Rebecca smiled and relaxed a little bit 'phew, he's nice, not one of those stuck up people, i think some people will be, but not in this department' Rebecca then went back to writing her letter, she finished the letter, folded it up and with a flick of her wand an owl came in through the door, Rebecca tied the letter to the Owl's leg and stroked it head, then the owl flew off.

Rebecca then set about tidying her desk, out of her bag she pulled an 'IN' tray and an 'OUT' tray putting the 'IN' tray on one side of the desk and the 'OUT' tray on the other side of the desk, sighing contentedly she pulled out a muggle 'pencil pot' and put her quills in it, then she opened her desk drawer 'Wow' she thought 'what am i gonna put in here?' she asked herself, she then closed the drawer and waited for the HoD to speak to her

Erin walked back into the room after recieving their assignments from Syd. Holding files in her hands, she walked to front of the room. "Good Morning!" Erin said to her team brightly. "First of all I would like to welcome you to The Ministry of Magic. And I'm not one for speeches, so I won't even try to make one. As you know our department exsists to combat and control misuses of magic in all forms. Our first assignment is to track down spells created by students at Hogwarts, evaluate their safety and coordinate with ofhter departments on passing laws govening the creation of spells an charms by students. Also we have been assigned to investigate any violations of the Reasionable Restricion of Underage Wizardry."

"I believe in a relaxed atmosphere, one where work is still done efficinetly, but at the same time I want us to feel comfortable with each other and our environment. So feel free to make your work area look however you want it to." Erin smiled confidently at her team. "Any Questions?"

Rebecca frowned "Ma'am, how are we supposed to find out spells that have used at Hogwarts? do we ask the teachers and students?" Rebecca puzzled, as far as she knew all the underage people who practiced magic at Hogwarts had the trace temporarily taken off them

"Please, Call me Erin." She smiled. "Yes we do take the trace off of students while thay are in school. What we are asking for is, for students who have created or wish to create a spell, to perhaps submit an application, describing the spell and it's effects. That will in turn be studied by us and Education and if deemed so will be legal." Erin took a breath. "We have a meeting with Education to discuss Ideas in a week, so I need your ideas on my desk by no later than lunchtime on Wednesday." Erin told her team. "As for the Underage wizardry, I mean use of magic during school breaks and away from school."

Fredrick sat in his chair leaning comfortably on the back. He did not want to sit all perfect and formal. He knew about being formal and professional and thought half of it was a posture.

He listened to Erin's briefing apparently they would be babysitting a bunch of kids who were learning how to point there wand and babbling spells out. He knew some of that babbling meant just happening upon things that worked. Some of them with a bit of intent could even blow things up.

Fredrick chuckled at the notion that students would actually bother to write an application for a new spell they created. He knew if he was a student he wouldn't bother or even care about telling adults something cool that he found. Plus half of those students probably had no idea what they were babbling about when they did.

He certainly hoped he would not have to look at those applications if so he would replace all his quills in his desk with crayons. As most applications would probably end up with a do you even know what you are talking about in red crayon.

Fredrick said " Do you seriously believe that a student - show off Ravenclaws and teacher pets aside - would actually waste there time filling out such a form. Even if they did they probably would not even know what the spell did unless it did something simple. "

As far ideas Fredrick only had one this was entertaining. Like most bureaucrats he was surrounded by people filled with idealism. He had nothing to put on his desk as he was not used to being at one often. It was for moment and quick rush of paperwork. It did always impress him how girls fit so much in there bags an in out tray and a pencil holder. It shouldn't as even he knew spells that could shrink things down to a small size.

"That's why we're trying to hash out Ideas Fredrick." Erin smiled. "We want to make sure that in the future we don't have to arrest a student for any damage done by a rogue spell."

Rebecca smiled "Ok, so.." and then Fredrick spoke, Rebecca smiled politely at him

Rebecca nodded at Fredrick as if to say she agreed with him

"But surely we can erase memories and undo the damage" Rebecca asked frowning "and then warn them?"

"The point is to teach the children that there are laws that have to be abided by now." Erin said.

Fredrick wondered how green his coworker was. He knew from years of experience that most things could be undone and most memories forgotten. Not that either task was to be done liberally all willy nilly. As a few to many memory charms could lead to a loss of self. A state that could end up in one sent to the St. Mungros. He knew children's minds were especially fragile as they were still developing.

Fredrick said " Funny thing about life most things can be forgotten, however warning someone once you make them forget is senseless as they would have forgotten the reason for the lesson. Considering there little brains would say it did not apply to them so why should they care. "

Fredrick thought of course the point is to teach them a lesson about laws they could care less about. Considering most students were to stupid or at least a good percentage of the ones there when he was at Hogwarts seemed to be. If they were not stupid they were smart enough not to get caught. As most kids thought they ruled the world at that age and were invincible. Or at least he did - but that was a long time ago. As well as being part of the reason he left Hogwarts as for him it was all socialization since there was not much effort required for the classes and at the time he did not have the drive to teach himself.

Fredrick said " Laws the students either don't know or figure do not apply to them as they are kids. A starting point might be making them aware of the laws maybe a short presentation on the ministry and how it applies to you" Not that he really thought it would have much of an impact unless they slipped pepper up potion in the water prior as kids were kids and the normal bureaucrat would put him to sleep.

"That's a good Idea." Erin replied to Fredrick, jotting it down in her notes. "That's definitely an Idea to present to education." She smiled.

Rebecca nodded "Sounds reasonable"

Rebecca smiled at Fredrick and then nodded at his idea, then she turned to Erin

"But i've heard that education are a bit... nasty, but it might be a rumour" Rebecca looked worried, had she just started something which should be left alone?

"Not when you know their boss like I do, trust me. We have an In." Erin smiled and looked at her watch, seeing the time she said. "Ok guys let's take an hour for lunch, then we'll come back here and try to Iron this out some more."

Later:
Erin walked back into the office at lunchtime, having purchased some starbucks coffee beans and a better coffeemaker, she had it set up and brewing a fresh fragrant pot of coffee.

Rebecca strolled back into the office and smelt the coffee she sat down at her desk thinking 'Coffee? yuck! hate the smell!! oh well, just get on with it' "Good afternoon Erin, good lunch?"

"Yes, it was quite nice, I had a lunch date." Erin said softly, thinking about Forrester and wondering how he was doing with that Warehouse sting.

Brianna walked into the office and looked for Miss O'Connor. She held the meeting request in her hand. Spotting her, she walked over to her, "You wanted a meeting? Is now a good time, or shall I come back later?" She was curious about this meeting, and had absolutely no idea why it was being requested.

"Good, i'm glad you had a good lunch" Rebecca smiled "So... are we still coming up with ideas for the Hogwarts situation?" Rebecca then smiled at the Lady who had just walked in

Fredrick arrived a bit late back from lunch. The paperpushers otherwise known as his mothers coworkers were commenting on his hair. Apparently the cut he had was not the style here in england. Either that or they had no idea what fashion even was as his hair was neat and tidy.

The meeting was already in full swing but if Rebecca was asking about if they were still asking about ideas for babysitting methods he knew he missed nothing. He was not a paperpusher and he would not become one. He preferred babysitting to paper handling.

Fredrick said " Sorry if I am a bit late. The search for decent coffee was harder then expected. " Placing a bag of decent beans on the table next to the office coffee machine. After all if he was going to have to worry about babysitting kids he needed something a bit stronger then the slop that was previously in the machine. Fredrick added as he took a seat " So babysitting detail we could always cast something on there wands a charm of sorts that reports back anything they cast. I am sure the paper pushers downstairs would enjoy looking over the list of nonsense they sputter while wand waving"

"Yes I did, Erin asked, escorting the young lady into her office. "It seems that my team and yours are working on a similar project at the moment, my superiors are concerned that some of these new spells could be very dangerous and hurt the students."

Brianna compressed her mouth into a grim line, "Yes, the illegal use of charms before approval at Hogwarts does concern me. We've been receiving reports requesting charms approved, but I know that for every one we receive, there are ten that are tried out without proper authorization." She crossed her arms and turned to face the other woman. "Do you have any suggestions or ideas about how to limit or eradicate these attempts?"

"That is what we're working on here, we have a meeting with Education later this week to discuss ideas.

Brianna nodded, "I am glad that you called me in on this. Maybe if there were Ministry personnel staffed at the school?..." She trailed off, not wanting the Ministry to really interfere with running the school, but not really knowing what else they could do. "Or if there was a way to track which spells students performed at Hogwarts? Like leaving the trace on them, but allowing certain types of spells to pass, but others trigger the system?" Brianna wasn't really sure about these, her expertise was in making sure that the charms were safe for use, and testing them, not really in the law making category. "Is that the kind of input you need for the meeting, or am I going on the wrong track?"

"That sounds good actually. One of my employees suggested monitoring the wands of the students." Etin jotted some notes down on a notepad, "What's your opinion of that?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by DalekDeatheater

"That sounds good actually. One of my employees suggested monitoring the wands of the students." Etin jotted some notes down on a notepad, "What's your opinion of that?"

"If the situation warranted it, then I think it would be a good idea, just for their safety. Spells that are dangerous, or new and haven't been tested, shouldn't be used by underage students until they've gone through the proper procedures in our approval program. If they've already been approved, but are still not appropriate for underage witches and wizards, then they shouldn't be used, but as of right now, I don't believe there is a way to determine if a student has cast a spell that is too dangerous, is there?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but there has got to be something." Erin replied. "I think the trace may be our best option." Erin tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

Brianna nodded, "I think you may be right. It appears to be one of the few ways to make certain that the students are safe without completely interfering with the way Hogwarts functions. We're not here to make life harder on the Professors and staff, just to make certain that everyone is safe." She paused, then added, "Did something major happen that is causing this to be such an issue now? Or is it just the adding up of problems over the years?"