"Well, I got along fine with the Slytherins. They said I pretty much was one," he laughed.

He got down two cups and poured some of the drink into each one. Holding his up, he clinked it against Shane's.

"It wasn't so bad really. You pretty much were only confined to your house for sleeping or relaxing," he laughed.

Shane reached for a cup and smiled. She nodded her head in thanks as he talked about the Hogwarts Houses. "Aren't you a lucky one then?" she asked, after taking a sip of the sweet lemonade the two of them had made. "I guess things do get a little ... unusual ... from time to time."

"I'm sure things have changed greatly between the Houses than what they once were when the great Harry Potter attended. Now that would be a serious hate-to-hate frienships there. ... At least those years are over with, from what all I know of Hogwarts."

She took another sip of her lemonade and flicked her wand at the box of donuts. "Now these go great with lemonade!" She laughed calmly and gave Syd a little wink.

Syd chuckled and nodded. Shane was right. Things had been different, but they were probably back to the usual shinanigans now. Kids will be kids after all.

"Yet another donut, Miss Dalton? I'm beginning to think you have a bit of a sweet tooth," he laughing taking a long drink of lemonade.

"Well I do say those lemons were fresh."

Lola trotted into the break room, and headed right to the coffee. She poured herself a cup and sat down on a rather comfortable couch. She blew over the hot coffee to cool it down to drinking temperature.

She took off her glasses and laid them down on an end table. She picked up a book that was on that table and passively flipped through it. She liked looking at all the moving pictures.

Shane giggled quietly. She sure did have a sweet tooth, much to her annoyance. No matter how hard she tried to resist sweets, she'd fail immediatley.

"Mr. Wordsmith, you are quite right in saying that," Shane agreed. "I do have a bit ... okay ... a big sweet tooth. No matter how hard I try to avoid sweets, I just can't resist."

She looked around the room and noticed that Lola Adams had walked in the breakroom. Should've had the lemonade, Shane thought.

"Well, just make sure you don't crash later," Syd said, sipping his lemonade.

He set the glass down with a satisfied, "Ahh..." Why people didn't drink more lemonade was beyond him. He liked lemons... maybe that's why he was so sour and stinging in court...

Lola peeked her head out of the book. She had forgotten there were other people in the room. She sat up straighter, she thought reclining was a rather juvenile posture in the workplace. She took a sip of the coffee. Her face contorted with disgust. She discreetly spit out the coffee back into the cup.

She got up and poured herself a cup of water. Lola noticed someone looking in her direction. "Coffee was a mistake," she chuckled quietly. Returning to her place on the couch, Lola took a sip, just to make sure it was good water.

Shane nodded at Syd and then her attention was back on Lola. She obviously found out that coffee wasn't the greatest choice today. "Lemonade, dear. Freshly made lemonade right here. Feel free to have some whenever you like. There's plenty of it!"

She smiled and looked back at Syd. She whispred, "It would've been much easier to get people to drink our lemonade if we actually hid the coffee." She giggled.

Lola took a sip of her water. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind next time. I thought some caffeine would do me good. Guess I was wrong." She picked up her book and immersed herself in the memoirs of a Minister of Magic from long ago.

Somewhere in her mind, her grandmother screamed "WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS?" Lola popped her head up, and realized she hadn't introduced herself to the helpful lady. "I'm Lola Adams, I'm with the Magical Equipment Control team," she smiled, putting on her red-rimmed glasses to get a proper look at her beverage savior.

Shane smiled. "Shane Dalton, member of the Wizengament. It's nice to meet you, Lola Adams," Shane said, extending her hand. "So, what kind of work do you do as a member of the Magical Equipment Control team? Sounds quite interesting."

"Nice to meet you, Shane," Lola replied. She felt some of her short mousy hair fall over her eyes. She lightly shook her head until her hair fell into place. "Well, it's more interesting than I thought it would be. Right now there's lots of potion making, testing out new cauldrons. I like trying to destroy them!" Lola exclaimed. Then, realizing it sounded like she belonged at St. Mungo's, she added "Not that I don't want the new technology to succeed... I meant that I enjoy testing the limits."

Lola smiled awkwardly, her eyes scanning the room for a change in conversation and a focal point that wasn't a member of the Wizengamot. Ironically, it was that fear that sparked the conversation change. "But enough of me, your job sounds fascinating! You must see really remarkable cases."

Nicoli strode into the break room, a cup of coffee, the only thing on his mind at the moment. He'd be needing to head out soon, but for just the next few seconds...sugar. Nicoli opened a cabinet and opened his favorite brand type, thankfully the coffee machine was enchanted, so all he had to do was request an espresso. With the machine on and the box of coffee back in the cabinet, Nicoli turned to face the others happily.

"Might I reccomend the lemonade?" Lola chuckled. "Enchanted or not, that beverage is foul." She couldn't tell if the man had taken her seriously, but she hoped he did.

Nicoli faced the other woman, a smile on his face and a light in his eyes. "Lemonade?" he asked eying the freakishly translucent yellow liquid carefully. It happened to remind him of something else..."You mean the coffee?" he asked lightly, ginning now, "I find it quite refreshing myself." With that he poured himself a cup of the steaming liquid and brought it to his lips.

Lola shook her head. "I was talking about the coffee. Having been an unfortunate victim of the Ministry's coffee attempts, I highly recommend anything but that." Lola raised her eyesbrows as this man seriously intended to drink the coffee.

Shane smiled and then noticed that Nicoli had entered the breakroom. "Coffee wasn't the best choice, Nicoli," Shane said with a wink. "Fresh lemonade up here."

She looked at Syd and grinned. Should've hit the coffee like I said. Oh well.

Syd rolled up his sleeves and chuckled as his employees continuously tried what appeared to be bad coffee. Wherever the Ministry was getting their coffee was beyond him, but they needed to stop. He sipped his lemonade and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Well maybe I'll have to go out and get some better coffee," he said, holding his lemonade glass in his hand.

Shane giggled. "Maybe the Ministry should just consider lemonade instead of coffee all together. ... I'm sure that would be a bit of a problem, though. Especially for our coffee lovers."

She quickly rolled her eyes and took a bite of her donut and took a sip of her lemonade. The sweet tastes made her smile and she giggled once again for no reason at all.

Lola finished off her cup of water and headed over to the lemonade. She turned around and said to Shane. "OK, now I'm trying this out." she smiled as she poured her cup full of the beverage. She took a sip, it had the perfect balance of sugar and lemon juice. It was among the best lemonade she had ever tasted.

She strolled back to the couch. She took another sip of the lemonade. "You two were right, you should put that lemonade front and centre!" she said to Shane and the man whom she recogized as Mr. Wordsmith.

Shane smiled. It was nice to know that someone other than Syd and herself enjoyed the lemonade. Now they would have to make it more often, especially if they managed to get everyone hooked on the stuff.

"Yeah," Shane said. "We'll probably do that soon." She giggled.

Lola picked up a magazine laying on the end table. It seemed to be a fashion magazine. She wasn't that interested in '354 Ways To Accessorize Your Wand', so she put it down. Must have been left here by a Ministry worker. I can't imagine the Ministry putting this out. Lola thought to herself, smiling smugly.

Taking another sip of lemonade, she addressed the woman on the Wizengamot, "So, you never told me what it's like to be a part of such a powerful organisation?"

"Well, at the moment, there is much going on," Shane stated, taking a quick look at Syd. "It's just a mtter of time before we all head out to the courtroom and judge. It's quite interesting seeing everyone else's strategies and such. very interesting indeed!"

She smiled and took a sip of her lemonade. She flciked her wand the the lemonade pitcher and it pitcher livitated in the air. It them poured some lemonade in her own cup and into Syd's cup. She looked at him and smiled gently. "Looked like you needed some more."

Nicoli heard her words far too late. Gagging and spluttering, Nicoli placed his mug on to the cabinet and raised his eyes to the woman in a pained expression. "Ah," was all he was able to say before he drowned his mouth with cup after cup of water. A few more minutes and he had recovered enough to reply.

"Should've listened to you," Nicoli grinned sheepishly. "I'm Nicoli Vanhatck," he said trying to place where the woman fitted in the department. "Honestly, what's happened to the coffee? I bought a box of the same brand yesterday and it was heavenly...maybe they extracted the coco?"

Nicoli smiled at Shane, his azure eyes gleaming out of his pale face. "'Hmm. I'll it a shot," he said pouring himself a cup and staring into the contents with more apprehension than before. What could the ministry have done to this?

Lola tried to stifle her giggling at Nicoli's face, but was failing miserably. Taking a moment to collect herself, she replied, "I'm Lola Adams. Sorry for that fit of laughter, but I did try to warn you. And to be fair, you didn't see that face you made." She smiled warmly and friendly, hoping she didn't appear malicious in her amusement.

"You would think the Ministry could make better coffee, though. Wouldn't you?" Lola shook her head. "Shame on them for trying to poison us hard working employees!" She let out a hardy laugh.

Shane looked over to Syd. The breakroom that was so quiet with just the two of them was getting louder as more and more employees entered it. At least they were drinking the lemonade instead of the coffee.

"Looks to me like the lemonade is a giant sucess, Mr. Wordsmith," she said with a warm, gentle smile on her face. "Looks like we'll have to do it more often."