Delilah Carter burst through the meeting room door and staggered towards the cluster of filing cabinets not far from the room's entrance. She placed everything she'd carried with her on top of the cabinet before taking a quick breath. Being a Department Head came with a lot of responsibility. And a lot of paperwork. She felt like was always carrying things back and forth between home and the Ministry.

After a moment of rest, the average-sized woman picked up the styraphome coffee cup that was among her load. Delilah took a long gulp, draining the cup, before tossing it into the trash can beside one filing cabinet. The woman then scooped up her large binder, which was overflowing with papers, memos, and reminders; and carried it over to the large, golden armchair. She sat down and curled her legs up under her.

Delilah's strong fingers flipped open the binder. As she began to review the paperwork inside, she took a quick glance towards the door. She was starting to wonder if she'd forgotten to spread the word that she wanted to hold a short meeting with workers from both departments she headed- maintenance and security. Usually, Delilah wasn't the first one to appear in the meeting room, but so far, there were no signs of other life.

Edward entered the meeting room trying to be quiet. He knew that it wasn't good that the boss was here before anyone else and he tried to non-chalantly headed to the closest couch and sit down, making sure not to spill any of his coffee.

"Good morning, Miss Carter." he said politely.

Delilah hadn't even heard Edward come in; she was quite absorbed by the words of a flyer she'd just come across in her array of paper. The woman's head snapped up as she heard his voice, and a slight smile drew across her face. "Hello, Edward," she murmered before her eyes returned to her binder.

After another short moment, the Department Head closed her binder and looked up again. She'd caught a slight whiff of Edward's coffee. "Bring your own coffee to work again?" the woman asked, laughing a bit. His coffee smelled much better than what they were supplied with by the Ministry. And Edward was notorious for bringing it along; occasionally, Delilah was able to grab a cup out of the breakroom.

Her legs still curled beneath her on the chair, Delilah Carter glanced towards the door. At least one person had gotten the memo, but where was everyone else?

He was pleased that Ms. Carter didn't appear upset. He returned her smile and allowed his thoughts wander as she returned to her mountain of papers.

Sheepishly he nodded when she asked about his coffee. "Yes ma'am. I can go get you a cup if you like. While we wait, of course."

He thought she was a good boss and was pleased to have the chance to work on the security team. He knew it wasn't as glamorous as some of the places within the ministry, but he knew it was important. At least that is what his father had told him on his first day.

"Oh no, that's quite alright," Delilah said, smiling again. "I've had plenty already," she laughed. "My parents showed up at my apartment this morning," the woman rolled her eyes in a laughing fashion. "They live in Ireland and absolutely despise apparation. I was just sitting with my sister at the kitchen table, and dear Mum and Dad step out of the fireplace.

Delilah was the kind of boss who considered the employees of her department friends, even if they really weren't. She felt quite comfortable, for some unknown reason, sharing details of her personal life with them. Perhaps she was subconsiously under the impression that listening to her personal ramblings was part of their job description.

"So anyways," Delilah continued after a short pause, "they insisted on taking Sammie and me out to breakfast. There's this quiet little place just a block away from where I live; I reckon it has the best coffe in the world. I ended up drinking four cups and getting one to go before I realized that I was nearly late for work!" The young woman laughed quietly.

Edward listened intently, knowing he wouldn't have to get up for a while. He liked this about Delilah. (It felt almost sacrilegious even to think of her so informally). She was very personable and willing to share her world with her employees. One of the things he did know though was not to take that openness for granted. It did not mean that she expected anything less than professional behavior.

"It must be quite a start for your parents to pop in without warning. I would imagine that I would have zapped mine. Of course they hardly ever come to check on me anyway. They feel as a young man, I deserve my privacy." He sat quietly as she continued her tale.

"What brand of coffee do they use, If you don't mind my asking." He was always on the lookout for good coffees that he could find locally. It was sometimes difficult to find the better brands without traveling.

Wyatt had silently entered the meeting room with his usual strange black drink and a bottle of clear liquid. When he had set down his stuff and said "Hello Ms. Carter, Edward."

Richard sprinted along the corridor to the meeting room. He slowed down as he got to the corridor with the clear glass door. He got to the door opened it panting slightly. "Umm, sorry Im late, I was up on the top floor, turned out to be a false alarm" He explained as he made his way to an empty seat along the middle of the wall. He pulled his wand out of his thin green suit aswell as a small wad of paper that looked like sticky notes. He tapped them with his wand and they grew to a pile about a foot high. He didnt know if he'd need them all but he was already late and didnt want to turn up and forgot something important however minute. "You haven't started have you?" he asked Delilah as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Yes," Delilah agreed. "Some warning would be nice. The apartment was something of a disaster," she confided. "Mum had something of a fit." Her voice changed to a higher-pitch, stricter sounding tone as she mimicked her mother. "'I always raised you girls to keep a clean house. Dirty dishes, clothes on the floor. Why, you'd think this place was inhabited by teenagers. What if someone dropped by without warning?'" The woman laughed again. "Sammie decided to get the day off and take them to Diagon Alley. She didn't think it was best to let Mum stick around."

"I don't know, actually," Delilah answered. "Never asked." She smiled before her head turned towards the door, where she spotted another worker entering.

"Hello Wyatt," Delilah said, smiling at him. "Have a seat. Obviously, we're still waiting on some people," she laughed, adressing the empty room.

"You're not late, Richard," Delilah said calmly. "We're still waiting on people, so I haven't started anything."

The Department Head laughed out loud when the employee's sticky not pile grew to be a foot high. What an eager man, she thought as she chuckled quietly. "I really hope this meeting won't require me to talk quite that much," Delilah said. "I intend for it to be short and sweet."

Wyatt took a seat and he then said "I am glad i got this job. I was hoping to be an Auror or something but I guess you take what you can get."

Richard smiled at Delilah's amusement, "handy isnt it, though have to watch out in case I mistake them for reciepts". Richard crossed his legs with one ankle resting on his knee and turned to Wyatt saying lightly "Yeah this jobs interesting aswell, I mean theres not as much running involved but we are nearer to a hot drink".

"Of course we are so those higher paid individuals want some coffe they can come here and get it." wyatt said hold up the galls full of the strange black liquid.

He rifled through some of the papers in front of him, he circled something with a quill. "Yeah, but I'd rather be doing something I enjoy than something I hate just for the money" said Richard then eyeing the black liquid, "umm,do you mind me asking...what exactly is that?"

Jack was whistling softly as he shoved his way through the door. Janet had loaded him up with useless ideas for a job he didn't want. He'd abandoned them all. However, he'd brought a wrench. Old working stiffs could always use a laugh right? He'd tucked the wrench into his backpack, ready to pull out if it turned out that his department was really especially dull.

"It is a very distinct drink that you would not like since it runs down through my family's heritage. My family till my parents were either vampire or lycan or a hybrid. But that stop at me. I am the only one besides my son who has the characteristics of a hybrid but is not one. This drink is very special to me since it helps me in keep me active throughout the day." Wyatt said holding up his glass and he then held up the bottle full of clear liquid and said "This is the same stuff but it stay clear in the bottle and then when i put it into the glass in turns red and then black."

Louisa ran threw the corridors after being poked in the head by the memo. Slowly as she reached the door, she composed herself, and adjusted her clothes. Opening the door, she smiled apologetically.

"Sorry I'm late. I've only just got the memo. Have I missed anything yet?" She asked Delilah while sitting in one of the sofas.

Richard listened to Wyatt's description. Once he had finished Richard looked at him, blinked and said "well you learn something new everyday. Umm do you have any interests in potions by the way?"
As Louisa came in Richard nodded in ackowledgment of her arrival with a light smile.

ooc: Okay, everyone! I thought it would be nice to have a meeting with everyone just so we all know what's going on. I imagine some of you have characters who you don't want to be 'new' employees to the Ministry, despite the fact that we all are new. So I thought this would be a good way to go about it:

Delilah glanced at the door, then at the silver clock on the wall parallel to her. It had been more than five minutes, time to get started. The petite woman stood up and cleared her throat, her desired effect to put an end to the casual chit-chat of her employees.

"Most of you know that aquire the position of Head of Ministry Security, as well as the Maintenance Department. And to be honest, it's been getting a bit stressful to act as the leader for two seperate departments within the Ministry." After a quick smile in the direction of a couch to her left, Delilah cleared her throat.

"So I've decided that I want these two groups, Maintenance and Security, to unite," the woman explained. Then, Delilah added, "Of course, everyone would be doing their same job. Really, the only thing we're doing differently is sharing a breakroom!" She laughed quietly. "Perhaps we'll have to get a bigger coffee pot," the department joked.

"Is everyone comfortable with this change?" Ms. Carter asked, meeting the eyes of each person in the room. "If so, I'd like everyone to head over to the breakroom for a bit. We can take a break from cleaning, and as long as we keep an eye on the Check-in Desk, this shouldn't be a problem. I'd like you all to get to know the people from the other department."

Delilah smiled sincerely, waiting for signs of understanding and agreement to appear on her staff's faces.

"Yeah, I mean its never that busy this time of day at the desk anyway" said Richard getting up. He clicked his fingers and his parchment notes shrunk and jumped in to his cloak pocket.

Louisa agreed with Richard. "It is relatively quiet at this time. And I think that the integration of the two departments is a great idea." She said standing, and gathering her things together in her black patent bag.

A memo flew in to whoever was in charge of the department. It read:

Delilah was suddenly distracted by a memo that flew into the office. She uncurled her legs from beneath her and then slid out of the chair. Then, Delilah took a few steps forward and snatched the memo out of the air.

After reading it, the Department Head chuckled quietly. She muttered something unidentifyable under her breath before slipping the small paper into her binder.

"Why don't you all go ahead to the breakroom," Delilah suggested to her employees. "I have something to take care of, but I'll be back in a moment." She gave them a fleeting smile before heading out the door.

Louisa looked on in curiousty as her department head snatched the memo and laughed. Upon hearing everyone should go to the breakroom, Louisa adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

"Coming then?" She asked no one in particular, looking at her fellow employees.

Jack wasn't much of one for "meetings" or "constructive input." Mostly he just wanted someone to tell him what to do so he could get it nice and over with. And, quite honestly, he didn't see a difference between two seperate departments and mushed together one. Maybe it was some strange workplace thing. He'd have plenty of time to figure it out. Janet wasn't likely to let him quit any time soon. And, then again, he did need the cash.

Breakroom. He sighed and stood up again. He raised his eyebrows at the older, quite probably more experienced employee. "Uh... sure?" he said.