. This was not the way she wanted things to go and she was not one for talking and chatting about her business. "I'll be okay. I promise," she said as she blew her nose into the tissue.

Lorraine was generally perceived as a tolerant and patient woman. She was one who had dealt with a lot - including the death of both parents by a young age, leaving just her and her sister. There was a lot that Lorraine had dealt with and was capable of, but seeing someone, her assistant, bothered was just completely different. And it was then, that she almost wished she had not asked.

Biting her lip, she recalled the letters from Myra about how emotional she would get during her first pregnancy. The first was the hardest, she would tell her big sister. Deep breath . . . deep breath . . . the brunette scolded herself.

"I... You'll get better." She tried to console, thinking of some words that her sister gave should she change her mind and decide she wanted to have children of her own. A decision she made years ago that she did not want. "Just try to take some deep breaths. Here... Here's some water," she took one of the clean glasses from behind her and filled it with water from her wand, handing it to Madison.

No word from her husband? But wasn't school in session? "I'm sure, he's just busy with the start of the school year. Nothing to worry about. Just give him a chance to get settled with the new school year," She tried to nod encouragingly, as Madison promised she'll be okay.

"So anything else, Madison?" She chewed on her inner cheek as she rose from her chair. She had a couple errands to run before her meeting with Teal.

Madison took the glass of water and drank until it was empty. "Thank you," she mumbled with a deep breath then stood up from her chair. "I'm not an emotional person, I don't know...how to deal with these issues so, pardon my sudden outbursts of tears."

She grabbed her things, whatever she did or didn't bring in and headed for the door. "Thank you for listening, Lorraine," she smilied as she headed out of the office towards her desk.

Lorraine nodded as Madison drank the WHOLE glass of water, in near one gulp. Goodness that woman was thirsty. Making a mental note to purchase one of those muggle water jugs for assistant, she smiled. "Of course, Madison. It's just the hormones. No big deal." She commented, attempting to comfort her.

"Anytime," she noted, as Madi headed from her office towards her own desk. Lorraine took one last glance around her office before following her assistant from her office and off towards the lifts.