"Oh I don't mind anyone asking at all," Melissa told Katrina. "I used to work in the American Branch of Ministry of International Cooperation. I left to take care of my kids and now that they're all in school, I figured that I'd come back. This will be my first job in the Ministry of Magical Transportation, so I have to be honest and say that I'm very excited."

"If you don't mind me asking what is your job title here in this department. I'll be manufacturing Portkeys. Isn't that cool?", Melissa asked Katrina.

Victoria heard that someone else was a Portkey Manufacter, she walked over and said "I am Victoria, my job is maufacturing Portkeys too!"

Oh, somebody gestured at her to come sit with the others. Jackie walked hesitantly towards an empty seat and sat down. Did she want something? No. Not yet. Maybe later. 'Hello,' she said to those sitting around her. 'I'm Jackie. Newbie here, but I think that was kinda obvious.' She smiled sheepishly.

The first person to welcome her. She seemed nice. With all that smiling, she really emits a very welcoming atmosphere. Eliza smiled as the woman approached her and held out a hand. Almost immediately she shook it, "Ohaii Katrina ! The name's Eliza." she said cheerfully. "Are you assigned in the Brooms ?," she asked her. Liz knew she had to socialize with those in her Department before getting to know those in the other Departments.


A new woman had joined in on the group and feeling very talkative now, Liz immediately greeted their new co-worker, "Ohaii Jackie ! I am also a newbie. I'm Eliza." she said, reaching out a hand to shake with her.

This was cool, she was starting to enjoy this Department. And at least she now knows that she isn't the only new employee there.

Victoria was watching the other newbies, she sipped her coffee and smiled when she saw her wedding ring. She had only been married for about three weeks now, she was now related to the Potter and Weasley family.

Ava smiled at the lady who had warmly welcomed her, waved back, "It's lovely to meet you, and please call me Ava." She admired the room once more, "It is just gorgeous in here! It must have taken you all a while to set it up." She was so happy to finally be part of a working team, "I can't tell you how much I am excited to do this job! Have you been working here for long?" She asked.

Caleb dragged himself into what he heard was called the break room and it didn't look so bad, he could do the whole break thing here for a long time. He glanced around at every new face with only one thought woah, I'm gonna' have to learn a LOT of new names. He doubted he'd be able to remember the first, he was alright with faces but names... A different story. He stood there for a few seconds, just looking, and probably looking like a complete fool standing there half smiling half getting used to the place. "Oh, hi" he managed, particularly aiming it at anybody with ears, that seemed to be everybody, wasn't he lucky?

'NEWBIE!' Holli beamed. She had been looking for one to prey-I mean- introduce herself to! 'Hi! I'm Holli Lewis!' Holli beamed, looking around for her twin.

'Oh hey Eliza!' Jackie smiled, her dimple showing. Hm.. maybe the Ministry was hiring employees now. Well, good for her. 'I'm so excited I'm appointed. I never expected it. I mean, yea, I gave my application but when I got the appointment letter I was like, Oh my Gosh, am I dreaming or what?'

Eliza was halfway through her nettle tea when another seemingly employee entered the Break Room. He was smiling oddly, like he had another world of his own. At this, her mannerism took control. One of Eliza's brow began raising.

But then, the guy was sane after all for he greeted the crowd, "Ohaii there !" she said, gesturing for him to join them.

She chuckled while listening to the woman, she was a bit of a talker. "Well, as you are here today, I believe you are not dreaming," she told her. Of course, it was not a dream that they were accepted here at the Ministry. They were there and their work would be starting very soon.

Speaking of work, when will they be given their assigned tasks for the day ?

Caleb almost jumped and tumbled straight over, literally this girl had a voice, he turned to whichever direction the voice was coming from and it wasn't difficult to know where. "Most people call me Caleb" he said cheerfully as the girl continued and introduced herself, at least she wasn't all crazy, he couldn't help but smile. "Holli it is, I mean not for me... For you" he said.

"Hello" he said before turned to examine where the other voice was coming from, he was being gestured somewhere, nice, he grabbed Holli's arm and pulled her with him over to the voice. He really hoped she didn't mind the random dragging of the arm thing. "Thanks, I'm Caleb" he said re introducing himself to the voice.

Holli chuckled. 'Caleb you are then!' she beamed. She listened to him and felt her head hurt. Holli couldn't take too much confusion. She eventually got it though. 'AH! Right! Yes, it is Holli for me, not you, you're Caleb...' she laughed. 'Oop!' she squealed as she was being dragged along, her ginger hair flying by her. She didn't mind. Rupert sometimes did that to her as well. 'How old're you then Caleb? You look awfully young!' she told him. He looked like he'd only just gotten out of Hogwarts!

She waited for the two to arrive at their area. "Nice to meet 'ya Caleb. I'm Eliza." she told their newest addition, "And this marvelous crowd here is employees under the Magical Transportation Department," she added, pointing the people around. Of course, they had to be in the DMT to be in that place. It was the Transportation Break Room, remember ?

Victoria decided that she better go and introduce herself to more people so she walked over and said "Hello, I am Victoria Potter Weasley!"

Katrina nodded. She had never really known much about the Ministry of Magic is other countries, perhaps she should in case she ever wanted to work in one of those. "Oh, I see, are they all attending Hogwarts?" Katrina asked. She was waiting for her younger sister to be old enough to attend Hogwarts, so far it didn't seem very likely. "Well, it makes perfect sense, I remember being quite nervous but excited the first day of work... which was very memorable," Katrina said, chuckling to herself at the memory of figurines attacking the workers.

"Oh, I don't mind, I work as an Apparition Examiner for the written portion, though previously I worked as a broom regulator, I've yet to work with portkeys, but your job definitely sounds quite interesting," Katrina said, nodding with a smile. She adored her job in the ministry.



Katrina smiled politely. "Welcome to Level Six then Jackie, I'm Katrina, I've been here for two years, so I'm not exactly new," Katrina said giggling quietly to herself. She couldn't believe how many new workers have came and old ones have left since she was here. And all of these new faces made Katrina feel quite old despite the elders around her.



Katrina returned her hand back to her side, taking a sip of her coffee. "It's nice to meet you Eliza, welcome to the Department of Magical Transportation," Katrina said, welcoming the woman. Oh, all these new workers. All the excitement, how fun! Katrina shook her head at the next question though. "I worked as a broom regulator when I first applied, but I now work as an Apparition examiner," Katrina said, still smiling. It didn't really matter to her, she worked with most of the same people and the department had always been very welcoming.

"Is it safe to assume that you do?" Katrina asked. Which she had absolutely nothing against, working in the broom division was fun as well.



"It's lovely meeting you as well Miss Sm-, I mean, Ava," Katrina said, correcting herself just in time. It was a habit she supposed. When one gave their last name, Katrina tended to address them in a more formal manner. "Thank you, well, you know, there's magic," Katrina said, smirking slightly. Which had definitely made setting up loads easier. "I've worked here for about two years now," Katrina said, giving a slight nod of her head to confirm it. "What might your job be here in this department?" Katrina asked, taking a sip of her coffee.



Katrina noticed another newbie enter and smiled. He looked enthusiastic... or nervous, and considerably younger. She smiled at him warmly. "Hello, welcome to level six, I'm Katrina," she said, greeting the boy... or man... he didn't look much older than 17, or 16 for that matter. Was he a drop-out? Katrina hoped not.

"Hi there, Victoria, my name is Melissa. Yes, I'm also going to be manufacturing Portkeys. Isn't that so cool", Melissa told Victoria.

Melissa turned to Katrina."No only my youngest is attending Hogwarts. The other three are a little bit older and wanted to stay in Salem Wizarding School. I don't blame them. It would hard to say goodbye to all their friends, their girl friends and boyfriend. Alyssa is still young and doesn't have a boyfriend yet, so it was easier for her, although she did kick up a BIG FUSS when she was told that she had no choice.

"So you're an Apparition Examiner. That's so cool. You know what? I think that all the positions in this department are so cool and interesting. It's definitely different from the Department of International Cooperation, although it was cool to meet people from various parts of the world....and I'm sorry if I keep saying the word 'cool'. Alyssa says that all the time, and now for some reason, I'm saying it too and I know that I'm too old to be saying that."

Melissa turned around when she heard Victoria mention her last name. "Are you a Potter Weasley too? I'm one too. My husband is actually the Potter Weasley portion. I married into that family too."

Jackie laughed. 'Yea. You don't mind me talking so much, do you? I'm not usually this way. Guess it's the excitement or something.' She shrugged. What was up with her today? She usually was such a shy one.



Jackie turned to the other woman, the one who had invited to sit down. She smiled. 'Thanks, Katrina. I sure will try to do my best here. Two years, huh? Same job, or have you been toying with others before ending up here.' Not that it was a bad thing, either way. Jackie still had to know what her job made her do. 'Do you know what I'll be doing, mostly. I have no clue.' She frowned slightly. Not knowing was something she didn't like.

"Yes, really I just married Jason Potter Weasley have you heard of him?" Victoria asked Melissa.

After whipping his wand here and there around the room, Armen had finished hanging up the multi-colored streamers and balloons just as the first of the new employees began to enter the breakroom.

Looking around excitedly, Recard watched as more and more showed up. This was so exciting, this last batch of employee was a large one and Magical Transportation had about 12 new faces to mix in with the old.

Deciding it was time to introduce himself Armen pointed his wand to his throat and spoke in a level tone that projected over the chitter-chatter in the room. "Hello everyone, sorry to interrupt our welcomes and conversations but I just wanted to take a second to officially welcome all of our new co-workers to the Department of Magical Transportation." he clappped, hinting that others should to.

Now that the clapping had ended Armen continued. "Now my name is Armen Recard, the Department Head for our wonderful department and I can't wait to meet all of you. Now we will continue with more conversation and partying for a while and then I will let you all know what tasks we will be starting and talk about what we have been doing already. So continue..." He turned his loud voice off and then walked back into the crowd to see who wanted to meet him.

Holli listened to the boss talking. 'Nice speech Big Cheese!' she chuckled.

Maine clapped along with everyone, glad the the effects of the cactus juice had finished.

"Nice speech, Armen!" she said, smiling before turning around to greet everyone else.

"Hey, everyone! Welcome to Level 6!" she grinned, waving at everyone. "I'm Charmayne, but Maine'll do."

"Oh wow. I mean yeah, I work as the Broom Regulator now," she said. So she used to be the one in my work now, Eliza thought. She was very grateful for all the welcome in the Department. And much more to working. "You can give me advice with my work, you know." she told her. Well, she was working forward to it and maybe Katrina could give her some tips. Hopefully.

She laughed almost in sync with the woman, "I don't mind. At least our Department won't sound like a cemetery." she joked. Having more people who are happy are good luck for their department. And more certainly, if they would be happy with their job, they would have more productive outputs.

Well, that seemed a very warm welcome. Their boss seemed approachable. Eliza moved over to him, "Nice speech. I'm Eliza Tohsaka." she told him, reaching out a hand.

NEWBIE! Oh, okay!

Looking at this one, he looked fresh out of school. S'okay! So was Maine when she got here... Almost...

Maine walked up to the new guy and smiled. He wasn't good with names either. Ooooops... S'okay. He doesn't know she was a legimens yet.

"Hey, there. I'm Charmayne LeBlanc." she greeted. "Enjoying the party?"

Gesturing towards the tray of cupcakes, she spoke again, her french accent blending in with the musical notes. "Do have a cupcake. They're charmed." Yes... EAT! Maine didn't make the cupcakes for nothing!

Layla nodded at Katrina and looked around the room. There were quite a bit of new employees there, that was a lot of people to meet. She wasn't even sure she was properly acquainted with the ones already working there yet. "Yeah I am and I should probably get a move on since I have catch up to play." She gave the woman a small smile.

She turned to the woman who introduced herself as Melissa and offered her hand to her."Sorry about that. I'm Layla Dacosta, from Portkey Delivery. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Armen's voice caused her to shift her focus in his direction. She listened as her boss spoke and clapped at the appropriate times. Nice and short, that equaled lovel speech in her book.

As he finished speaking, Layla excused herself from the two ladies and moved into the crowd to meet the rest of the new employees..

ooc: anyone else interested in meeting Layla?

Victoria listened to layla and when she heard the word "Portkey" she decided to introduce herself so she walked over and said "Hello, I am Victoria Potter Weasley! I am the new Portkey Manufacter!"