Heels weren't Tasha's best friend at the moment, soon enough they will be able to sit down, thank goodness she was able to use her husband to help her walk. She looked around as Gavin spoke "They sure do, this defiantly does not make up for putting me in shackles though." as she said this she saw Armen. not her Favorite person in the world, they use to be friends and he had not apologized yet, even though she was kind of in the ministers good books right now ish "do you know if Sam is coming?" she asked, she hasn't seen him in for ever.

Oh dear! Was she running just a tad behind schedule?

Clutching her small white purse, Abigail speed walked - a proper lady never ran - to the entrance hall hoping that she wasn't the last to arrive. It was so very unlike her to not be at least an hour early.

"Oh, how lovely," she exclaimed, taking note of all the decorations. "The British certainly know how to put on a show now, don't they?" Which is what she had simply been bursting at the seams when she had been asked to go and speak on behalf of the American Ministry. She adored being in England especially, considering she had spent a large part of her childhood here, and it had been far too long since she had been back.

Spinning around elegantly on her heels, Abigail reached into her bag to quadruple check for her note cards containing her all important speech.

'Deep breaths Inez, you can do this!'

The woman quickly made her way across the tiled floor of the Atrium that led to the entrance of the Ministry Ball that she was going to be honored at...infront of the entire British Ministry. That was just mind-blowing. She had been sitting in her tiny apartment just the other day when she recieved Minister Greingoth's owl offering her a position here after some huge fiasco.

Now she was here, in a ball gown, a babysitter at home, and about to be introuduced to a huge group of people she had never met. So she was a tad nervous.

Once she entered the room the woman pushed a strand of her dark hari behind her ear and looked about the large hall that led them into what was no doubt going to an even more lavishly decorated Ballroom. When she was admiring the large tapestry like decorations that went up the walls on either side of where the guests were walking she sort of bumped into a woman who had seemed to stop and was fumbling through her purse.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention, are you alright?" he said quickly looking over the woman who she hopefully hadn't harmed.

She smirked and slapped his chest.

... Oooooo

... Manly.

Guess sports does that to a man... Her husband was manly too... but in a more... soft... rolley kind of way.

"Rex..." She said wanting to scold the man for teasing the former Department Head... Yes, he had every right. Still. It was just good manners.

She took a glass of champagne from the man and said "Thank you Armen," but as she began drinking from the flute, she heard Armen tell Rex he was all hot air... que spit-take.


Hecate Lafay walked in her gray/blueish dress. It had been a gift from her Fiance and it looked absolutely phenomenal, so she was looking to make sure no one spilled...

... Or in this case... spat on her dress. Thank Merlin, she was fast. A quick blocking spell and the offending champagne was rejected to the spitter. "You. Stay away from me."

... Idiotic old bimbo. Really. And she was with a younger man. How Tacky could someone get. And she left looking for her Fiance.


Gina looked at Hecate and then at Rex, and then at Hecate again, and then at Rex and Armen.

"Well isn't she the life of the party." What a horrible woman! It was just a little champagne. "Merlin's Beard! Who is she?"

Sam was running a tad bit late due to the fact that his babysitter had arrived ten minutes late. UGH, teenagers. What do you do with them?!

After straightening up his hair and fixing his tie, the Human Resource Officer made his way into the entrance hall. He wouldn't exactly say he's hasn't been in here in a while but he has taken days off here and there since Danyelle has recently been sick and Gemma had to work. For the days he's taken off, it made him feel like a stranger to these parts of town.

He stood in 'awe' now at the decorations. If only some were orange.

"Ah, I see. Very interesting...good to know that's the Minister's approach to things, I suppose," Gabi said as she twirled the straw in her drink. Note to self--don't get on the Minister's bad side. She was not about to see any bow ties or serving trays in her future.

"Me?" she chuckled. She felt like she'd talked about herself so much in the fast few weeks, but that had been only natural since this was a new job, in a new place, with all new acquiantences. "I'm on Level Three, Accidents and Catastrophes. I'm on the Experimental Charms committee," she explained with a smile. "Just transferred here from Germany a few weeks ago," she added.

For kneazle's sake! Why did she always have to have so many things in her bag. There was her handkerchief for using after the wash, another handkerchief for when she sneezed, yet another for when she simply needed to fan herself, her ornate hand mirror for all occasions... A lady had to be prepared for all sorts of situations.

Her eyes twinkled as she found the pesky note cards and she removed them from her bag to count them and make sure that they were all there and in proper order when someone bumped her from behind, causing her to shriek in fright and throw the note cards up in the air.

"Oh dear oh my!" she exclaimed as they came fluttering down to the ground. "Quite alright dear, quite alright. We all make mistakes, but one must always keep both eyes forward now, something to remember."

Now...to attempt to reassemble her speech. Why did she have to mistake her appartion location so many times?

Alexander Greingoth approached the large, oak doors of the entrance hall with a confident stride in his step. This was his night, and no, not because he'd recently been named Minister. It was his night, because he had, in his opinion, the most beautiful date at the ball. It sounded like such a mushy thing to say, and she'd tell him so if she could hear him now, but he couldn't help thinking how much he really loved his fiancee.

Speaking of which, she should be in there already, and with that thought in mind, he pushed open the doors and stepped inside the entrance hall. He nodded to a few people standing around. Most were busy, so he opted not to interrupt them, but he'd make the rounds and catch up later on. He passed a smile to Gina Latorta, who looked happier than ever, then left to see if he could find his date.

Ah yes...that incident.

A scene in this very atrium he had heard about and seen the outcome of that left his wife shackled and one of his best friends with a broken back. "Very little if anything could make up for that," he remarked having felt bad at the time of its occurance, the man giving her hand a supportive squeeze.

"I have no idea," he answered truthfully, the man having seemed to have vanished for the most part seeing as they hadn't spoke in a bit. He glanced around for any familiar faces such as the man in question, only spotting a few department heads not his own and a new employee from level 3. Seeing the flow of people start to move into the main room, he was about to lead them in, turning back to Tasha just in time to see Sam walk in.

"Well hello stranger," Gavin said with a light smirk, gently turning himself and Tasha around so she could see as well.

Hecate turned and saw the new Minister of Magic. She held out her hand to the man and smiled.

"You're welcome Gina." he said smally again. He stillf elt horrible about the way Lord Borr had treated the woman he had been good friends with before he had rejoined the Cult. He wanted to appologize to her pretty badly but it would be very embarrassing to do infront of Rex.

Before he could speak another word though, it was as if the lights in the room dimmed and one could here a whistle of eerie wind outside the building as a dark haired woman entered Hecate Lafay. Armen needed to talk with this woman later, they hadn't really spoken since Borr had taken power and he wanted to catch up with her. Recard was a tad bit jealous she wasn't caught for her shady dealings.

"Oh that's Hecate Lafay, Potions master at Hogwarts." Yeah he knew her and she was a dark woman for sure. "So how have things been for you Gina?" he asked changing the subject.
Yes, well if more people new how the man really acted perhaps he wouldn't be in his spot for long. But he was there for now and Armen needed to sort of get back in his good graces it would seem in order to have his old position back.

"Yes you, it does grow old talking of work all the time I would say." he nodded, somewhat curious to hear about her. "Oh ok, I believe you have a newer Department Head down in Accidents. I haven't met them yet but I hear they are quite nice." he said trying not to let slip that he was once their collegue.

"Oh and Berlin is nice. I've been there twice before on business. I'm originally from France but I went to Hogwarts and stayed here in London afterwards." he nodded. He would have returned to France had it not been for all the people he had met in Britain.

Then the 'Man of the Hour' had decided to grace them all with his presence.

Armen walked over to the man, tray in hand and stopped close to him as he made his way across the entrance hall. "A drink Minister?" he held the tray out, using all the will power he could muster not to dump its contents on the man's head.

What a headline that would make...

Samuel had been staring up at the decorations when he heard a familiar voice. His blue eyes turned towards the direction at which he heard... GAVIN! Oh my. He was growing OLDer. It felt like forever since he's seen Gavin or Tasha! Had it been since the wedding? Quite possibly. Though, he did occasionally see Tasha when he did come to work.

"Gavin!" He exclaimed with a grin. "I haven't spoke to you in ages. How have you been?" He gave his pal a friendly hug before turning to Tasha while saying, "And Mrs. McNally, you look dashing tonight."

Oh this was just perfect. She hadn't been in the Ministry for more than a few seconds and she was already knocking into other people--it was like ballet lessons as a child all over again.

Inez quickly bent over and handed the remaining notecards back to the woman she had so uncerimoniously ran into. "Yes ma'am I will be sure to watch where I am going from now on. It's just I haven't been here before and the decorations here tonight are just breath-taking." she said nervously awaiting to hear how the woman reacted.

She looked pretty important and the last thing Inez needed was to be fired on her first night here before she even started working.

"Yes, she is nice, and I hear she's new...hopefully not inexperienced," Gabi grumbled, taking a sip of her drink. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was incompetent people in charge. She hadn't had much chance to see what this woman had to bring to the table but if she didn't start showing some real star power soon, Gabi would turn sour veryyy quickly.

Gabi smiled as he started to explain his history and found that it was very similar to hers. "I myself am not a native of England...I was born in Germany and lived here while attending Hogwarts too. I was a Slytherin," she added rather proudly. She'd heard the Minister was ALSO a Slytherin. That should give her points in his book, yes? "And I lived in Germany for a few years after graduation until my husband...well, I moved back here after I was widowed," she explained.

Widow. She still hated that term. 29 year olds were NOT old widows.

Oh, look, there was the Minister himself! She wanted to run over and introduce herself right away, but he looked like he was looking for something and was preoccupied. Ah well. She had allll night. Once she tracked down Ian, that was, she wasn't about to go talk to him without someone else at her side to calm her nerves...

...and just when he attempted to walk forward and put a special eye out for his Potions Mistress, Alexander was stopped by Armen Recard, ex-Department Head and current Ministry Gopher. He grinned at the man and eyed his get-up. "You look nice, Recard," he said, patting the man on the back but remaining careful not to jostle the contents of the tray he was holding. "You know, I don't mind if I do," he said, and then he took two off the tray. "One for the lady, as well." He raised one of the glasses then took a sip from it. "Have a good night, Recard."

...and that's when he saw her.

He smiled widely and moved both drinks to one hand, balancing them between some of his fingers so they wouldn't fall. He took her outstretched hand and placed a soft kiss on the top of it. Then we he rose, he used her outstretched hand to pull her a little closer. "Gorgeous," he said, making a show of eyeing her ensemble. "Just as always."

He adjusted his position a bit and passed her one of the drinks. "Compliments of Recard," he said, nodding toward the waiter, "our server tonight."

"On the contrary, Armen," Rex replied smoothly and he watched how the man casually chatted with several of the female guests. "You might want to focus on your new job tonight."

When Gina made the comment about the woman, he looked at her and shook his head. "I have no clue who that woman is. She acts as if she owns this room . . . ah, look - Alexander has just arrived!"

Rex raised a glass in Alexander's direction and nodded - a glass that someone had placed in his hand (or so he thought). Then he saw that the horrid woman (Gina's words) was actually with Greingoth. "Well, I think we know who she's with but who she actually is, I really don't care."

Tasha was still looking around at the decorations and even though it saddened her she had to agree that this place looked great. Gavin snapped her out of her day dream and she was being spun around. "Stranger?" she thought while look at Sam! oh it was Sam, she held her composure for she didn't want to jump on him yet, she let her husband and her best friend talk.

Tasha couldn't help but laugh and blush at the same time when he called her Mrs. McNally, "Oh Sam" she squealed and jumped at him, it was only a matter of time before she hugged her best friend. "Its soo good to see you, I barely see you in the office any more and you need to bring the little cutie in to see her Aunty Tasha!" she said while finally letting the man go.

Smoothing down her dress she blushed at her husband and kind of giving him a look that said "My feet hurt and I would love to sit down" trying to smile through the pain of these shoes, oh why did I have to wear these things, as soon as she could take them off she would.

In a surprisingly airy laugh for someone her age, Abigail took her note cards from the woman and dusted them off with another handkerchief, sighing slightly as they were now all out of order. She would just have to head over to the seating area to sort this mess out. "They are quite splendid, much better than the ghastly decorates we had at a ball held at the American Ministry last month. Our Head of Magical Games and Sports thought that basing everything on old broom games would be in everyone's best interest." Which had been nothing short of a disaster and she had had to be the one to organize the clean up team.

Putting her cards back in her purse, Abigail noticed the presence of a very important individual indeed and quickly adjusted her pink suit and pearls.

"If you will excuse me for just a moment, my dear," she said as she headed over to the man and the frightful woman now on his arm. "Mr. Greingoth, I do hope I am not interrupting."

Rupert arrived in the entrance hall, feeling ready as ever! He was real excited about this, it sounded fun!

Appearing in the entrance hall, Gavin figured he'd better at least make an appearance. If he didn't see Katrina anywhere though he'd probably just go on home. He wasn't all that thrilled to be there especially all dressed up. It just wasn't his style. But considering it was for his workplace, he figured he'd better make an appearance. So here he is, uncomfortably dressed up and standing around doing nothing but looking around at the people.

Yes he knew some of them, and had met many of them during the incident at the fountain and at the picket line. But he wasn't one to stand around and chit chat either. Quietly standing off to the side, he stood there against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

With her silk scarf wrapped around her shoulders Kenzie stepped into the hall. It'd been a long time since she'd been in the Ministry, and not all of it was good memories either. Her eyes taking in everyone who was around her in the hall, she waited for Erik to appear. Knowing he wasn't too far behind her, she straightened her dress robes over her small bump that finally had started to show.

It'd been nice seeing Dan a few weeks before, but she'd not been able to talk Becca into coming to this. So she'd stayed home with Erik and Kenzie's son, with Brian. It was too bad, she'd kind of hoped to get to come. Though she could certainly understand.

Elizabeth walked into the room feeling a little self concious since the dress showed her huge baby bump a little bit. She wished that she had worn something that would of hid it better even though she was proud to be pregnant with a baby boy. Elizabeth saw someone from across the room that she reconizged. She walked up to him, "Good evening, Rupert." She smiled.


Elizabeth saw her boss and went up to her, "Good Evening Ms. Gina." She gave a pleasant smile and put her hand with her wedding band on her baby bump. She was a little worried about her boss, "How are you feeling?"


She looked at the waiter and recongized him from the task Ms. Gina sent her to do during the strike. He was the one who burnt the poster and yelled....... about how the workers should not join the strike. She looked away real quick though she doubt that he would recongized her since her baby bump had gotton a lot bigger and since she wasn't important.

"Oh, that sounds dreadful." she said sympathically to the older woman who seemed to be a tad nervous herself. Well at least they were both new to this place but it seemed that she was from much further away. "Oh you are from the American Ministry? I used to work at the German Ministry, I've just recently been offered a position here." she went on. She didn't mean to ramble but she was just glad the lady hadn't shouted at her.

"So so sorry of me, Inez Grey." she held out her slight arm to shake the woman's hand. Just as she did so, she was asked to hold on a minute as a clearly important man had entered and she needed to speak with him. Inez slowly followed her over to the guy, the woman he was standing with and the wiater that was standing there rather awkwardly with a grimace on his face.

Oh wait did she say Greingoth? That was the man who had hired her.

Gina nodded. That was a professor at the school? What was she doing here?. "Oh... things are marvelous now, what with Borr no longer in charge." She said and then realized, that was why Armen was serving drinks and not celebrating with them. "I hate to tell you I told you so Armen, but you rooted with the wrong team."

Hecate kept the smile on her face as her Fiance kissed her hand. "You are quite handsome yourself, Captain." She said moving closer to him. Alright. Now people were looking. And why was she surprised. She was the Minister of Magic's fiance... But it made her very nervous. "You don't have to leave me yet do you, Captain?" She didn't want to be alone yet.

She took the flute from her fiance, and was about to thank him when he said compliments of Recard...

... Armen Recard? She looked at the waiter, whom she usually would have ignored and that's exactly who that was. "Back to being an Arrand Boy, Recard?" She smirked. Maybe Alexander would allow her to use him for some deliveries... like old times.

"She's with the Minister..." it actually explained a lot. "I guess that means she does kind of own the place, huh..." she laughed and patted Rex on the back. "You are incorrigible, Rex! If only I was 30 years younger!"

Adele walked entered the room slowly, her hand entwined with her husband William's
"Well, this is it darling!" She smiled, looking up at her husband in complete adoration. Unbeknownst to him, or anyone else in the room, another heart, although it was a small one was beating inside of her. Another baby. Always something to be happy about....

She couldn't wait to tell her co-workers about it.... she could only hope that they would be excited for her.

Gavin couldn't help but smile as Sam caught sight of them as well once he had caught the younger man's attention. He let go of Tasha's arm long enough to return the friendly hug given to him by his former collegue and close friend. "I have been well...we have been well," he answered, giving a response for himself first before editing in case he was asking for both of them. Gah married over a year and he was still unsure at time what to do or say. "Still managing to survive the catastrophes."

He added his own touch of laughter as his wife reacted to Sam's words and very presence. Gavin grew nervous as she jumped at the man before managing to inwardly chide himself for his worry as he let them talk.

Mrs. McNally...Aunty Tasha...soon enough it would be another name but they had time on that and they hadn't wanted to jinx anything. Catching the look he was being given, not to mention the anxious behavior Tasha was discretely displaying, Gavin got the hint and moved to take her arm again. "Shall we move into the Hall?" he mused, motioning towards the open doors as he started to lead them both in that direction.