"I can see it's going to be a hard thing to choose," Samantha said, knowing that all the employees were going to be working really hard to get this honor. There was nothing like incentive to bring out the best in people, she smiled to herself.

" Miss Rose, I will do what is expected of me and more" Joe Jon MontCenaggio told her.

Jake walked up to the office of the woman he idolized above all others. The head of the Magical Education department. He entered the room and saw that she was already talking to somebody. He smiled warmly at her and then backed out the room and leaned against the wall to wait for her to be available.

Samantha saw another man enter the room just as J.J. was leaving. This was someone he had seen around the Ministry before but hadn't spoken to that much, wait, she knew who it was. "Hi, you're in Magical Law Enforcement, aren't you? How are you doing?"

Jake entered the room as he saw the visitor leaving. He grinned at her and said, "Why yes, nicely observed. I'm quite new here, so not many people know me. And I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" he asked in a charming voice. He was always a big flirt, even if it was unintentionally like now.

"I've been good," Samantha said. "I was just preparing some of my notes for the big Ministry convention, I'm supposed to give a presentation there. It should be very exciting, with all the dignitaries visiting from nine or ten different countries. Kind of a once in a lifetime experience, really." She smiled.

"Yes I can imagine," Jake nodded with a smile as well. "Listen," he said, his tone getting a bit more professional, "while chatting with you is entertaining, I do have something I'd like to ask.
"First of all, I want to congratulate you on all the hard work you've done. The system is brilliant! And I just wanted to ask this question," he said, pausing. He took a few seconds to think of how to phrase the next sentence and then he continued, "Do you have any available positions? Education's always been my passion, it fascinated me. Now, however, I've grown up," at that he grinned mischievously and winked, "and I've realised that I want to act from the outside. I'm not sure I'm phrasing it right. I hope you understand at least, why I want this job, if such job exists at the present time."
He stopped, and let his words sink in. He hadn't really said that well, but he couldn't do anything about that now.

"Well, I always need good help here in the Department," Samantha said honestly. "Have you filled out a transfer application yet, asking to be placed here? You can find them in the Employment Office, just go ahead and fill one out and you can probably get placed here."

"Right thanks! As I said before, I'm new here so I don't know everything yet," he said, grateful for the advice. "I.. um... also have another question. Is it possible... you know what? Never mind!" he stammered. His palms were sweaty and he was shaking badly. I'm overreacting very badly he thought to himself as he tried to calm down, but failed.

"I'm always happy to be of service," Samantha said. What was this young man so nervous about?, she wondered.

Taking deep calm breaths, he managed to relax. He smiled apologetically at her, and said, "Look, I don't think I've even introduced myself. My name is Ron Jake Rider, but please for Merlin's sake, call me Jake. I hate my first name," he said and realized he sounded a bit childish.
He gulped in a huge breath and then asked very quickly before he lost his nerve, "IsThereAnyoneAtHowartsWithTheLastNameRider?" He hoped she would understand. His palms became sweaty again, but he ignored them and looked at the woman. I'm not good at this family thing... I seriously overreact.

"Jake, that's a very nice name," Samantha said thoughtfully. "It's a name that fits you, somehow. And you may call me Samantha, I'd like that. Most people called me Ms. Rose but there's really no need for such formalities. I prefer my employees to be comfortable with me." She smiled.

Samantha considered the question Jake had asked. "Hold on a moment, let me check my list of students at Hogwarts," she told him. She reached into her desk and consulted a very long parchment and then turned her attention back to Jake again. "Yes, there is a second year student registered at Hogwarts with the last name of Rider, Rachel Danielle Rider. That's the only Rider I'm able to locate at the moment. I hope that helps."

"Samantha," he said, trying it out. "It's very nice, Ms. Rose," he added , winking at her and grinning.
"Oh... um... thank you very much. Er... would you... I mean... is it possible to contact her in some way or another?" he asked, nervous. Rachel, Rachel Danielle Rider... His sister had certainly kept with the traditions, that was for sure.
He'd always known she'd keep her last name, because she had always been a very proud young girl. So she had a daughter, Rachel.... Wow. This was a lot to take in, even if he had been expecting it.

"Yes, I'm sure you can contact her," Samantha said. "You can say an owl to her, that would be the first thing I would suggest. I'm sure you will be able to find her, and I'm happy to help if you have any problems at all."

"Thank you. But I wouldn't know what to say to her. She doesn't know me, see, and I didn't even know I had a niece up till Septemer 1st," Jake explained. He didn't know why he was giving so much information to Samantha, it just felt right to talk about it with someone other than a goblin.
Maybe she can give me some good advice? She's a woman after all, they always figure out what to say...

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that, Jake, and I'd love to see you and your niece get to know each other. I tell you what, perhaps I could send an owl to her and kind of introduce her to the situation, that way she will be prepared and know what to expect when she does meet you. What do you think of that idea?" Samantha really wanted to see Jake and Rachel get to meet, and was willing to try to help out.

Jake stared at her in amazement. I knew they always had answers
"Will yo do that? That could be really great," Jake said enthusiastically. "Thank you so much for you help. If you don't want to do this, just say the word and I'm out of that door. But if you do... That could be so helpful!" Jake added, remembering some long lost chidhood manners.
"If you are going to help, then I think you need to know the whole story. Would you like to hear it?" he asked, smiling grimly at her. It was obvious that this wasn't going to be a happy story.

"Yes, I certainly would," Samantha agreed. "Pull up a seat, Jake, I have a feeling this could take a while." Samantha held her quill in her hand, ready to take notes on what Jake was about to tell her so that she would have the necessary background for writing the letter.

Sitting down, his mouth twitched a little as he saw that she was going to take notes. But then his face grew somber again as he began:
"Back when I was a child, around 6 or 7 years old, I began doing strange things. My family is non-magical, so when I suddenly appeared at home several times per week during Art class, they grew worried. They couldn't understand what was going on. The rumors started, that I was deranged, odd, weird, that I was some sort of curse upon the town.
"In the end, they withdrew me from school and got me a private tutor. I was attracting too much negative attention and the one thing that my family upholds more than anything is wisdom and reputation. I guess you could say they were the Slytherins of the Muggle world." His face was emotionless as he continued;
"The tutor was paid extra to keep quiet about my abnormalities. I would do all sorts of crazy things and once I even blasted the guy to the other side of the room when he annoyed me. That was the last straw for him and he left, never to return.
"That was the summer before my first term at Hogwarts. In the middle of the summer holidays, my parents thought I'd finally cracked when I told them that there was an owl in my bedroom. They tried shooing it away," at that a tiny smile came to his face, "But it wouldn't leave.
"In the end, it was my older sister who noticed the envelope attached to his leg. I took it quickly and he left. My parents told me not to open it, because 'who knows what type of crazy poison there could be in there?'
But I didn't care and I opened it anyway. Out came my Hogwarts letter and my whole world tilted. It took a lot of persuading to get them to believe it.
"I thought my problems were solved, that they would finally understand and let me be. I actually thought they would be happy for me, but I wrong.
"The next day when I woke up they weren't there. I checked everywhere, their things were still there but the house was deserted. They had even taken my sister." At that, his voice cracked and his eyes glistened.
Jake took a moment to steady himself. He looked up at the ceiling and steadied his breathing. He made eye contact with her, and his eyes were so lifeless, it was frightening.
"I found a note on the kitchen table. They had left me enough money for the taxi ride to London, and a bit extra for food. At the end of the note they had written, 'We hope you enjoy Hogwarts. But don't bother coming back, Ron.'
"I guess they couldn't face me like grown ups."

"Shall I continue, or do you have questions?" he asked Samantha. His eyes and face were still dead.

"I believe that should do," Samantha said. There was sadness in her voice as she spoke. "Your story is a difficult one, and unfortunately it does happem sometimes among muggle families who have magical children. They simply don't understand, don't know how to handle it, and it's very, very sad, very disturbing. Maybe one day they will come around and accept you are still their son and love you for who you are. That happens sometimes but I won't lie to you, it doesn't happen often. But that's not really the point. The point is that this is something your sister needs to hear, because she, too, may have had a similar experience. Do you think there is any possibility of this?", Samantha asked, concerned.

"I don't know," he said sadly. "We haven't even talked since that day. I don't think that she told our parents that Rachel was a witch. She was always a clever girl," he added.
"I tried contacting her once, with one of the school owls, but I don't even know if she ever got the message. I never got a reply.
"Well, on with the story. So there I was, with a limited amount of money, and no home. I wrote to the headmistress, asking her what to do. I used the usual muggle post, so in the meantime I took a bus to London. It was cheaper, so I had more money.
"I wandered around London for about 2 hours before I noticed the Leaky Cauldron. I was very lucky to notice it at all. But I was just so hungry and tired that I sat down across the street from it.
"I was very surprised to see that people's eyes were just automatically skipping the bar. I found it odd, so I went to check it out. Once I entered the Leaky Cauldron, an owl flew to me with a response from the Head. She had written that there was a fund for these types of occasions and she had sent the money over.
"So I did the usual tour around Diagon Alley and got my stuff. I used the rest of my muggle money to rent a room in the inn, and there I stayed until the Hogwarts Express.
"Every summer after that, I rented a tiny flat in Hogsmeade and paid for it by working at Honeydukes. I also got a lot of donations from the locals, which I used to buy myself food. I was a very practical kid.
"And so that's how I grew up, money-less but I had friends. Friends who supported me when things just got too much. After I finished Hogwarts I moved to Australia to try my luck there. I made a bit of money, but after 4 years I was homesick, so I came back to England.
"I saw my sister and my niece a couple of days after I got back. I went to King's Cross to see the students off, and I spotted them. I was too scared to approach them, so I backed off and watched from the side. Ever since then, I've been searching for my niece."
He finished off and looked at Samantha, his eyes burning with some strong emotion. "I need to meet her. Do you understand why I'm so desperate now? For so long years, I've had no contact with my family and now, I have a niece! I mean, I knew that my sister was engaged, but I just never thought that she had any children. And by the way, before you get confused, there is a huge gap in years between me and my sister. She was living with us only because my parents told he to. They were scared that something would happen to her in the 'big, frightening, cruel world.' She was the golden child of the family, but she always loved me, took care of me like a mum would."
He trailed off, lowering his gaze to the ground, his hands clenched tight on his knees.

Samantha listened intently to every word that Jake said. "You really have had a hard life, and I truly think you deserve to have some happiness. I can understand your need to reunite with her completely, and will do everything in my power to ensure that you and your niece are reunited once again." As the Head of the Department of Education Samantha had heard many hard stories and it always bothered her, but there was seldom any chance for her to do anything about the situation. Now she finally had an opportunity to actually help someone, and somehow she felt drawn to do so. She didn't know what it was about Jake, but she could sense his sincerity and need to find Rachel, and it touched her deeply.

"Thank you Samantha," he said, touched. No one he had ever met had understood him so perfectly before. "I really appreciate it," he added sincerely, his serious chocolate brown eyes looking at hers. His eyes were a complete sea of emotions, though his face betrayed none of them.

"You are very welcome, Jake," Samantha said. "I really hope this story has a happy ending for you." She stood up and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "It's about time you and your niece met each other, I would say. Let's make that happen!"

Jake followed her suit and stood up as well. He beamed at her, a pure happy smile. He would forever be grateful.
"Thank you again. I can't even begin to explain how much this means to me," he said, smiling at her.

ooc: now what?