Millie had no idea what she was supposed to be doing; Artie would know exactly how to behave or what to say, but unfortunately she had lost her boss lady somewhere at the security checkpoint and so she was now on her own. Okay just remain calm ... relax ... Millie told herself, smiling to try and keep him interested.

Derrick? Hmm ... Holding out the opposite hand as him, she laughed as she awkwardly readjusted her plate into her other hand so they could shake hands. "Whoops... I'm Millie and ... I'm not always this .. .okay, that's a lie, I'm actually always awkward. I don't mean for it to happen, but it just does. And well yea , I'm totally rambling, like aren't I? But um anyway..." Brushing some loose brown hairs behind her ears. "Sorry about that. Um ... So where do you work?" Cause you know, she totally hasn't like ever seen him before.

So now he shook her hand, though if Derrick knew it would be somewhat of a struggle for her, he might have stuck with a simpler greeting. Millie... Kept talking, seeming like she was making excuses for how she was. However the more she rambled, the more Derrick had to hold back a chuckle because actually, it was quite cute. He gave a genuine smile instead of that laugh for he didn't want her thinking that he was laughing AT her. "Don't apologize, I've had a liking to people who were always awkward." He couldn't name any, but let's just say that Millie was now at the top of his list. "I.. Work for the Minister of Magic..... Personal Assistant." Yes, errand-runner, coffee-getter, phone-call-maker.... Maybe a bit embarrassing. "Do... You work for the Ministry?" That might be a Merlin sent gift if she did.

It was hard to read his expression. Best Medea could tell it was a mixture of embarrassment, uncomfortable, irritated and maybe some disappointment. The disappointment was either in himself, or that she didn’t kiss him she couldn’t tell. Nor did she care. Another one broke. Medea had a dark heart and truly enjoyed crushing people.

If she were a Muggle (Merlin forbid) it’d probably be suggested she visit some doctor named Phil and he’d tell her she wasn’t loved as a child and she had a deep rooted need for love and appreciation. Blah.blah.blah. She was happy the way she was. Bossing people around, calling the shots, scarring scaring boy-men. All in a good day’s work. If she were wearing suspenders (like she’d ever do that) she’d stick her thumbs in them and sigh with great content.

The boy-man mumbled and it caught her attention. ”Ya think so?” Medea smirked and tilted her head for a minute considering him. Her eyes questioned him. It was the first time she wasn’t inspecting his mannerisms and cautiously eyeing his every move but rather him. He was an attractive boy-man. Even though he had to be 10 years her junior. Looking back toward the vast tent full of people she continued, ”You know if you’re lucky I might allow you to buy me a drink.” Then she realized if there were a bar appeared it would be an open bar. Without looking his direction she continued, ”Or at the least I’d probably accept a drink from you if you brought it to me.” Medea, although desiring a drink badly, wouldn’t grant the boy-man the assurance she’d accept a drink from him.

Unknowingly she was wondering the same he was. Alcohol. She hadn’t had her daily allotment of firewhiskey. She had yet to see a bar let alone a bartender. How could this fat man expect them to wear these stupid blue shirts without a bartender? This was absurd. The fact was there could have been such a bartender in another part of the tent but she was not about to leave her post to find it. It wasn’t her job now anyways. She had just given that duty to boy-man. It was his mission, if he chose to accept it.

Par-TAY!

And a day off work with full pay. BOOYAH! Life couldn't get any more peachy.

Or.. maybe it could..

FREE FOOD!

Oliver made a b-line for the buffet table piled high with a delicious looking spread that made his eyes bulge. So he had no date for this shindig – Cameron had to work, but food was a pretty darn good substitute.

He grabbed a plate and began to pile a little bit of everything onto it.

This. Was. Awesome.

Lexi had lost Jakers somewhere along the buffet line as she was SEARCHING for candy and such. Mmmmm.

Wait... what the?

"OLIVER!!" she shouted as she spotted the former head boy. Hehehe.

She had been shoving goodies in her mouth as she went along so her hands were free to LAUNCH herself at the man for huggles. Mhm. Olipop gets big hugs!

Slumping against the wall, Mason stared ahead at all the party-goers who were having such a better time than he was. They were socializing, laughing and having a good time. Mason was being cruelly traumatized by a woman in the shadows who obviously enjoyed torturing men.

No one could beat that. No one would want to beat that.

But for some reason, Mason didn't want to leave this mad-brained woman. He had a feeling that if he did leave, his life would be so much more boring than it would be here. Lurking in the shadows. Next to a woman who was now analyzing him. He could tell. He glanced over at her as she was scanning him with her laser eyes. Mason quickly looked away and took a sip out of his water cup. Which was empty.

Okay, what?! Buy her a drink? Lucky? Those words did not mesh well together. Although Mason would do anything for a good drink right then, he had a feeling she was up to something. "There's no alcohol here. I already checked. Everywhere." Mason said dully. Plus, she probably just wanted to get him drunk so she could embarrass him even more. Which would definitely happen because Mason did not make a good drunk person. "But believe me, if I wasn't trying to make a good impression by being here, I'd be headed up the street towards the Leaky." Speaking of, when did this shin-dig get over? He was ready to leave. And get a drink.

He shoved one of his hands in his pocket and twirled his plastic cup in the other. This was truly boring. Leaving wasn't such a bad idea...

Medea could tell she had rattled the poor boy-man. He was attempting to drink from an empty cup. If she wasn’t so cold hearted she might have felt bad. She might have pitied him. But if she wasn’t so cold blooded she wouldn’t have done what she did in the first place.

Eh, that’ll teach him to talk to people. *shrug* Medea scanned the room again; it seemed a lot of people turned out. She wondered how many, like her, were only here to make an appearance. Her thoughts next were on the slob of a man her graced the front of the hideous shirt. Ugh, he was so icky.

The dark haired woman was truly surprised boy-man was still standing beside her. This was probably some sort of a record. Usually after Medea insults and embarrasses someone they split quicker than she could blink. Why was he still here? Surely he had friends that were waiting on him somewhere.

No alcohol?! Really?! Worst.Party.Ever.

Medea made a squished lip duck face as he spoke about there being no alcohol. This won’t do. ”Making a good impression? Eh. That’s what I’m here for.” She mumbled and crossed her arms. The sharp tongued woman had just gotten a new job in the Minister’s office and it would have looked horrible if she did show.

The boy-man droned on about something, blah blah… wait… was he asking her out? To the leaky? Medea turned to face him and leaned her shoulder on the wall. ”It’s been a while since I’ve accepted someone’s offer for a date. And it frankly you have some nerve asking me out.“ She paused and let that sink in. Her eyes narrowed.

Pulling herself off the wall she brandished her wand in one smooth motion and flicked it once. Instantly her blue shirt was replaced with a red shirt that donned black writing. It read ‘Black Widow’. Putting her hands on her hips she looked down at it and smiled. ”I have one with an actual spider on it, but I thought you might scream again.”

Waiting for a moment her hands remained on her hips she watched him twirl his cup; her expression changed, ”Well? Are we going or not?! I already said I’d let you buy me a drink, don’t make me reconsider. And seeing as though you’re here by yourself it’d do your reputation good to be seen with me.”

Mason could tell the dark-haired woman was wondering why in the name of Merlin's underwear he was still there. And honestly, he didn't know.

It didn't make any sense. Why was Mason still there? Why did he let this woman torture him so badly Why did he- Oh. Right. Because he didn't have any friends, that's why. Well, he did. Just not ones that worked in the Ministry. And still that was only like... Two. Not including his dog even. That's why he was still standing there. Because he would be utterly bored without this lady.

Mason nodded, understanding where she was coming from. Because really, if he wasn't trying to make a good impression, he would not be here. He would be at the Leaky. By himself, sure, but it was better than this dull party.

Looking at the dark-haired woman as she spoke, Mason was suddenly caught off gaurd. Date? Date?! Surely he must have heard her wrong. Well, no. Apparently they both had heard wrong. Because this woman thought he was asking her out on a date! Thinking back on what he had said to her... Meh, yeah he supposed that could have sounded like an invitation. But he didn't show any expression of shock. He believed that would be the worst thing to do. Just go with the flow. Or else she might... explode or something.

She told him he had nerve for asking her out on a date. Heh. Nerve, idiocy. Same thing, right? "Er, thank you." He mumbled, looking at her.

Suddenly, her shirt changed. Oh, black widow. Much better. Mason narrowed his eyes at her. Yeah, that was real nice. If Mason didn't believe it before, this woman was pure evil. Now she was just loving this! She was torturing him with all her spidey-ness and she knew it killed him. She was enjoying this far too much.

Oh. She was pushy too. He stood up straight off the wall. "Er, right, yeah." Mason pulled out his wand and, like she did, led her garbage to the trash can. And, like she did, waved his wand over his outfit to change it. He was now wearing a pair of dark slacks and a pale grey button-up shirt. No Black Widow. This woman, whose name he still didn't know, sure was full of herself. What was she, the Minister's assistant or something? Pff.

Mason tucked his wand away. "Alright, let's get out of here." He said and began to walk away from the wall. BUT, before he took a third step, he turned around and pointed his finger at the woman. "I did not scream. Little girls scream. That was a... yelp." He told her in a low voice before turning back around to exit the party. With a woman. A woman he was going on a date with. A woman whom he was scared of. Alcohol was a very very good idea.

Well he looked shocked that she accepted his date. It certainly couldn’t be that he was shocked at the fact that she thought he was asking her out. He better get it together because this was certainly for his benefit. Her brow line inched toward her hairline as he thanked her for saying he had nerve. This boy-man was certainly interesting. He didn’t have the courage to leave, or tell her no but he had the nerve to ask her out.

She smirked as his apparent disapproval of her shirt swept his face. ”Oh, you don’t like it?” Yea she had to say it. IF she ever brought him back to her flat for dinner she’d really enjoy showing him George, her pet black widow. Mwhahahah! But that was a large IF.

Suddenly he followed her lead. Well at least he was able to take a hint. Oh and he cleans up nice. Medea would never tell him that. ”Well, I suppose that’ll do.” She said it flat with no emotion. The woman didn’t want to show him her pleasure in his appearance, that wasn’t her style. Typically he wasn’t her style, typically she didn’t attempt boy-men. But eh, she was in a rut and needed something to spice up her life.

Of late her life had become slightly mundane. This person may be what shakes her life awake. At the very least he’s entertainment for tonight.

Finally he was leading her out of the party. ”Well a gentlemen would have offered me his arm.” She scoffed and scolded him. Not that she would have taken his arm; in fact she would have found it offensive he offered it. But she couldn’t miss an opportunity to make him feel awful. *sneer*

Suddenly he turned and corrected her description of the sound that emitted from his mouth. ”You know, it’s not polite to correct a lady…” ok, she can’t even keep a straight face and say that. A smirk spread across her face. ”Yes it was a ….” dramatic pause and giggle, ”a… yelp.”

She followed him out of the party and out onto the street.

Reaching the buffet, he sort of just stopped and stared at the spread on the table. Nothing appealed to him. Heck, his mind wasn't even on the topic of food. Not unless replaying the memory of Arya and her bean choice counted. He didn't think it did.

With a heavy frown and hands tucked deep in his pockets, he moved slowly around the tables, trying to think of something other than the past few minutes. He couldn't have agreed with Lexi more; he wanted to get out of here. Quickly. But more than that, he wanted to fix whatever had been broken between him and Arya. He couldn't quite understand how in the span of two minutes they went from being okay to not speaking. It had him in enough of a wound up state and of a mind to knock half the decorations off the table. If he threw fits. Thank Merlin he didn't.

So he would stare at them blankly. Hopefully it looked like he was admiring them.

Anita was kind of in her own world... those poor POOR children. Being treated that way. It made her heart hurt. And those were SUCH brave little ones.

OH! Speaking of which.

Oh he looked DOWN. Only one thing that could fix that. Anita dug through her hand bag and pulled out a hand full of individually wrapped truffles and strolled over to the boy. Stepping up right beside him she kind of bumped him with her shoulder and said in a soft, pleasant tone, "You guys really took it hard up there, huh? Hi. I'm Anita Forrester, the assistant at Sugarplums. Here, you look like you need these." She thrust the white chocolate truffles toward him and smiled sweetly.

Candy fixes everything.

The bump to his shoulder had him jumping out of his thoughts; nearly out of his skin too. For a moment he expected to look up and see the face of that man that had bumped him at the seating area, the grating gleam of something hidden and sinister and all around creepy. It was quite the contrast then, for his eyes to fall on a rather pleasant looking woman who seemed honest in all her expression and even her offering.

A few slow blinks had him processing her words, looking first from her then down to the truffles and then back to her, along with a slow shake of his head. "I'm...no I'm fine thank you." Wait, introductions, right? "Miss. Forrester." Should he shake her hand. Oh, but she was holding truffles. Not a good idea. Perhaps a bow of the head instead. Yes, that worked. "Pleasure to meet you. And thank you for your..." Sympathies? Interest? "Thank you."

Oh he was a jumpy one wasn't he? Goodness gracious! It caused Anita to start slightly and look over her shoulder for the cause of the fright...before she realized it was her. Oh. Hehehe. Idiot.

"Oh no. I truly insist. Chocolate makes everything better, seriously. I have plenty... I make them after all," she INSISTED as she nodded her head reassuringly at him to TAKE THE CANDY, boy!

Miss. Why was it ALWAYS Miss? Anita pursed her lips for a slight second before smiling bright once more. "Ms. Forrester would be the proper, but please, call me Anita. And you are very welcome. You all were LOVELY and that man... he is just disgusting," she said in a scathing tone at the last.

Still holding the truffles she stepped a bit to the side to grab a napkin to wrap them in or something so he could shove them in his pocket she snaged her heel and did a little side step to regain her balance. GAH! Blushing slightly she looked at the man child and laugh a tinkling little laugh. "Broke three pair of shoes of my first week here... makes no sense to me how I do it."

One thing was for sure, this woman was a startling contrast to the silence he thought was going to have.

Protesting against not taking the chocolate was pretty much completely pointless, especially as she took it upon herself to stuff it in his pocket. An act which had his arms jumping up to his sides in surprise and ignorance of what she was doing. Thankfully, that made it easy for him to reach out and grab her arm when she did a trip-stumble.

Really, maybe if she took a moment for a breather between walking, talking and insisting, she wouldn't have broke those heels. Not that he could say that. "Pity." Was that polite enough? Hopefully.

Digging his hand in his pocket, he made to retrieve the chocolates. "Ms. Forrester, I really must protest...it's really kind of you but...they'll melt."

Daphne had gotten such a shock when she saw Borr show up. Honestly, he was still calling himself a Lord? It was such a ludicrous thing to do. As if ordinary Muggle titles meant anything in the Wizarding World. He was beyond help, that one. She had been thankful, however, for the seats having been placed farther than the press box and even the Hogwarts students' seating. This way she was spared from most of the man's terrible stench. He hadn't managed to fix his gas problem it seemed. It was terrible.

It wasn't as terrible as seeing her friend, Sabel Dakest, sing in front of everyone. The poor boy wasn't even that talented. Daphne had cringed sympathetically while he sang. In fact, she had clapped until her palms itched and turned red. She had lost sight of him when he disappeared amongst the students. Now that Borr had lost any interest he held before--which was almost non-existent when it came to Daphne Hopton, the young woman was willing to pay attention to what some would consider a vice: food.

She had removed her ample backside from the seat she had been on for a solid hour to walk towards the buffet table. The party had grown even more crowded and due to her short stature she unavoidably bumped into more people with her hips; in other occasions she had been nearly run over, a small apology delivered to the crown of her blond head. Nobody had any respect for those a smidgen shorter than average. Nobody!

Daphne stabbed a cheese cube with a toothpick. She glanced over her shoulder at the other buffet table err visitors, popping the cheddar cube into her mouth. Sabel Dakest was busily chatting up an older lady--or being chatted up. Daphne couldn't really tell.

He was so popular. Daphne tried to hide her sly smile from him. It wasn't working very well so she merely stabbed another cheese cube with the toothpick in her hand and waved it at Sabel from a distance.

Then she ate it. Because that was why she was there for after all.

Pity? They were fabulous shoes... heels broken off of them all. Of course one of those heel breaking moments landed her a date with a lovely Groundskeeper so she didn't mind that ONE. Okay... focus, Anita.

o____O

He was STILL refusing her chocolate? And calling her Ms. Forrester? Anita's eye twitched slightly and her smile faltered just a tad. "They most certainly will not melt. And it is kind of rude to refuse a gift as such. And again call me Anita. Not Ms. Forrester. That makes me sound like an old lady," she pointed out. And she totally was NOT old. Yet.

Shaking her head slightly she looked back over her shoulder and then back to the boy. "Was that your Headmaster up there with you lot?" Anita asked with a tone of curiosity clear and present. He was smoking hot. Rawrr. Focus... FOCUS.

He was slightly distracted from the strange woman by a waving cheese cube behind her. A startled blink had him recognizing its holder as Daphne and ... why was she smiling at him like that?

Shaking his head a tad, he raised his hand to give it a wave back, realizing a little too late that it was the same hand holding the chocolate. And the woman seemed to have a sudden twitchy disposition in regard to the refusal of that chocolate. So now what did it look like? He was waving it around for emphasis on refusal?

Wincing, he snapped the package down again and behind his back, bobbing his head a little. "Didn't meant to be rude." Though really, receiving chocolate from a stranger on such a sudden notice, kinda sketchy.

But the questionableness of the intention of the chocolate was quickly lost with the woman's next question; one that had his back straightening and his shoulder's squaring. He was pretty sure there was a warning gleam to his eye as a slight frown touched his brow. "It was." If she dare thought of providing another insult towards the man, all sense and manner of decorum wouldn't matter. He was tired of hearing it and he wouldn't stand to hear it again.

Ali walked up to the table with the food. She hadn't eaten anything yet she'd stocked up on coffee, drinks, water, all things of the sort - but no food yet. Looking at everything she wondered what to get.

Smiled at the people around her, and looking up she turned - and noticed something, well someone she knew by security. Ooof - she looked down at her dress and hoped she wouldn't trip or anything when she actually saw him - and you know talked.

She'd wait, see if he remembered the crazy upside-down girl.

Ooh-god. He was gorgeous snoggable - she had to turn away. Staring is not right. She grabbed a roll and placed it on her plate as well as small bit of salad, she needed something more substantial...but not something messy. Messy wasn't good with her - it made her look like a slob since she was named Clumsiest Girl at Beauxbaton - not hard to be. When not-that-coordinated that is.

She breathed, calming her nerves since when had just seeing someone she thought she knew made her this - blushy? She pondered. Piling some shepards pie, a bit of some other meat she couldn't tell what it was - probably corned beef but it was....so she couldn't describe it - it smelled amazing.

With all the time he'd spent in security, Xander had surprisingly worked up an appetite. That and a healthy appreciation for wizarding clothing. The Muggle shirt was quite hideous, even if it was magically...enhanced.

Once at the buffet, he realized he would have to make sure to stick to food that didn't completely foul up his breath; This was a function in which one should speak to as many people as possible. Networking, to be precise. it was entirely important and necessary in his new line of work.

Walking around the tables once, he finally decided that cheese and crackers would not be the worst choice. He added a few different ones and then proceeded to scan the room. He was trying to pinpoint the people who looked the most worthy of his attention and as usual, about ninety percent of them were female.

Old habits died hard, he supposed as he came up behind the voluminous and blond girl who was waving at someone. His gaze followed the general direction of her wave and after a few moments he deduced that he did not care who she was waving at. He just cared about finding out who she was." Are you waving hello or goodbye?" Xander inquired of the young woman, leaning over a bit to speak to her. He sounded amused, although not enough to be patronizingly so.

It hadn't even occurred to Aliceara that Milton would have taken her comment about the salad seriously, but as she watched him examine his plate sadly, it seemed to tell her otherwise. The guilt was there, but she merely assuaged it by popping an olive into her mouth much like he had his tomato. And then smiled as he spoke. "There you go," she replied, letting her guilt over making him worry melt away again. She hadn't truly thought the salad would have been bad, even if she hadn't chosen to have some herself. Maybe later.

Her blue eyes focused on him again as he replied to her comment about turnover and the summers. It seemed something had made him silent again, which was intriguing. The assistants, perhaps? She hadn't had one recently, and that had made her respect those who also dealt with the student rush on their own. But before she coudl formulate an answer to his one-word statement, he'd moved on and she smiled again. "A potioneer, hmm? Perhaps you've met my father then. He tends to deal in potions and the like. Alexander Ravenswood?," she replied, only half expecting him to respond in the affirmative. He hadn't acted like he'd recognized her surname earlier at least. "Using your hobbies to improve your shop is always a good thing. I tend to use some of my free time to design and create new merchandise for my own, as well," she added, a bit stymied by how to respond to his turning the question back on herself.

She thought she'd answered that pretty well, but it only covered the smallest portion of what she did when she wasn't working at Madame Malkin's. Of course, that was rare anyhow. "Other than that, I get around. Still dabble in what I did before I bought the robe shop," she answered vaguely. If people didn't recognize her beyond being a shopkeeper, she wasn't going to force the matter. Even if she wasn't quite hiding while in Diagon Alley.

But continued vague responses paused as she heard someone loudly addressing everyone from the dais, and she turned to watch the proceedings with a delicately raised eyebrow. She hadn't missed the comment about those who weren't wearing the shirt, but she wasn't about to cower. If the big man couldn't appreciate people dressing for a party, that wasn't her problem. And the forcing the students to sing was just wrong. None of it made her think this was going to be an innocent party, like a lot of the others she'd been to.

Ali looked up someone was talking not sure if it was to her she just looked around. Noticed the ridiculous amount of hideous shirts, and still smiled.

Waving she wasn't waving so it couldn't be her, right? Well, eh there was more than one person waving right now soo she assumed it was not her. And proceeded to grab a large cup of coffee she wasn't sleeping tonight not after three cups of coffee.

She pushed a section of hair out of her face, and watched from a far as Lord Borr yelled for security.

"Oh not again" she complained, under her breath she didn't want to deal with his yelling and yelling for security when the security around didn't look like it wanted to help him out. At-least, that what she gathered with what the way the auror she'd just barely met had been standing...positioning himself almost in-front of the students. Brave.

Sabel seemed distracted so Daphne wiggled her fingers at him one last time. She could always catch up with him later now that she knew he was at the party. Hopefully, he wouldn't leave before she could get to talk to him one last time. If it came to it, though, she'd just write to him while he was at Hogwarts and let him know her new address.

Someone was talking to her. Instinctively, Daphne's groomed brows arch in question. Her eyes found the source of the voice as he gazed over her shoulder. A male; dark haired and tall; extremely so. "It's more of a 'I'm here if you need me and my cheese' kind of wave. Do I know you?" asked Daphne, sizing him up from head to toe.

No, she didn't know him. You would think she'd remember him if she had seen him before.

Anita was completely oblivious to anything other than the RUDE child that was intent on refusing her SUPERIOR chocolates. HOW RUDE. Oh he didn't MEAN to be rude. "Well you did a mighty fine job of it, you know," she said in a wounded voice.

Some people.

Ohhh it WAS the headmaster. "I have never had the pleasure of meeting him. I am fairly new here. I mean to the UK in general... and the wizarding community really," she said as she ran her hand through her brunette hair. "He seems to think a lot of you all," she said with a pleasant smile.

Yeah, he knew. Rude without intention. It was like a sign he needed to have plastered to his forehead. A warning label or some such. He didn't really care at the moment though, the woman could think what she liked, he wasn't going to try to argue his point of honesty.

Some of the tension thankfully faded when she didn't seem intent on nitpicking the Headmaster as much as she was his decline of the chocolates. A good thing too, for both of them.

Solemnity slowly replaced the anger and he turned his eyes away, staring at the fruit with a slight frown. "He is the best choice of Headmaster to have at Hogwarts. He cares for the school more than anyone else knows, I think." Slowly, he turned his eyes back to the woman, the anger and fear of what Borr had said running into his eyes and tone. "Borr disbanded the Ministry of Education...said the power of Hogwarts was going back to its source. That means..." He couldn't even choke the words out past the rage that constricted his throat. Hopefully the woman understood.

Anita patted the boy's shoulder and cheek clumsily. He was a sad little thing wasn't he? What a pity. With dimples like those... and a chiseled face like that. It seemed a pity for him not to smile more. She shook her head slightly at her own thoughts. Pity indeed.

"Well, I don't pretend to be an expert on Britain's history, but I have studied a fair bit. I think that the Board of Governors... for lack of a better word, ruled the school before the Department of Magical Education was set into place. Perhaps... at least there was a Board of Governors, that I know. And it means that things are changing. Rapidly it would seem. I cannot believe the nerve of your Minister to allow that... thing to make decisions such as these. Where is she anyway? Anywhere? Or is that fake Lord running the show now?" Anita said in a low, conspiratorial voice. She was NOT impressed with the British Ministry... not one bit.