Olivia stood up nervously.
She was never very good at public speaking,and having to do it in front of her new boss was,somehow,even worse.

"Ummm hi," she said giving a little wave,that she automatically felt embarrassed at. "I'm Olivia Hawthorne,I'm 18 nearly 19 and I would like to do my bit in helping the Ministry run like clockwork."

Shuffling her feet she smiled at those around her and sat down again,smoothing out her robes as she did so.

"Hey ," Dan stood up and with a lot of confidence stated his particulars.

"I'm Daniel Smith, but you can call me Dan. You may have seen me at the Security desk before but I am really a MAintenance Employee. I am 21 by the way"

Abigail smiled. "Hey. My names Abigail Wood, im 23 years old." She blushed and looked down as she finished.

"Is that everyone?" asked Attica, looking around. She was sure there were more than four people in the maintenance department. However, after a few minutes, no one else had arrived for the meeting and Attica was forced to continue. She hoped some more people showed up soon, but until then, she had a job to do.

Attica rubbed her hands together and looked around at the group.

"Well, everyone, I must say once again how pleased I am to meet you all. I hope that we will make a great team, though I know it will take time for us to get used to working together. I wanted to start out with my expectations for you as department head, just so that there aren't any misunderstandings, and so that you guys don't have to wander around wondering whether something you might be doing is right or wrong. I expect all my employees to come to work on time which is a standard for any place of employment. I expect you to be properly attired in your Maintenance robes or coveralls, depending on the occasion. I wouldn't want you mopping up flobberworm pus in your good robes, so coveralls will do nicely for day to day operations. I encourage you to use any means possible to keep the Ministry clean, tidy, and running efficiently, whether you choose to do that by magical or Muggle means. You will find supplies for both options available in the Supply closet located down the hall. If ever you see the supply closet running low on something, leave a note on my desk in the Magical Maintenace and Security Office. I will check my inbox frequently throughout the day, so that will be the best way to let me know about stuff like that. Does anyone have any comments, questions, suggestions, or complaints so far?"

Jess listened to Attica speaking and then looked around the breakroom. Not a lot of people had turned up to the meeting. Jessica put her hand up to ask a question." Is it alright if you put a note up on the door of the supply closet instead of leaving one in the Magical and Maintenance Office,"she had just remebered that se had put up a note there about something.

Attica laughed. "You don't need to worry, my dear!" she said, smiling at the young woman. "I'm not going to snap at you. I found your note on the door of the supply closet and that was fine, but to answer your question, for the future I would prefer such notes to come to my inbox in my office. Does anyone else have any questions?"

Edward walked into the breakroom and headed to the refirgerator where he pulled out a selection of fine coffees. He turned to Lili and asked her, "Do you have a preference for coffee flavors?"

'Not really,' Lili told him, 'anything suits me as long as it does not have to strong of a taste.' She walked towards him and picked one at random out of his hand. 'I'm indesisive, so I'll just do it this way,' she said with a smile.

Edward watched as Lili walked up and chose a variety. He looked down to see a nice sumatran coffee with a mild flavor. He quickly ground it and set it to brew.

While they waited for the coffee, he pulled out a chair for her and asked. "So what kinds of things do you do outside of work, since work is an off limits topic of discussion."

Lili smiled as he mentioned that she wasnt able to talk about work. 'At the moment, I don't do much outside of work. During the school year though it's a little different. My younger sister came to live with me just last year, so she's home right now. I haven't found much to do actually,' she told him honestly, sure she read and had little things she liked to do, but she sometimes felt, even though she'd been here for awhile, that she'd yet to settle in. She took a sip of her coffee and then said; 'I guess the change of scenery has yet to settle in. How about you?' she asked.

He listened with interest. It seemed she wasn't very active in London yet. "Sounds like adjustments are a bit slow sometimes." When she asked about his activities, he grinned. "Well. Until about 6 months ago, I would go hang out in the pub with my mates. Now, I spend most of my evenings with my girlfriend."

'Yes, they are,' she said. She took a sip from her coffee and asked, 'Does she work at the ministry as well?'

He was enjoying this chat with Lilli. She seemed very nice. In response to her question he shook his head. "She does, but she hasn't been to work in a bit. She's been a bit ill, so I get to go home and take care of her every evening."

Lili smiled sadly as she listened to him. 'I hope she gets better soon,' she said softly. She drank some more of her coffee than said, 'what does being in security at the ministry involve?'

He nodded gratefully. "Thank you." He thought how to explain it in a way that didn't seem quite so dull. "Well, mostly it's checks to ensure no one has gained access without being here properly and working with maintenance to ensure that the systems are functioning properly. We also do some work with special on site events."

After he finished talking, Lili wasnt sure what to say. She wasnt sure what to talk about, so she just said 'Its interesting, you'd know what's going on around most of the ministry. I can't really tell you what I do though...' she finished, just letting it drag on.

He laughed as she seemed to have lost a topic of conversation. "yes. It is. ANd I know you can't tell me. I'm sure it must be thrilling."

He looked at her, she was nice and seemed like a perfectly wonderful woman. "So...have you a boyfriend?" he asked.

She just nodded in response.

'I don't, actually,' she told him, 'I had, but we had to break it off after I moved to London.'

He looked up after she said this. "Why did you have to? he wasn't willing to go long distance?" He asked her. It seemed odd to him that she wouldn't want to be with him.

She understood his repsonse. 'Distance at first as not a problem for him, but you see, before I moved here I had been living in Rio with my parents and when he found out I was moving because my parents had plans to move to the artic he didn't like the distance idea anymore.' She paused remembering that converstation. 'He has a habit of splinching himself,' she said, 'so we both knew it wouldnt work over seas.'

Becca felt him picked her up "Anytime" she mumbled as she put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes "You're very strong you know" she commented as he took her out of the cafeteria.

He walked inside the room carefully not to hit over anything. He didnt want to make her hurt even accidentaly. "Here we're.." he mumbled softly, made her lying on the couch. The room was empty, so perfect. He walked over the windows, opened them wide open to let the fresh air gushed in.

Then he walked back to her, "Sleep love, I'll be here if you want anything," he leaned in, gently kissed on her forehead, looking at her pale face. Wondered, when she's going to get back her strength!

Becca smiled at him "Thanks" she closed her eyes "I'm sorry Brian, I tried my best..." Becca mumbled as she started to drift, this sofa was comfy, better than the one upstairs, she started to think about the Kris and Brian situation but as soon as she thought about how Kris looked at Brian, she realised there must have been some jealousy present, she sighed quietly and fell asleep almost instantly.

Brian placed his hand over her, "Anytime Bec, just relax.." he said, watching her slowly drifted off to sleep or she was alteast trying to, he didnt know. He looked at her quite a long time untill he found one of his leg was started to get numb. Crap!

He sighed and stood up, walking towards the corner table without making noise, to pick up the current Daily Prophet. He sat on the edge of the couch on which Becca was sleeping, going through the prophet pages.

About twenty minutes later, Becca stirred, she heard a small rustling sound, a paper? She turned over onto her stomach and looked over at Brian, she leant her chin on the arm of the chair and watched him silently, waiting for when he saw she was awake, he'd helped her so much today, she had to let him have some time to relax, her face was back to it's normal colour now, she knew it would be, but wondered if Brian would notice.