Earlier in the day, after all the employees had been ushered out of the auditorium to get themselves ready for the conference, Reagan sat herself in one of the chairs and prepared herself for what was about to come. The Minister didn't seem to care about this conference nearly as much as he should, and Reagan was concerned that everything would fall on her shoulders, as it so often did. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Reagan realized she had very little time to get herself ready and get back down here to greet the Ministers and guests. She hurried herself out of the auditorium and used the Floo network to get herself ready at her place.
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TWO HOURS LATER...

Reagan hurried back into the auditorium, her recently lightened hair pulled back away from her face, her black dress robes flowing around her. With her briefcase in her hand and pearls around her neck, she hurried down the aisle inspecting every last aspect of the room. Reagan was quite pleased with the displays for each country, hoping that the Ministers would appreciate the efforts to offer glimpses into each culture.

Ensuring that the sticking charms on all the displays were triple secure, Reagan then made her way to the stage, where she repositioned the tables, chairs, and podium to be at just the right angles. Reaching into her briefcase, Reagan pulled out the placecards for each Minister and placed them in alphabetical order at each chair, starting with Australia and ending with the United States. The only Minister out of order was Minister Cooper, who as the hosting Minister was placed in the center of the group.

Knowing that people would soon be arriving, Reagan hurried to the Ministry kitchens to obtain the cultural food items that would be offered to all in attendence. The spread was incredible. Some of the food was placed on two food tables in the back of the auditorium, which people could grab on their way in or out, and the remainder of the food was displayed on a table on stage only for the Ministers. The food options were printed on small cards that laid on the table for anyone to take, which read:

Quote:

The following foods represent some of the most famous delicacies and delectibles from each country at our conference. Enjoy your edible trip around the world!

Australia - Vegemite and cracker biscuits, Violet Crumble bars, pavlova
UK - Bread pudding, crumpets, scones, fish and chips
Bulgaria - Shopska salad, pita bread, kashkaval, Garash cake
China - Frogs legs, egg roles, black sesame rolls, coconut bars, bing zi (chinese pancakes)
France - croissants, eclairs, mini quiches, and various pates
India - papadums, jalebi, samoussas, dharwad peda, chai tea
Japan - sushi assortment (eel, octopus, urchin, squid, oysters, quail eggs, cucumber, tuna, shrimp); green teas
Norway - mini open-faced sandwiches, lefse with liggonberry jam
Peru - anticuchos, empanadas, alfajores, turrones, Chicha Morada
United States - fried chicken, apple pie, hamburgers, cotton candy, macaroni and cheese

She then sat down in her chair on the stage, which was positioned behind Minister's Cooper's chair, and wrote Cambell a memo to begin bringing the foreign Ministers down. She enchanted the parchment and watched as it exited the room, following slowly behind it to the doorway so that she could greet the Ministers and employees as they arrived.

OOC: For details on the decorations in the auditorium, please read the previous posts. Enjoy!

Jose entered the auditorium and looked around. Enchanting! This looked much more festive, he thought.

Escorting the Peruvian Minister Melanie felt really proud of herself. Her father should have seen her now. Almost smirking at the thought she abandoned it immediately, though. There were more important things than this now. For example this amazing auditorium and the fact that she was entering it with a foreign minister. Wow! Glancing at the minister next to her she thought that he looked quite content. More than content, actually, more like amazed. "So, do you like it here in Britain, Sir?" She wanted to know batting her eyelashes at him. Yes, she was definitely enjoying herself.

Kaylee took a seat in the auditorium and looked at the little table in front of her. Oooh...vegemite!! Her absolute all time favourite and oh...violet crumble bars too. OMG!!! And they had pavlova oh she was so going to make herself sick on all of this.

Picking up a cracker, she spread liberal amounts of vegemite onto it and tucked in viguorously. Mmmm...now that was better. Nothing like vegemite to get the day started on the right note.

Evaline swiftly exited the lift gates to Level ten. She was running late which was not like her and she needed to get down to the Ceremonies since after all her department did plan most of it.

Walking toward the doors to the auditorium, she saw Reagan standing there looking like she was there to greet people. She made sure her black robes were not creased and she made sure her necklace was on correct and that the gold matched her dress, and of course it did. Evaline did know how to style after all.

With a smile on her face she walked up to Reagan. "Hey sorry I'm a little late. Needed to make sure I had everything set up in my Department." she replied to her. "Have any of the Ministers arrived?" she asked her.

Syd grabbed a plate and started to pile food up onto it. A little fried chicken, a little mac & cheese, a couple eclairs, and a cup of green tea. Nothing like good ole home cookin'.

"Wonder who they got ta' make it," he said as he bit into the chicken. "Hm... not bad I guess."

It was then he realized he was talking to himself. He scooped up some of the mac and ate it quickly to stop himself.

Lola rushed down to the auditorium, afraid she had napped through the Opening Ceremonies. She woke up alone in the office, and was relieved to see she had not missed this. Right as she walked in, the smell of dozens of unique dishes wafted through the auditorium. Her nose took her right to the food tables, and to the mac & cheese. She also grabbed some assorted sushi and some other food items she picked out of blind faith.

She wandered around for a bit, awkwardly eating the food, which was delicious. She swore she never had better sushi in her life, even when she travelled to Japan as a child. She recognized the Department Head for her level, and decided to mingle for a little. "Hello, sir," she said to him, trying to show and equal amount of respect, confidence, and smoothness. She straightened her back, and tried to nonchalantly hold her plate of food.

Edward stops at the entrance to the conference room. He tugs at his dress robes one more time. Edward hates wearing these kind of robes. They hamper an auror's movements. He takes out the photo of the French Minister Forrester provided. Edward enters the conference room and scans for the French Minister.

After finally realizing Evaline had dropped a notice in his office, Enrico strolled down to the Conference. He was most curious to see how the decorations and everything had turned out, since most of his department had been working on it.

He walked in the door slowly and took a glance around; the place just looked great. So did the food, oooh. Chicha Morada was the first thing he spotted - mmm, such a delicious, spicy, purpley beverage.

Rico headed towards the Peruvian foods but stopped when he saw his boss talking to the Slave of Honor Minister's undersecretary. "Hello Evaline, Miss Undersecretary," he greeted them both warmly. "The decorations look wonderful, don't they?" Rico smiled and stuck his hands pockets, just making small talk before the ceremony began.

Nicoli stepped into the Conference room with quite a few butterflies in his stomach. He was supposed to give a speech, and he'd done nearly nothing in the last few days. Horrific! Perhaps some food would calm him down? Nicoli turned to the large table of food and pondered his first choices of international delicacy. Of course, he would have to try something from every country so as not to offend.

Teal looked as his watch as the lifts opened at level ten, and the distant feminine voice muttered ‘courtrooms’ or something having to do with Wizengamont. He was actually pretty early, so hopefully his new addition to the ceremonies would be a good idea. Looking at the medium sized create in his right hand, that was glowing through the wood, he smiled. The tiny little fairies would be a nice, bright addition to float around benevolently in the courtroom throughout the opening ceremonies.

Once he stepped into his destination, his eyebrows perked up as he saw that the place had turned into. “Wow.” He muttered indifferently, the employee’s from the Ministers Office had really put things together nicely. Teal looked around momentarily and spotted a lot of familiar faces already there as well. There was Reagan, Department Head in the Ministers Office. Then there was Syd Wordsmith and Evaline Bass, Department Heads in Law Enforcement and International Cooperation respectively. He gave a brisk ‘hello’ to Evaline and Syd as he made his way over to Reagan; the two of them were quite a bit younger than him, and never knew them from his Hogwarts years or anything. Once he reached Reagan he placed the crate softly at their feet. “G’day Reagan.” He said with a nod, taking out his wand. “I know you didn’t ask for fairies, but I figured it would be a nice addition.” Teal added with a nod, what could it hurt anyways. “If you think it’s a bit too much I can send em’ back to the Canary Islands today.” Looking behind him for just a moment, Teal sighed. Hopefully all of his employee’s that were speaking today would make it down soon, later comers would not be appreciated.

Egypt walked off the lifts as the gilded doors slid open. She wasn't nervous she was used to entertaining heads of state from around the world. Her mother was ever the hostess. Royal balls and such every time she could throw one.

Egypt was wearing a costume made green and yellow robe for the occasion. It was more form fitting than most robes and it had bead work around the neck and wrists. She wanted to look nice and she hoped Nathan thought she did. She looked around and saw that the Ministry had outdone itself. It was nice. She walked around looking at everything.

Dan walks out of the lifts and towards the people in fancy robes making merry. H was accustomed to parties but he was not accustomed to see so many department heads in one place. Dan got his composure back and walked towards the tables. He glanced back and orth to see if there is someone he knows whom he could chat about.

Unable to spot someone he knows, he decided to grab something to eat. He was astounded by the variety of food the Ministry had prepared. He was surprised for himself that he cant pick what to eat.

Tonya Anne walked into the auditorium and adjusted her violet robes and looked around at all the decorations and couldn't believe how much they had accomplished in just a few hours. She looked up at the stage and smiled at Reagan as she took and empty seat and waited for the conference to begin.

Abigail Road, the american Minister, was dragging her escort with her to the Auditorium. "Oh Mah Word! It's BEYOOTIFUL!!!" She jumped up and down clapping her hands together. Oh and look at awl the food! Ah must have something from each countreh! Warren, Darlin, you MUST join meh for dinnah!" She squeeled.

Lorraine hurried down into the courtrooms where she had been all but an hour prior, this time dressed in a slimming deep purple gown complemented with a pearl drop necklace. Hopefully Reagan wouldn't be too upset on her for being a little late...

Of course the moment she entered the familiarly decorated room - minus the food display which was added after she left - she gulped nervously at seeing a good portion of her fellow departmental heads there already. There was Teal from Creature, Syd from Law Enforcement, Evaline from International Cooperation, Egypt from Maintenance... She sighed thoughtfully, trying to recall who was still missing. The guy from Accidents & Catastrophes, whom she hadn't the pleasure of meeting yet; the Mysteries Head, who was still a mystery; Samantha, head of Education; and of course, Theo from Sports and Games. Whew! She was far from the last, which definitely relaxed her slightly.

Making her way over towards the first woman in sight (Abigail), whom she judged by her speak was the American Minister, the Transportation Department Head nodded politely at her. "Hello and welcome to our country, our Ministry." May as well get to know the fellow Ministers whilst awaiting the arrival of others.

Angelica made her way down to level 10 and into the courtrooms where the opening ceremony for the international conference was taking place. Dressed in a silk light blue gown, gold pendant and high heels the brunette took a look around. Her fellow ministry employees had definitley outdone themselves with the decorations. Angelica also noted the food table with food from all the different countries partaking in the conference.

Lorraine was already there along with most of the other department heads and foreigh minister's. Deciding to have a look around at the decorations and pieces about each foreign country, Angelica started on a slow walk around the room. She wouldn't mind mingling with people from the other departments but who should she talk too??

To be perfectly honest, throughout the little tour they had given them around the British Ministry of Magic, Svetlana had been, to say bluntly, in her own little world. Mind you, her efforts for trying to tune out the useless chatting that the people around her had work pretty well, for the woman could not recall how she had arrived to the place where the opening Ceremony would be held.

Large turquoise eyes examined the room critically. Her nose wrinkled. Average decoration. Britons did not have much imagination when it came to decoration, obviously.

Smoothing her red wine robes with a swift movement of her small hand, Jespersen proceed to walk towards the food table. Sandwiches. Though the Norwegian Minister of Magic had to admit those look quite appetizing, hunger was something she was not feeling right now. She would have to have some later, though.

One small hand raised and gingerly touched one of her platinum blonde thick curls--it was an absent minded movement, for Svetlana looked quite stunning if she did say so herself--and trust me she did.

Hmph. Now, when was this going to start? She was a very busy woman. Besides, soon would be the time to feed her precious white cat, Mrs. Paws, and the woman did not trust anyone else to do this task. People could be incredibly careless, and Mrs Paws was not an easy one to handle. Just like its owner.

Nathan got out the lifts on Level 10. He had somehow managed to loose Apha completely in the midst of all that flouncing. The two never did manage to get that cup of coffee.

He hadn't a clue what the conference thingy was about but he had heard there was food involved and that was more than enough to motivate his legs to carry him down here.

He wandered into the ceremony looking a little lost. He had changed into a smart fitted suit for the occasion which Egypt had bought him ages ago but had remained in the back of his wardrobe until now. He looked at the label before putting it on. Armani? Merlin's bottom! Nathan had nearly had a fit. What was it with his wife and labels? He just didn't get it. He would have been quite happy decked out in Primark's finest. Though he was glad to be out of those itchy robes which were causing him no end of discomfort.

He headed straight to the food table, having a good look at everything that was on offer. Hmm.. so much to choose from. In the end he settled on a plate full of fried chicken and nothing else. There's such a thing as too much choice, you know? He moved away from the food table and into a quiet corner to eat, feeling a little awkward just being here.

Cambell entered the confrence room and following her were all the ministers that had joined her for a grueling tour of the Ministry. She stood by the door until everyone from her party was inside and then she walked up to Reagan. She was on a sort of stage, so Cambell lifted herself on to it and approached her.
"Mrs. Taylor, is there anything else you would like for me to do?" She asked when she reached her side.

With his mind laden with all sorts of different things having to do with their elusive thief, Nicoli made his choices. He piled on a few Vegemite and cracker biscuits from Australia; a crumpet from the UK; Shopska salad from Bulgaria; two egg rolls from China; a mini-quiche from France; a samoussa from India; a few shrimp sushi from Japan; lefse with liggonberry jam from Norway;an empanada from Peru and some American apple pie. Gosh. That was a lot to stomach.

Nevertheless, he selected a samoussa from his plate at random and took a healthy bite. The explosion that occurred in his mouth could have blown the top off one of those cement mixer things. Nicoli's blue eyes began to water slightly and he forced himself not to collapse. He calmly poured himself a glass of cool lemonade and downed half of it. His ears were still burning. Not to mention his eyes, he was crying a river! Nicoli quickly blinked away the remainder of salty tears and smoothed down his special midnight blue robes. These ones appeared black until they caught the light. Sort of magical, you know?

Nicoli glanced at those around him and spotted his Department Head near the end of the table. Hopefully he didn't see that scene. Nicoli refilled his glass, picked up his plate and walked towards her as if nothing had happed.
"Good evening, sir," he said smiling.

Cassandra walked into the room and stayed by the door to await the Japanese Prime Minister. She looked at everyone already in the room and smiled at all the foreign ministers. This was all coming together nicely, and she hoped that everything would go smoothly with no bumps. She looked at the table of food and fought the urge to go over there to try some of the food, some of them looked pretty good and she had to make sure she tried some of them, especially the ones from Japan.

Armen walked into the Ministry auditorium where there was alot of people. Co workers, Division Heads, Department heads, and Ministers from all the varius foreign Minitries. He was excited so he went and found the French minister to say hello, because he had met him at his old job in France.

Jose was overcome. 'Britain? Ah well, the only part that I have seen is your charming Ministry Building.' he replied, with his beaming smile.

I would love to show you my country sometime. It is most magnifico. You would be interested, yes?, he asked, gazing deep into her eyes.

Elwood looked about having no idea where the Minister of India had gotten off to, he was a bit worried that he wouldn't find him in time for the ceremonies.