Ellie stepped out into the lobby as the memo which had dropped onto her desk had instructed. She had been intensely curious about what this was about, but then the undeniable smell of pizza reached her consciousness and she realised she had forgotten lunch that day. Oops.

"Hi," she smiled around at those already gathered in the lobby and tried not to keep imagining what getting her teeth into a piece of pizza would feel right then. She didn't normally allow herself pizza, but she had a feeling today would be the exception...

Pizza wasn't exactly her type of food for gatherings like this, she preferred small cups of tea and boring noodles most days. But there was no way she was missing a meeting just because of that, and Emily made sure to arrive precisely on time - wearing her usual blue and white uniform and carrying a matching blue purse.

Her demeanor was one of polite interest as she surveyed the room and greeted everyone. "Good afternoon Mr. Delacroix. Regina, how are you?" And she smiled with equal politeness to the others.

Her quick quotes quill floated out of the purse our of habit and hovered over her shoulder. This one was an unusual combination of pink and black, not her first choice of color by any means, but her daughter Kitty had sent it as a present.

It was either chocolate or pizza. That was how Kendall had looked at it, once she’d received the memo to come to the lobby. Not that she expected that their department head had brought chocolate, considering she knew she was the best supplier for that on the level. Nobody else had their own chocolatier at home after all. Either way, however, she’d c hosen to see what was happening. After she checked to make sure everything was going okay at home with her kids. Some of them were still a handful after all, but that was to be expected. She knew her family could handle them, but she liked checking in.

The first person she’d seen upon her arrival was Ellie, smiling a little at how her fellow passport office person looked like she was about to tackle the pizza. She’d stop her if she tried, but she gave her a grin anyway. And then she turned to the others gathered there with another bright smile. “Good afternoon Mr. Delacroix. Claudette, Emily. Regina.” She figured that was everyone, until the others showed up.

"Good day, everyone." The dashing father of two sashayed inside the lobby, looking dapper as his usual in his three piece suit. He gave everyone his signature grin, and naturally gravitated towards the boxes of pizza. If he knew that this was going to be a pizza party sans the official meeting of some sort, he would've toned down his fashion statement. But then again, what kind of immigration consultant would be in a simple shirt and jeans, right?

After sniffing out the pizza, he stepped back and waited for the others to arrive. It would be rude to break into the food without the others, that he knew well enough. It was a pet peeve after all. Now...what about the occasion? Is it some sort of...team building? Ryden stood beside the reception desk and leaning and placing a folded arm on it oh so casually, and low-key regarded everyone. He then wagered among the women in the group who would consume the most pizza slices. It was a natural thing to do while waiting, yeah?

Erec did not have to wait long for his employees to get ther and his smile should have showed them that it was not business as usual. Nope, they would not be doing any work at this point on. "Hello, hello, happy Friday everyone." Fully greeting all that came in and of course chuckling to himself as they all seemed like this would be a meeting meeting. Oh would they be very wrong.

"No need for quills or parchment today." Though he did have plenty of parchment to go around. [b] "There is something that sometimes falls away when we become adults and busy with our meetings and work. We forget we are all in this together and we forget the fun of the day. Life can be short and sometimes we need to relax a little. So I'd like to do this every once in awhile. We will have team stress free outings or as this one should be innings.


"Thanks to your fellow coworker Victoria we are going to relax for the rest of the day. There is pizza to enjoy and when you are ready... a paper airplane contest." He grinned at them like a schoolboy. "The parchment is for you to make your planes and be ready to fly them. We can see who can send them the farthest."

Now that sounded fun, didn't it?

Katja was standing in the lobby, carefully scrutinizing her reflection in her compact. She had no idea exactly what this team building activity would entail, but she was going to look perfect regardless. Oh goodness, she hoped this wouldn't be one of those things where she'd be partnered with some random person! She tolerated everyone in the department - it would make her look bad if she didn't - but there were only a select few that she genuinely liked.

As she closed her compact and looked up, she was pleased to see that her favorite people in the department were here... and even more so that her least favorite person hadn't arrived yet. Was it too much to hope that said person would be a no-show? The blonde Danish witch put on her most charming smile as she turned to her colleagues. "Good afternoon, ladies, Mr. Reed, Mr. Delacroix," she said, nodding politely toward the department head. Then her green eyes fell to Emily's quill. "That's a lovely quill. Where did you get it?" she said. And more importantly, did it come in blue and magenta?

She listened with rapt attention as Mr. Delacroix started speaking. So they were going to be making paper airplanes? Not the activity she would've chosen, but at least it was something that wouldn't ruin her outfit. The pizza on the other hand... why couldn't they have a somewhat more dignified food option? Or at least some cutlery so she could enjoy it without getting her hands greasy and her lipstick smudged? Oh well, she'd just have to improvise! Katja rummaged through her bright magenta handbag for a pair of bobby pins and transfigured them into a knife and fork.

And the others have started to filter in.... or out, depending on where youre standing. She greeted the others with her usual cold smirking, specially cold for Emily who is still there breathing and daring to be as fair as she, and then an extra special pretty batting the eyelashes look at Mr Rawrrrden.

But now their Department Head was speaking and..... whut?

Regina stands so still, deadpanning for a bit after Erec finished his speech. She was expecting him to laugh and say he was joking about the paper airplanes.... but nope. That punchline never came. Was he actually serious? First the pizza and now the paper airplanes? What is this Hogwarts?

She cleared her throat and pursed her lips. She was hungry, so maaaaybe she'll take a bite or twenty of the pizza, but not quite yet. Gotta hold out for the possibility that Erec has something more sophisticated squirreled away in those broad shoulders of his. But now this "So Erec, we can just magic our paper airplanes and send them to the next town right?" Because she's good at that, sending things far far away.

"Why thank you," Emily said with a smile to Katja, who clearly had fine tastes. "It's actually a gift from my daughter from Hogwarts. I believe she bought it at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop at Hogsmeade. I hear they all have all kinds of color combinations there and I know that's where she buys most of her quills." She would be sure to tell Kitty that her quill was liked. Right now though, her Quill was making notes on the way Regina had batted her eyelashes at Mr. Reed. Flirts with co-worker it wrote, hopefully out of view.

Her eyes widened with surprise when the boss man said that they'd be playing with paper airplanes. Sweet Merlin, she had NOT been expecting that - not that she had anything against it. It sounded fun.

And was it just her, or was Ms. Regina displeased with the game? Smirk. Emily was a very observant person, and she had a quick quotes quill - and it had not slipped past her how much her co-worker disliked her. This didn't hurt her feelings at all. On the contrary it made her feel more justified for disliking Regina due to her flirtatious behavior. That always annoyed her, and now she saw an opportunity to attempt to annoy her back.

"Ooh Mr. Delacroix, I would love to have an airplane contest. Back when I was a reporter working at the newspaper, a co-worker of mine taught me how to make and throw them. SOME of us do know how to make a paper airplane without magic." As she said this she turned to smile ever so sweetly at Regina. "Perhaps you would like me to teach you how to throw paper airplanes also. Then we can have a proper race."

The looks on their faces was priceless. He watched, especially the women give the odd what the hell look. Though the knife and fork did catch him off guard a bit. He knew some women could be a bit uptight with things, so he wouldn't comment. []b "Please help yourself. There is enough pizza for everyone to have as much as they want.[/b] Honestly there was probably enough pizza that they could take some home to their families if they really wanted to. He would be taking some to his daughter since she was visiting for another few days.

Regina was the first to speak about the race and just as he was going to answer her Emily put in her thoughts. Both women had different opinions about the race and he rather enjoyed hearing them. "Now Regina would I make something so easy that it was just to send it to the next town?" He chuckled and turned to the parchment flicking his wand making a piece jump to an airplane.

"Now the first round of this will be magical. We use these types of things for memos and such, so why not have good practice at it. I want you to send it to a different level, but use the charm to have it come back as well." That way they would know it was working. "The second round we will do it the muggle way and see who can fly it the farthest."


With a flick of his wrist a measuring tap fell to the floor to help them measure how far the planes had flown.

Would she have expected her boss to make something so easy.... short answer was yes. Because this is Regina, she thinks easy is her god-given right. no wonder she's had such a hard life

And it seemed like pizza will be the dish of the day for this gathering, her almond shaped dark eyes trailing across the boxes of these warm, savory, aromatic entree. With an absolutely fake tight lipped smile she flicked her wand and took a slice for herself, the pizza cutting itself into small bite sized pieces as it settled onto her plate...

Then of course Emily would offer to help her with folding up a paper airplane, making her seem completely incompetent if she was unable to do a pre-school task, and as such Regina lovingly not replied "Oh I can do paper airplanes, I do it everyday when I send commands to my subordinates...." batting her eyelashes with a sweet sweet smile to her staff. Yes she just pulled ranks

And if Erec can do magic with making his paper airplane, so can she. Follow the Leader after all.

One flick of her wand made the airplane, the next flick was a pizza bit popping into her mouth. Mmmmm she was savoring this more than she intended.

The moment Charles had walked into the lobby, he wanted to walk out again. Pizza and parchment were not a good mix. Once he'd heard what they were supposed to do with the parchment, he had to take a deep breath. Maybe he could be the judge instead? The older gentleman just sat down in the nearest chair, hoping no one would notice he wasn't taking part.

It had been surprising difficulty to get through Security. She hadn’t thought she had been that long since the last time she had made a personal appearance at the Ministry, but then again, Krel’s life have been pretty busy since she transferred back to Germany. Perhaps it was the two rolls of parchment stamped with the seals of the German ministry, unopened, that she carried tucked under her left arm that had caused the delay. It had taken quite a bit of explaining and a bit of waving her credentials around to finally be released.

Her dragon hide heels clicked softly on the tile as she walked.. Krel pushed open the door to the lobby of the International Magical Cooperation Department. She was met with a group of people and the smell of pizza. Krel’s mouth watered and her stomach growled, a reminder that she hadn’t eaten since she’d port-keyed in late last night. Her father’s condition had worsened and she had quite the night dealing with his outbursts. She was tired, but she hoped she didn’t look it. If she did, Edward was sure to cancel their outing this evening, and she so desperately needed time alone – with a sane adult that wanted nothing more from her than the pleasure of her company.
A plan flew by her ear, causing Krel let out a slight “eep!” mostly due to the unexpected presence of such a device. She turned and watched it float around the room for a moment before it settled on the floor. Once it settled, she turned to look at the group.
“Hallo,” she said in English with lilt that implied she was quite fluent in another language. “Herr Delacroix,” she said upon finding him in the group. ”I do not mean to interrupt a... staff meeting(?), but may we speak?” pause. Perhaps this was an important meeting. Her news could wait, at least a little longer. She gave a soft wave with her right hand, motioning to the room. ”When you are done.”

Katja smiled, noddling slightly at Emily's reply. "Your daughter has fine tastes, Ms. Valentine," she said. Ah, yes, Scrivenshaft's. She'd visited the shop before, of course - she had to keep up with the latest wizarding products if she wanted to one-up her colleagues by having a bigger and better everything - but it had been quite some time. Diagon Alley was much closer to her home (and in her not-so-humble opinion had a better variety), but perhaps a trip to Hogsmeade was in order if it meant getting a quill like that... only, you know, in blue and magenta.

She'd been wondering if they were allowed to use magic on their airplanes, but she thought that might come across as an idiotic question and chose to keep silent. Better to be quiet than say the wrong thing and look foolish. It wasn't long before Regina voiced exactly what she was thinking, but she was a bit surprised by Mr. Delacroix's answer. So apparently they were having more than one round in this competition...

The blonde Danish witch's eyes momentarily strayed to the pizza, but there was no way she was going to be first to grab a piece. Being first to serve oneself in a situation like this made said person look like a glutton. She would wait for someone who didn't know that particular etiquette rule to go before her... In the meantime she busied herself by turning pieces of parchment into airplanes with her wand and comparing them to see which one looked the nicest.

She had finally settled on a plane and was trying to calculate how far she'd need to send it to win the round - she was a Westergaard, after all, and Westergaards won at all costs - when Mr. Taylor arrived. She'd picked up on the fact that he wasn't taking part in their little activity but chose to ignore the man. Not long after, someone from another department came in asking to speak with Mr. Delacroix. Katja pursed her magenta-stained lips but made no comment. Clearly this person had no concept of manners! She tried to refocus on what she was doing before the unwelcome intrusion. Now if she sent her airplane flying to a different floor, certainly that would be enough to win... but which floor should she send it to?

If Ryden chose to be oblivious to things, he would’ve done so in a heartbeat. But to his amusement he could not pass up the on-going conversation of Regina and Emily. The batting of eyelashes didn’t go unnoticed as well, but Ryden chose to be neutral about it. He’d been a victim to such advances all throughout his career, which also meant that he had to deal with it in all of the continents he have visited. Huh. It must be his three piece suit then.

Ryden went on to fold his piece of parchment, and tried his best to remember how to fold one. He then realized that he’d been relying so much on his magic to do such mundane thing, but then again...why would he fold up a paper plane the muggle way if it was oh so time consuming?

Ryden was so lost in his thoughts that he ended up folding another kind of paper airplane. It was the kind that Maiya taught him years ago when he tried Origami, and it amused him to no end. Without having any second thoughts, Ryden fixed the creases, and threw the paper airplane in the air...and instead of it landing somewhere in the lobby, it made a u-turn straight for his face.

Boomerang Airplane, anyone?

Of course she was LATE to the party that the Department Head had decided to throw her idea of the paper airplanes contest. Though,she hadn't thought he would have actually gone through with it though as she had been joking a bit at that time.

She had slipped off her high heels and replaced her shoes for something more comfortable as she made her way back to level five, finding the place very soon.

"Sorry i'm late,everyone" she apologized. "Something came up" not true. She had simply forgotten. "What i missed?"

"Why thank you Miss Westergaard, I'll be sure to tell her. She's quite into fashion." Emily was starting to grow quite fond of Katja Westergaard. Her daughter was her weak spot (or strong spot, depending on your perpective) and anyone who was nice to her was good in Emily's book. "I'm curious, do you have any relations at Hogwarts? Maybe our children know each other."

Her smirk at Regina faded somewhat when she mentioned subordinates. Yes, it was true that Emily was outranked by her, technically she was one of those subordinates. "Oh Regina, I didn't forget your memos. How could I? Personally I never thought they were folded as professionally as some of the memos I've seen at the Ministry but they are always so adorable!" Actually there was nothing wrong with Regina's memos, but Emily wanted to get the last word in - without making it seem like she was being insulting.

"Accio!" two pieces of parchment flew into her hand.

Was this turning out to be a good team gathering? Yes right now Erec was thinking it was a success. There was no stress in the room and employees were seeming to be having fun and mingling. Who didn't have fun with pizza around, though?

Woah... Woah.. hold on a second.

He gave Regina an odd look. He wasn't one to look down on his employees. They were all in this together so her trying to say she was above them, that didn't go well in his book. "You mean when you send things to your teammates?" His eyes moved around the room, "Charles I bet you are good at this type of thing." He had been sending memos for sometime so probably going to be one of the best. "Make sure you get some pizza." There was just so much there.

He watched as some started to get ready, "Alright Ryden think you can beat me sending it to creatures and back?" Maybe they could get a stir in MLE if they sent it clear there? Would that attract security to level five? Could be interesting to bring them here. "What about you Katja? Think you can beat me? Maybe I should say the winner gets a day off next week." Would that bring them to be more excited over this?

"Victoria welcome, grab some pizza and parchment. You were the inspiration for today's activity. We are having some airplane flying contests." He had told her he was going to do this. Now the question was had she believe him. Oh, but then Emily decided to talk and Erec thought possibly some conflict could happen and that wasn't what he wanted. "Are we all ready?"

Just as he was about to get started someone walked into the room that made him stop. He wasn't use to seeing his ambassadors just come in but here she was. "Hello Ms. Krell, yes we can just give me a moment." He gave Charles a look that meant to come with them since he was the one that overlooked the ambassadors.

Busy. Busy. Busy… Krel thought as she waited. Had it always been this busy in this department? Or had she simply just not realized it? There were certainly a lot of new faces. One in particular didn’t seem all that pleased with her presence. Krel made a mental note and hoped that she wouldn’t have to deal with her later. She had the distinct impression that the magenta lipped lady and she would have clashing personalities.
Krel tried to stifle a giggle as one of the employee’s airplanes flew straight back into his face. She covered her mouth and tried to play off the laugh as a cough. She was likely not successful…
…but she hoped that the late arrival of yet another new face would diffuse her amusement at the poor fellow’s airplane misfortune.
Oh no no no! she should have owled ahead and made an appointment! But was it her fault that there was an office meeting she was interrupting? No, don’t justify it to yourself! She chided mentally. You should have owled ahead. Even if this trip was unexpected. She hoped her simple smile covered her uncomfortableness. She made a vow then, to not drop in unexpected in the future.

“Oh,” she tried to interject. Herr Delacroix had been enjoying himself. What she had to share with him could wait another hour or so. It was just important that she relay the information before she returned to Berlin, but she had planned on being in London for at least a few days. “I can vait. Please,” she indicated the airplanes hovering around the room. “Continue. I vould hate to be the one to spoil the fun.” Her “w”s were now “vff-ing.” She did that when she was on edge; it was a sad side-effect of being fluent in German.

Perhaps she would pop down to the food court and get herself lunch. Maybe Edward was in the building today and they could get lunch together.

Charles had gotten himself fairly comfortable in his seat, he'd just managed to get his legs positioned well and get his back settled in the right position for there to be no pain. He'd done extraordinarily well to get a position so comfortable and was revelling in his own internal congratulations until Erec said his name. "Oh, I'm not really. I've spent far too much time writing the memos instead of folding them into a representation of a plane." Yes, he was boring. "Oh, err... thank you." Pizza was best avoided, he'd discovered when he was a few years into his thirties.

As he was trying to think of a way of making it seem like he'd taken pizza without actually doing so, a woman's (Krel) stomach rumble made him turn a little to see who it was making all that noise. His eyes skimmed the woman's form quickly as he listened to her words to Erec. He knew her, so when Erec threw him a look that Charles definitely did not require to know he was expected to attend whatever meeting was about to take place, the man stood up and approached them. The woman's protests caused Charles to pick up a plate, slide some pizza onto it and present it to her. "Please, eat. You're not spoiling any fun, our team building can wait until business has been taken care of." Work came first and it was the only thing Charles actually, genuinely enjoyed doing.

Right, he wanted some pizza too. So Erec moved once done talking and grab himself a slice. He enjoyed pizza though he didn't really let himself have it all the time. He was a divorced man, after all, he had to stay fit just in case he met someone.

After getting his Pizza he turned back to Krel, oh yes she was being very pleasant. "Please get some Pizza and join us." Since shew as here why couldn't she have some fun too. Everyone deserved fun from time to time. The more in the contest the more fun it would be as well, but Oh, seeing Charles face made him believe not all his employees enjoyed his day.

Come on old man have some fun!


Well, that was that now wasn't it. "Okay everyone enjoy the pizza and we will start the airplance contest soon. Ms. Krel, could you follow Charles and I to my office." He turned on his heel and took his pizza with him as he back to his office.

She heard their Department Head and the subtle message to her. Nuts, he's one of those fair-minded types isnt it. What was he a Gryffindor? Oh wait he's french....

She smiled sweetly and apologetically at Erec, just in time for Emily to get a dig in. Side-eyed glaring at her teammate, but she stayed quiet. You get this round Valentine, enjoy it while it lasts.

Oh and look Charles also didnt like this childish game, can she just go sit at the bosses' corner and be all Simon Cowell-y at everyone? No? Oh great looks like that isnt going to fly with Erec either.

There were a few more people that joined them (Victoria and Krell), one she didnt recognize at all. Did she belong to this department? Curious looks to you lady... what is she going on about?

She caught Mr Rawwwrden make his paper airplanes and letting them fly, maybe she can sidle up to him and just let him do paper airplanes for the both of them?...... When he can actually fly one in a straight line?

Gosh why is it so hard to find good-looking co-workers who can fly straight huh? So frustrating ugh. More pizza please nom nom dainty nom.

Katja smiled at Emily. Oh, so her daughter was into fashion? That was something the blonde Danish witch understood all too well! She shook her head at he colleagues's question however. "I'm afraid not," she replied. "All my family is back in Denmark, and my nieces and nephews are too young to attend Hogwarts." The closest to school-age was Georg, but that was still two years away. It was a shame, too! It would've been nice if she had a relative who knew Emily's daughter. Maybe she could convince her brother to send his children to Hogwarts...

She couldn't help but notice some tension between Ms. Valentine and Miss Roa. Personally she was more inclined to side with Emily, but she kept her thoughts to herself. Making enemies with a Division Head wouldn't help her rise through the ranks. So she took out her compact and busied herself by re-applying her lipstick, choosing to ignore their exchange.

Katja looked up as she heard Mr. Delacroix say her name. No, thank you, sir. There was no way she was going first; then someone could easily come along and beat her and that would look bad! She as just going to hang back and watch for now, calculating how far the other planes went so she would know how far to send her own and show everyone up. "Oh, I couldn't possibly, sir!" she said. "After you, I insist." At least she already knew how far she'd have to send her plane to beat the department head... and she probably didn't have to worry about Mr. Reed beating her. She couldn't help but notice his plane hit him in the face when he threw it. Katja smiled a little when Mr. Delacroix mentioned a day off for the winner, but that was unnecessary; the only prize she was interested in was bragging rights.

A perfectly arched eyebrow raised slightly when Mr. Taylor offered the intruder a slice of pizza. That was... unexpectedly kind of him! Katja wasn't quite sure what to make of that. She watched the exchange silently, and her attitude toward the visitor changed somewhat when she saw her leave with Mr. Delacroix and Mr. Taylor. It seemed the stranger had managed to distract Katja's least favorite person in the department, at least for the time being, so she could forgive the etiquette faux pas this time.

There wasn't much noise to the baby moving around on the floor, but a small hiss was coming from the basilisk as it moved around in search for something to eat. Just hatching it was harmless to people for now, but it could be quick in its movements.

Erec had tried to reassure her when they had left the conference room that the basilisk in its baby infant form wasn't as dangerous at all as a fully grown basilisk. A look directly in the snakes eyes would potentially just make you feel sick and a bite from its teeth was fairly harmless, but obviously you'd still need to seek medical attention.

Coming into the lobby since Claudette thought that was the most logical place to start searching for the snake before searching the other rooms. They had after all already concluded that it wasn't in the conference room and had left the testing area.

It was when she was searching high and low around the lobby that she spotted it. Feeling her mouth go dry and her hands start to sweat Claudey stopped abruptly to stare at the baby snake across the room and mumbled loudly to herself "Now what shall i do?"

It was moving right along near the wall and under chairs until it came directly face to face with something large. The basilisk made a few noises before it slithered further against the wall out of reach of the human and started to move forward looking for an escape.