"Oh, okay," Briony said. She adjusted the her weight to the other foot. High heels were horrible. "When and where is it going to be held?"

" Good, Katalin and I will be expecting you" j.J. Starr Briony.

"Thank you very much," Briony smiled. "I'll make sure to attend."

"Briony, let's go tommorow to the Magical Education Department and meet the ladies" J.J. Starr told her. " I will help you see your raffle tickets for the World Quidditch Cup to the education department" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to her. " Selling tickets is the assignment for the liasons to their respective departments." J.J. explained to her. " They cost five galleons each" he told Briony.

"Oh, I've actually been informed about that. I've sold quite a bit already. Thanks for the offer, but I got that bit down pretty well. Samantha even says I may be in the lead from the way I'm selling them," Briony informed him. "I would like to meet the ladies still. I don't think I've came across them the times I've been there yet."

He walked in slowly. The enormous wizard reached out his hand and caught the little paper airplane and opened it up. He looked down at it and read it to himself, silently at first. "No ghosts, goblins, or werewolves. House elves alright with paying owner." He moved over to the bulletin board and applied the notice with a sticking charm. "H'mm. Really, no goblins?". Well, he supposed there was a very good reason (maybe two).

His olfactory sense caught a whiff of some warm lingering scent on the air. "Does anyone else smell popcorn?". The enormous wizard asked to no one in particular.

Now he wanted popcorn. A testimony to the power of suggestion.

Brioyn turned around to see a large wizard standing nearby. "Sarah was eating some a little bit ago I think," she answered. "I'm not sure where she got it from exactly."

Claudian paused and looked to and from the new face and Sarah. He eventually stayed focused on Sarah and shot her a glance. A very, very hurt glance indeed. One that said, 'You had popcorn and you didn't tell me?!'. It was broken somewhat swiftly by the fact that Claudian could no longer hold his idea of jesting with a straight face.

"I'm Claudian, by the way. You must be the new liaison Ms. Rose told me about. What was your name?" He said introducing himself to the new face.

"Oh, I'm Briony Whitehall," she greeted. "It's nice to meet you Claudian." She smiled lightly. "Are you in fact related to Mr. Horace Slughorn? I read about him in Hogwarts. You looked similar to him. A distant relative perhaps?"

Curse his fathers genes. Curse his fathers rotund and green-eyed genes. "I am. He is a great, great, great, great uncle on my fathers side." He was pretty sure it was four 'greats', and not five. Some pureblood he was as he couldn't even figure his lineage properly on spot. "He was a pretty fascinating fellow. Some of my cousins on my fathers side are quite fond of being his relatives." Though, that was a bit of an understatement for what Claudian viewed as a sort of bandwagon syndrome that afflicted certain members of his family tree. He wasn't about to subjugate the new colleague to dirty family laundry. Polite introductions 'n all that.

"Whitehall...Whitehall?" He said her name, appearing to give it some thought. "Are you a pureblood, by chance?". Not that he was a blood purist snob. Well, perhaps a little.

"I am actually," she replied. Ugh! Why did her Ravenclaw family have to be so smart and invent so many new things for the Wizarding World? "That's really cool you're related to him. He taught so many remarkable wizards and witches. Good and bad."

"Aye. That he did. I wish I could've inherited some of his talent with potions, though. Always was a tough subject for me. My wife, though. She gets it quite well. Runs the Apothecary down on Diagon Alley. You ought to stop by. Tell her you're a friend of mine from work." He stopped wondering if he should've bit his tongue. Xana could be somewhat jealous and Briony Whitehall wasn't exactly a plainer witch.

"So, how are you enjoying your first day on, Miss Whitehall?" He asked, recalling his own first day on the job. He'd describe himself as 'lost'.

"I'm finding things and meeting people really well. It was a little lost as first but Ms. Rose has helped me immensely," Briony replied. "I might have to stop in the Apothecary store anyway, some of my parents regular ingredients are running out. They reinvented the Wolfsbane potion. They're working on a new one all together at the moment," Briony said, sighing at how crazy they were when it came to potions and living up to their families' expectations.

Her next words gave him a sort of eerie chill as the mention of her parents' line of work reminded him terribly of his wifes own adoptive parents. It was, in some ways, what lead them to their premature and terminal fate. Invention was a great vehicle for both creation and destruction, though people often forgot the latter.

"Oh? Still live at home then?" He said, summoning a sheet of parchment and bending his nearly six and a half foot 4oo pound frame down towards his drawer to fish out a working quill. "Nothing wrong with that of course. You're still young, of course." He tapped the end of the quill against the blank parchment to test it for remnants of ink. "What year did you graduate Hogwarts? Or...erhm, did you go to Hogwarts?" She looked to be only a bit younger than he was, but he didn't remember ever seeing her face before today. Though, that didn't mean she didn't attend. She was probably not a Slytherin, though. He'd never forget those serpentine maniacs. Merlin bless 'em. Every one.

"I'm moving into my own flat soon," Briony said. "I don't think I could stand another minute in their house, though I have too for the next week or so." She thought about his next question. "Well, I'm twenty one, and graduated four years ago. I can't quite remember what year. I'm to lazy to think about it truthfully. I worked with my parents and then moved to the U.S. with my cousin Thalia who's starting her first year. I worked in a muggle bookshop, while Thalia attended a muggle school," she replied explaining why she didn't start at the ministry sooner.

Claudian let out a small chuckle. "I could understand that." He could sympathize. Ovid and Calliope were, as he recalled, a tag-team of cheetahs. Closing in on their target of choice and going in for the kill just for sport. Ah, but they were his parents and at the end of the day, he was grateful to have them.

"Class of 2067. You're only two years after me. I graduated in '65. Great year. But, I suppose everyone says that about their own year." He couldn't stop the assumption from forming when she mentioned she had worked in a bookshop that she was a well-read person. He took this assumption far enough to figure that she was even well versed on the classics of wizarding literature. "Ravenclaw?" He ventured a guess.

"Nope," Briony admitted, shaking her head. "Hufflepuff. It's crazy that I was. I had those caring and helpful characteristics. Us shy Hufflepuffs. I got lost even in my seventh year. Nice guess though. The whole lot of my family had been in Ravenclaw. Even though I didn't make many friends, didn't mean I wasn't friendly. Believe me."

Claudian crossed a snapping finger over his body. "I knew it! This conversation was going a bit too smoothly for you to be anything else." He inwardly reproofed his own guess. He'd done this convivial and fluid conversation thing countless other times and always the person was Hufflepuff.

"And I can see that. You are friendly, Miss Whitehall. I'm quite sure you're going to do very well here for it. Never hurts to have friends in many places, high or low." He managed to etch a line or two onto the parchment and with a satisfied smile, he said, "I've probably yakked at you long enough, Miss Whitehall, but I thank you for indulging me as long as you have. It was very nice meeting you." And with that he moved back over to his desk to complete an assignment and start a new one.

"Yes you too Mr. Slughorn. I guess I will see you around then." She walked back to her desk and started to write on the parchment in front of her.

" My department has not bought any tickets at this time" J.J. Starr told Briony. "Well, I better check with my department to see if they bought any tickets" Joe Jon Montcenaggio said to Briony.

Oh? Department of Magical Education? How snazzy. Sarah rather enjoyed what went on over there, especially because it involved what went on at Hogwarts. "How lovely! And how convenient. It's on the same level," she said, winking at the young woman. Mhmmm... Sarah just nodded her head as she thought about what Briony said. She had felt exactly like that, though Brian had been able to make up for the actual home not being a home sort of thing. If that at all, made any sense.

"I understand. Well that's great how they put you in Magical Education! Have you gone over there yet?" she asked, smiling.

Oh Claudian! "Hello Claudian!" Sarah greeted her friend cheerfully. She watched him as he studied the flier that had flew in moments ago. It was indeed an interesting thing, but nothing could be changed. Which was just a plain pity. Though... were goblins even interested in Quidditch? Did they even play Quidditch. An image of little goblins on broomsticks throwing around a Quaffle appeared in Sarah's mind and she couldn't help but giggle to herself.

OHEEP. He smelled the popcorn. And Sarah hadn't given him any yet. He would probably turn towards her when he found out that it was her and give her one of those horrible faces that made her stomach flip.

Oh! OH! What do you know.... Claudian had looked over to her and gave her one of those hurt glances. How much Sarah HATED those glances. It made her feel horrible... selfish.. and... and... all those horrible adjectives. "Heh heh... Want some?" Sarah asked, smiling sheepishly as she held up the bag that was three quarters empty.

"Okay, I'll see you later then," Briony said with a wave, as she watched him leave.


"I have actually," she said. "Everyone seems really nice, unless you count my division head of course," she added between gritted teeth. Her anger was starting t rise, but she quickly controlled it. "It is very convenient. I might have got lost if it wasn't. I've been to the cafeteria though and haven't got lost," she smiled.

Reagan entered the liaison desk area, cleared her throat and began, "Can I have your attention please? I'd like for everyone to take a seat. I have a very important announcement to make." Reagan hated this part. She felt terrible but knew there was no way around this very large change to the Ministry.

It was definitely a good idea to get acquainted with the department. Sarah smiled and nodded her head approvingly and she chuckled slightly at the woman's comment on her division head. Some people were definitely difficult to deal with but they had to learn how to embrace them and how to deal with such people. "I'm sure you'll learn to get along with her," Sarah encouraged and smiled once more.

"Well good job! Off to a great start there," she said, winking at the woman. She, Sarah Lee, had gotten lost only a few rare occasions upon her arrival a good couple of months ago. All thanks towards her brother for providing her with a map of the Ministry. If she hadn't had that map, she probably would've found herself on the Ninth Level for some apparent reason and she wouldn't have even known how she got there and why she was there.

And then the Minister walked in. WHOA. It was certainly not often that Sarah had the chance to actually see the woman face to face, even though her office was just ten yards away from hers. Because of this, Sarah was very interested in what brought the Minister to the Liaison Office. The expression on the woman's face seemed grave and urgent. Mhm.

The urgency of the tone and the fact that the Minister said it was important, was enough for Sarah to excuse herself from Briony's side. She smiled and nodded her head towards the Minister and then made her way over to her desk with the 3/4 empty popcorn bag. Popcorn. So empty.

Katy was just finishing her long checklist of things to complete when the Minister of Magic walked in the room. She felt her stomach drop as she saw the look on Reagan's face, this didn't look like good news, whatever it may be. She sat up in her desk and waited for the Minister to explain.