"Do you know anything about Gobstones?" Rex asked as the employees around him were trying to salvage whatever they could thanks to the utter destruction caused by Mr. Fletcher. The paper he held in his hands was suddenly crushed into a tight ball and he tossed it onto a the remains of a desk.

Um what? Of course he did .... why else did he work in the Gobstones division?! But there was something about the way his boss was asking that suggested something more to the question. Like this was just the precluding that could be the start or end of everything.

"Idoworkhere," Dom mumbled, barely audible, before clearing his throat. "I know the game. How to play it and all that. What's wrong, sir?" Because something was wrong; even as insensitive as Dominic was to others, he still knew that much.

"Tom quit, so it now looks like you're my go-to man when it comes to Gobstones. After this mess is cleaned up, we need to discuss organizing a possible tournament." He was all business in the midst of the disaster.

"I know you've got ideas, Denton, because you weren't afraid to speak up during the meeting. I admire that."

A pause.

"And look at what that moron did to the division's hard work," Rex said as he nudged a pile of ashes that used to be the the club schedules. "Salvage what you can before the cleaning crew arrives. In the morning, perhaps you and a few other Gobstones workers can put your noggins together and figure out the schedule for the club tournament play."

He then turned to address the rest of the department. "Salvage what you can - box it, label it. The cleaning crew will be here in a few hours."

Walking over to a few desks of people who were not currently in the room, and belonged to his own division Skander attempted to salvage work related material. Personal things would need to be left alone of course but the files he recognised he picked up and organised into piles. He needed to make sure everything was there, that he'd be able to find what he wanted when he wanted it. But he'd need help.

"Quidditch employees, I want you to organise work related work into two piles on your desk. One pile is everything related to the scandal we were investigating and the other with work related to setting up matches and publicity." Hopefully they'd listen to him since he'd raised his voice so they would have had to have heard him.

Finishing off her desk Rosabelle moved on to the desk of a fellow co-worker and didn't know where to begin. It was one of the greater burned ones and she sighed. Stress, stress, stress, and NO coffee. This just wasn't her day. Pulling out her wand she silently continued to work around the burned area saving what was able to be saved.

Either he was hearing things or he'd just been promoted? Being the egotist though that Dominic it was, it didn't matter if he was promoted or not. It was the fact that he was the Department Head's go-to man for Gobstones. That was enough for now. The fact of why Tom quit didn't even phase Dominic, nor did he care.

But he was still flattered, nonetheless.

"That's fabulous. Planning a tournament.... yes... Should I arrange an appointment in your office to discuss logistics of the planning?" Or about a pay raise? Dom mentally added. "Sounds fine ... " he trailed off, glancing at the pile of ashes Rex had nudged. Nothing look salvageable to him.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Should we arrange to come in early?" Early to work . . . early to leave . . . hopefully!

Herod finally got his cubicle in order. He sat down and started right into his "Needing to be Reviewed" box. The Padded Pants patent request had so much wrong with it. After listing several revisions writing the inventor a letter, waving his wand, making a copy, and sending it to the Owl Room, he put the file in the Completed pile and moved on.......

Finally aftter all these months on that one patent, it was good to get back to life as normal.

Rex nodded. "We'll discuss your ideas once the level is back to normal."

He didn't have to elaborate about what he meant by normal - it was obvious to all that the conference and work areas would have to be completely redone thanks to the destruction caused by one irate Mr. Thatcher.


One month later....

The entire work area looked as if nothing had happened. New desks were arranged inside of each brand new cubicle. The lighting and floors had been replaced as well as a few of the glass walls. Even new filing cabinets were purchased to house the numerous department files.

Rex walked around the work areas and poked his head into the cubicles to see what the employees were working on.

So far, so good.

Dominic was exhausted. Which is why he came to work that day dragging is feet in the door - perhaps a minute or two late - with two cups of coffee in hand. The past month of cleanup had been one of the most draining times ever.

But at least all the major cleanup was behind him and now to work on something new and fresh ... the upcoming Gobstones Tournament.

Now where was Mr Vindictus to give him one of these coffees, because Dom was sure that his boss was going to need it as much as he did?

Rex could smell the coffee as it wafted through his open office door. He poked his head out and saw it was Denton. He looks like he needs a few more hours of sleep. Ah, he's got two cups of coffee - probably brought that second one for one of the ladies.

"G'morning, Dominic," he greeted the man as he entered the work area.

Oh there was his boss; was he supposed to call him Mr Vindictus? Mr Rex? Boss man? Honestly, Dominic had NO idea . . . his professors had been easy, because he just called them ... well, professor.

"Morning, sir," Dom replied back, remembering then he'd gotten a coffee for him. "Got you a coffee... figured you would need it." If he needed one, then his boss undoubtedly needed one. He held it out for him to hopefully accept; if not, he'd just drink two?

Rosabelle walked in, cup of coffee in hand. She found her cubicle and sat down. The past month had been well exhausting in a way. At least her cubicle was normal like again, minus the picture she wasn't able to replace. Looking at the pile of papers on her desk she sighed, there was a lot of stuff to do still. She took a sip of her coffee and got to work humming quietly to herself.

Skandar practically ran through the ministry to get to level seven and when he did arrive he had to take a short break to get his breath back. Sure he was fit but even he had his limits. But he was late. Very late. Compared to usual anyway. For most people he would be only a few minutes late for work. Oops.

Walking in when his breath had returned, and after making sure he looked neat enough to not look like he'd ran practically the whole way to work, Skander looked around and was almost happy to see none of his own division was there. Almost being the key word because really Skander wasn't happy about it but it meant that his tardiness could be overlooked. Slightly. On his part anyway. Especially if you considered how hard everyone had been working for the past month and how basically every project had to be put on hold. Which was okay for him since the investigation his team had been doing had been at a standstill anyway, what with the suspect fleeing the country and them not being able to get him back yet.

"Thanks, Dom. I was just about to walk down to the break room and grab a cup for myself," Rex replied as he graciously accepted the coffee.

It was early and there was no immediate need to start talking business. Well, maybe after he finished his first cup of coffee.

As he took a sip, he noticed Skander running into the office. "Is something wrong, Skander?"

Straightening up slightly as Rex spoke to him he shook his head slightly before answering verbally. "Of course not boss. Just busy is all," which Rex already knew what with having overseen the clean-up of three divisions. "And now that everything in the division is cleaned up I need to go through the backlog of things I've been sent in the past month and reply to them." which would take awhile since he'd been ignoring his own paperwork in favour of helping the other employees sort out their work.

"Good, good, good! Everyone keep busy while I'm off to the Minister's office for a meeting of sorts," Rex called out to everyone. It was obvious from the lack of enthusiasm in his voice that he didn't particularly like attending meetings with the Minister.

Normally, he would take his time leaving the work areas but not today - the note said 'immediately' much to his dismay. Soon his retreating back vanished as he entered the level 7 lift and the doors closed.

Sighing with the most frustration she ever felt Rosabelle slammed the file down on her desk. Rubber bands with shapes had already been invented. And gum that changed flavors was already done. Why couldn't people be more, creative. "Uhhhhh," she said groaning into the open air. She placed her head on her desk the auburn curls falling in front of her.

Edward sat at his desk and did paper work.we did i have do this everyday and go on raw every monday man this is hard life.he took out a book will this book is really boring.

This was hard. Skander hadn't realised just how much had piled up in the time it took to sort out everything over the past few months. Now it seemed that his in-pile was overflowing, and quite a few things required a response within the next few days. This was truly hell. He should have focused more on this stuff than on helping his employees but he felt bad abandoning them to sort everything out themselves. He really needed a holiday...

Sighing Skander quickly worked out what needed an immediate response and settled down to read, and write back. He hadn't even had his morning coffee yet and it looked as if he wouldn't be. And on top of that not one of his own employees had arrived yet!

Rex was expecting to return with glorious news and tales from the European Cup but that expectation was destroyed thanks to a major disaster.

A magical disaster that no one in the United Kingdom had yet heard about. Yet.

He burst into the work areas like a hurricane and saw the employees leisurely at work. They had no idea that the disaster in Russia was going to have severe implications on their lives.

"Everyone! Gather around - I have some important news," he called out loudly and waited for the employees to stop what they were doing.

Skidding to a halt just outside the work area, Dominic straightened his Ministry robes and eyed himself in the glass. Okay, so he was late for work, but at least he arrived in style, right?

Hearing his boss just inside, calling everyone over, the twenty year old wizard realized now was a good time to enter... No one would notice he had been missing for the first hour of the work day and he'd play it off like he was running some morning errands. MMHM!

Door opening slowly, Dom slid inside and approached his boss. Nothing like arriving in time for a morning meeting - AND important news too!! This was awesome!

Stepping off the elevator, Damon made his way to Department of Magical Games and Sports work areas. He was knew he was late, thanks to his stupid alarm clock. He definitely need a new one, he made a note to buy himself a new alarm today. When he was arrived at the work areas, he heard his Department Head calling all every one over. He walked towards where his boss was standing. 'Wonder what's going on?' he thought.

Herod walked over from his desk. As he walked, he flicked his wand and made the files on his desk disappear. "Yes?" he asked as he approached and took a seat around the group the had congregated.

The employees slowly stopped working and some began to gather around him. "I've returned early from the European Cup in Novgorod with distressing news," Rex solemnly began. "The wards on the stadium failed during the first quarterfinal match of the day. Muggles were in the vicinity and, ahem, well they saw everything."

He stopped and hoped that the magnitude of the disaster would sink in.

Alina had emerged from her office at Rex's calling, holding a mug of tea in her hands. She looked at him and around the office curiously, wondering what this was about.

...she didn't have to wait long...

What?! She spluttered on the tea she'd just got to drink, and probably managed to spit some back out too. Putting her tea down on a nearby desk, she patted round her mouth with a tissue, a look between shock and distain on her face.

"You mean to say that at one of the biggest Quidditch tournaments in the world, security lapsed...and Muggles have seen us flying? One of our biggest secrets?" She shook her head. "That's..." A disaster, that's what it was. "Tell me it's not as awful as it sounds..."