The hall was the largest and most elaborate event Alexa had ever seen. The colour and people were overwhelming. She smiled and spotted the australian minister. Her minister for the night. Just about to walk over she saw Warren and frowned at the woman next to him.

Walking over, she couldn't quite miss the stressed look in his eyes. She resisted laughing and walked over to him and the minister. There was quite a crowd of people around them. It seemed she was quite the attraction.

Alexa scowled icily when the woman took his arm.
"Evening Minister" She said smoothly, smiling calmly. Her eyes however were cold, fixated on the woman. She felt so compelled to put her in her place but instead nodded slightly, "How are you enjoying tonight?" She said trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

Rowan grinned. "Nope paperwork is the worst part about any job in my opinion." A loud voice sounded off somewhere else in the room, a voice with a distinctly southern twang. Looking in the same direction as Teal, Rowan noticed that the voice was issuing out of a rather stout looking woman that was surrounded by people. She made a mental note to introduce herself, she had a feeling the woman was one of the Ministers. Sometimes her gifts weren't all bad.

She listened as Teal continued talking. "Yeah, I am too. And no I'm not nervous. I think its rather fun that all of us have the chance to get together like this. Meeting new people is always interesting."

Rowan fell silent just as another man came up and started talking to Teal. Teal introduced him and Rowan. She immediately could tell the man was different. She almost wanted to find out how different but that could get her into trouble. Rowan confidently extended her hand toward Vlad and said, "Good evening. I haven't met a whole lot of people from our division, so it's nice to make your aquaintance."

Teal then made an offer for drinks. Grinning she said, "A drink sounds good." Rowan followed Teal toward the beverages. She glanced briefly over her shoulder at Vlad to see if he would follow.

Warren spotted Alexa and smiled in relief. As the minister pulled him back up again and took his arm he swallowed. He smiled tightly as she showed him off like he was some dog at a show and nodded to those around them.

He watched as Alexa walked up and couldn't help but notice how she was acting. "I'm afraid minister I already belong to someone." Somehow he managed to snake his arm from the minister's grasp. He took a step toward Alexa and wrapped his arm around her as he kissed her cheek whispering, "Thank you." He turned to look at the minister and felt compelled to point out the obvious to the minister, "This is Alexa my..." he glanced at Alexa as he searched for a word. Girlfriend didn't quite fit because she was much more than that to him but as he hadn't proposed no other word seemed right. He smirked slightly, "Or rather I'm hers." And as far as he was concerned that statement was exact.

Cris grinned at her, and shrugged slightly. "I suppose you're right. It's not the Department of Mysteries for nothing, eh?" He said knowingly. Even if he really didn't know. Heh.

"And, well, I rather like my job, and my division suits me really well since we practically run the Quidditch Games. See, I've been a Quidditchite since forever, and I've played for my school team when I was still in Hogwarts. I was fresh out of graduate school when I decided to travel the world and see what kind of Quidditch goes on elsewhere. Eventually, after 5 years, I decided to finally get a job, and here I am."

He just never got tired of that.

"HUm, Hum." Lucy nodded, studying Lucy. Studying people was maybe her most annoying habit. "Are you okay? You seem strange." these were her conclusions.
Lucy liked Annamaria at first sigh. The girl was nice an there absolutely no change to be dangerous. They interests in common, like travelling and Lucy, being the type of unsociable person she was, didn't realize the reasons Annamria could have to behave that way.
"This is our paradise, isn't it?" she commented, referring to being in the middle of foreign ministers, food and display of many other countries.

Andrina smiled slighty at Cris as he grinned and she listened to him talk about his job. "Really? What house were you in at Hogwarts?" She asked him softly as she looked at him. "That sounds like fascinating job." She said "I myself was on my Quidditch team at Hogwarts, and actually played professionally for a year, however my family decided that wasn't good enough for them. So here I am." She said as she motioned to herself and this place.

"I was in Ravenclaw," Cris relayed enthusiastically, instantly reminiscent. "Those 7 years of being in the Quidditch Team conditioned me well for this job, even though I never expected to take it. 'Sides, I'm thinking of early retirement. I've seen enough to last me a lifetime, I s'pose," he told her. Being 25 and travelling the world was a goal he'd never dreamed he'd reach, but here he was anyway. "Oh? Just a year, eh? Well then you must not have experienced much," he said with a shrug. "But anyway, Department of Mysteries..." he repeated with a low, rather impressed whistle. Still, he wouldn't have traded this Department for any other.

After greeting and chatting with numerous Ministry employees and guests, Reagan made her way to the podium on the stage. Pointing her wand to her throat and casting 'Sonorus,' Reagan elevated the volume of her voice and announced with a smile, "Good evening! My name is Reagan F. Taylor, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and your Mistress of Ceremonies for this evening. I'd like to welcome you all to this year's International Wizarding Conference. We're very pleased and proud to be hosting such an amazing event and we hope that we can all work together to make great strides on behalf of the global wizarding community. But before we get to business, there is always a bit of time for enjoyment! The festivities are going to begin momentarily, so if you could each find a seat, maybe grab a plate of food to bring with you to your chair, and enjoy yourselves, we'll be beginning shortly. Visiting Ministers of Magic, please join me on stage. Thank you."

Removing the wand from her throat, Reagan stepped away from the podium and took her seat behind the Minister's chair. Speaking of the Minister, where on earth was Brennan!?! Her eyes tore through the crowd searching for him, but he was not to be seen. Oh good riddens!

Corvus watched in excitement as she watched every one walk in. She looked up and down the walls, and smiled, the place was so beautiful. "Wow this place is brilliant" she whispered. She heard the clearing of someones throat and she turned her head. Then the wand was removed and Mrs.Taylor, looking slightly annoyed, stepped away from the podium "hunh? what's going on?" Corvus said softley. She noticed Mrs. Taylor scan through the crowd, her expression went from slightly annoyed to just annoyed "She must be looking for someone" she whispered. Althought threre seemed to be an ovbious setback She knew things were going to start soon.

Alina quietly slipped through the door, and glanced around the room. She knew she was running slightly late, and tried not to draw any attention to herself as she spotted her husband and Lorraine talking to someone she didn't recognise. She smiled, and headed in that direction, hoping she hadn't missed too much of the ceremony.

"Heard you calling who what?" Alina asked as she approached Theo, a bemused look on her face. She smiled warmly at the new face and at Lorraine. "Sorry for the delay," she said quietly, "I had a couple of matters to attend to." Raising her voice again, she looked up brightly. "Have I missed any excitement?"

Samantha walked up to the food table and began to help herself to some fruit along with a few of her favorite pastries. Pouring herself a cup of tea with milk and one sugar, she returned to her seat to await the commencement of the speeches. She nodded to a few people she recognized including a few of her own employees, most notably Jake and Lucy. Somehow they had managed to beat her here, but that was no surprise. At least she had made it here on time, before everything started.

Andrina smiled at his reminiscing "Ravenclaw? I always liked that house, I myself was in Gryffindor, but several of my good friends were in Ravenclaw." She said with a soft smile as she remembered as well. "Wow early retirement? What are you going to do?" She asked curiously as she smiled more at him.

"Yes, jsut a year, but I wasn't in control of my own life, so it was more than I could have hoped, I was glad i got to do it for that long." She said with a somewhat sad grin. "I don't think you would be whistling if you knew what I got to do." She frowned as she thought of the veil, and the odd voices she had been hearing coming from it. "Maybe one day I will tell you." she replied teasingly.

Strolling through the crowd of people, Clarissa kept alert to the sight of the minister that she was supposed to be guarding. Where was he or she? If she didn't find them, Forrester would have her head.

Just as she was passing a group of people, she heard a voice introducing themselves as the Bulgarian minister. Finally!

Sweeping over, she stopped just on the side of the woman, smiling at the group until the Bulgarian minister noticed her. "I am Clarissa Harel, the Auror who has been placed in charge of protecting you during this conference. Are you finding everything to your liking?"

Theo looked around when he heard a familiar voice, and grinned. His arm slipped around his wife's waist. "Don't worry. I don't want to be overheard and then fired. I will tell you at home." He held her to him. "Nothing overly exciting. This here is Abigail Road, the Minister of the United States. Abigail, this is my wife, Alina."

Jake returned from the bathroom in a good mood. He looked around for Lucy and noticed she was chatting with Annamaria. I'll let them talk, he thought, girls always need their moments. He wandered around, smiling at total strangers when he suddenly spotted Samantha. Whoa, she doesn't look half bad... He approached her with a grin on his face. "Samantha! How are you doing?" he asked with a boyish grin and a twinkle in his eyes.

Still glancing around the room in search for Jack Melanie heard Armen's last question and really had to work hard to repress the urge to groan. Oh, how she hated questions like that. Was she supposed to tell him all about her life? Her whole life-history? Wasn't he able to ask something more specific? Whether she had any siblings for instance.
Not wanting to be rude or anything Melanie half turned back to Armen rolling her blue eyes towards the ceiling in the process without Armen noticing, though. "Well, where should I st-" Melanie didn't get any further, fortunately, since at exactly that moment Reagan raised her voice, or more like magnified her voice actually, so that everyone in the room would be able to hear her.

Oh, everything was just so exciting and Melanie felt so proud to be right in the middle of the whole thing. Walking towards the buffet as quickly as her black high heels would allow she was amazed by the amount and different assortment of the food there. Oh, that would be a difficult choice.
She finally ended up with some Violet Crumble bars from Australia and an apple pie on her plate. Looking around for a free place to sit. Wasn't there anyone who wanted to sit next to her and whom she wanted to sit next to as well?

Alina grinned as she felt Theo's arm slide around her waist. It made her feel so much more comfortable by his side, with all the high up people in the room. She simply nodded at his explanation, though she was still intrigued. "Fair enough."

"Ah, I'm glad I haven't missed anything." Her eyes scanned the room, taking in all the decorations and noting the location of the food table. She was fine at the moment, but she'd probably want to go and visit it later. She took Theo's hand and squeezed it, before turning her attention back to the lady she was being introduced to. "Pleasure to meet you, Minister," Alina said with a polite bow of her head.

Annamaria nodded, her red hair swinging a bit as she did. " Oh yes, I'm fine. I'm just nervous, I suppose." She said, smiling at Lucy. " And I'm excited too about being here with so many foreign folk, I mean...as you've said before, you like traveling as much as me, so this is kind of like getting to do just that but for free. " She said, smiling again. She looked away and saw that Samantha had arrived, and she looked back at Lucy. " I wonder how many more of us will be here." She said, meaning their department.

Armen saw the look on Melanie's face and saw that he did something wrong "Oh sorry to bombard you with awkward questions. I mean like were are you from?" he said smiling

Samantha smiled and said happily, "So glad you were able to make it, Jake!" She nodded towards Annamaria and Lucy, they were both engaged in what seemed to be a deep conversation, but she was very glad to see they were here doing the Department of Education proud. "This is going to be a wonderful experience for all of us, I have a feeling something momentous is going to take place that will change all our lives." She laughed softly for a moment. "Actually, in your case, I have a feeling that two life changing events may be taking place," referring to Jake and his niece Rachel and her efforts to reunite the two of them. She winked, knowing he knew what she meant.

He stood watching all the people for a while, unsure of what to do. He had never particularly liked large gatherings of people, especially when he knew very few of them. He looked around, hoping he might see someone he recognised.

With her plate full of Violet Crumble bars Melanie went back to where Armen was still standing. Since he made no attempt whatsoever to search for a place to sit Melanie's blue eyes narrowed in confusion. "Yes, no problem. But shouldn't we go and search for a seat? Didn't you hear what Reagan-" She gestured towards their boss who had sat down behind the Minister's chair. "-said?" Okay, this actually wasn't exactly possible considering the volume of Reagan's magnified voice. "Maybe you want to get something to eat first. The conference might take some time." Nodding towards the bars on her plate she added, "Those are really good."

He grinned back, nodding his head eagerly. "Yeah, it's great and the deco is absolutely spectacular!" he said happily, pointing to his favorite bits. "Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what change exactly do you mean? Not for me, for you," he added quickly, thinking of Rachel. She's going to come so soon! I can't believe this is actually happening! He chuckled to himself softly, feeling like a six year old days before his birthday.
He grabbed a plate and piled everything in sight onto it. He grinned at his overflowing plate, and reached for a fork and knife. He cast a spell quickly to prevent spilling, and tucked into the food. "Would you like to grab a seat? Looks like the entertainment is about to begin!" he said happily as he looked around for an empty spot.

Rebecca looked at Reagan when she spoke "Minister?" she turned to Bao Li "Would you like to be first or last?" she asked with a small laugh

Nathan watched the exchange between Egypt and Valeria. He felt awkward. His wife was the daughter of a very important woman but Nathan rarely saw that side of her. Her official, 'daughter of a minister side'. Nathan always felt inferior when he had to attend such occasions as her husband. He'd hate to embarrass her or show her up in some way unintentionally.

He stood up out of politeness when the woman addressed him. “Pleasure to meet you, love.” He said with a warm smile, taking her hand and shaking it. “I'm Nathan. Nathan Greenwood. How are you finding the ceremony so far?” He asked trying to make light conversation.


Nathan looked over to see Clarissa, one of the Aurors, looking very relieved. “Hello love.” he gave her a smile and a nod after she had introduced herself to the Bulgarian Minister.