Teal looked into the dark figure of Roxie Mathias as there was yet another knock at the door. Merlin, does it ever stop? Teal took a deep breath and looked over Ms. Mathias as the door creaked open. He had never been this busy in his life, it was quite outrageous. As the guy asked if it was a bad time, Teal shook his head and welcomed the man in. "Not at all." Teal said, knowing that he was the other new addition the the Dragon Bureau. "Actually, Mr. Griffin, it's perfect timing. This is your new co-worker in the Bureau." he said, giving a nod into the direction of Ms. Mathias. These two better get along, Teal figured. Arguements in handling dragon's never ended well, Teal knew this from experience.

Alex looked at his new co-worker, not at all put off by her appearance. He held out his hand and said, "Alex Griffin."

Ignoring 'Mr.Andrus', Roxie's eyes eagerly took over the office, searching for any little detail or frill to make fun of. A mother surrounded by more cats than at a tuna convention? An old girlfriend at a family picnic? Him in glasses and headgear? A suffocating feeling doused her when nothing offered a handhold of revenge. Dammit. A professional one at work. So he saves the notoriety for the pubs, eh? Roxie's mouth flexed into a hard, stony line as she ingested Andrus's words, registering the coldness, feeding from it. She leered in response. "I'm glad you think it's a pleasure," she shot back honestly, albeit tactlessly. "Well, to be clear, Mr. Andrus," she continued, choosing to meet the unworthy man's eye as she laid her cards on the table. "I am here to do my job. I don't do tupperware parties. I don't do baby showers. If you need a volunteer for Sissy Sissington's 32nd anniversary as this floor's janitor, you can automatically scratch me off the list." Firmly her head bobbed. Her razor-sharp ebony nails made a horrendous shrieking noise against the lacquered finish of the chair arm. Roxie raked her brain for more bludgeoning remarks that wouls assign Mr. Andrus a new migraine prescription. "I just handle the fire-breathers and I can guarantee you one thing." She grinned, the fat tongue stud snining brightly with every swift, biting move of her lips. "I'm more of a pain in the butt that they'll ever be. So, I'll earn every Knut of my paycheck. I also don't give a damn about whatever happened at the Cauldron." Her brows knit as she bent toward Teal, scrutizing him beadily. If he wasn't aware of how many spikes she wore at the moment, he would now recognize what those beads lining her corset were. She smiled. "I'm actually in a quite good mood, no need to get testy, mate. I'm rather excited to do the job." Cue heinous grin. Hold it. Hold. It. Satisfied, she leaned back, unable to breathe that polo-playing, lawn party cologne of his without wearing her lunch. "Wearing what?" Her head snapped down hawkishly, preying on the shining ministry badge that sat in Teal's outstretched palm. God, if that thing was a pink suit, I don't care. I'll live in the gutter and eat my guitar. Still, it's a badge. How Girl Scout Wizards. Gee, I wonder what prize they give for most Cockroach Clusters sold? Her pinkie nail unintentionally scratched the surface of his hand as she snatched the badge, rolling her eyes at it. "Yeah, right, s'pose this has a tracker, eh? Like a wildebeest? Making sure that we're not going to a secret Death Eater cult or smuggling ashwinder eggs for our next bonfire, eh boss?" Tossing her head, a hollow laugh escaped her throat as she pinned the badge onto her lapel, throwing him a heaping mockery of a wink. "Aye aye boss!" Her rigid hand glanced off her forehead in a pin-straight salute. "I..." Roxie, like Teal, reached the end of her rope when the door banged open. Of course, where Teal had a nice, healthy rope, Roxie had about a centimeter to her good name. "Next!" she crowed at the gentleman at the door, reclining possessively in her seat as her eyes eerily darted back and forth between the two men, like observing a tennis match. Her mood became steadily brighter and sunnier---she felt like feeding deer and bluebirds---as a new co-worker was introduced. Yeah, right. "Fine, fine," she tutted, crossing her arms over her chest and appraising the man with forbidding eyes. Who extended a hand. Staring at it warily, Roxie pulled a confused face before aiming a creepy finger at it, the one with the skull ring as it happened. "What? You want me to bite it off or something?"
Odd folk.

Alex frowned. "No, you shake it. Try to bite it and I'll probably slap you, regardless of what chivalry says. Working with dragons will get you worse than that." he shot back. Teal Andrus sat calmly. Goodness knows how he could remain that impassive. Alex withdrew his hand, determined to get along with this woman, whether she liked it or not. "Give me a name at least?" he said, scowling and trying to hide it, unsuccessfully. Geez, first day and he was already heading toward a mess. Dragons and trouble like this would not mix well, he was sure. Hey, arguments and pet shops didn't mix, and dragons were about a hundred times more testy than what you get in your average pet shop. Wizarding or otherwise.

Jake peeked through a crack in the doorway. It looked like an argument was going on... Maybe now wasn't the best time... Then again, he was usually good at calming arguments. He stepped confidently into the Department Head's office. "Jakob Prince," he said, holding out his hand to Mr. Andrus, his liquid emerald eyes sparkling charmingly.

Alex looked away from Roxie to the new kid who just walked in. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Boy, this interruption came at a good time. The last thing his new boss needed was to have his two new workers go at it over a hand shake. Letting out the breath as the new kid introduced himself as Jakob, Alex watched as he walked up to Mr. Andrus. Hating his first impression of the kid, Alex thought sarcasticly, Schmoozing the boss. Great. Just what we need right now.

It did feel good. Being raised by emotionally unstable Death Eaters. You got yourself in some fuuuuun situations. Roxie glanced down, her sloping black lashes concealing her deadly glare from view. She toyed with the thorny cross, so heavy it appeared to contribute to her constant uncaring posture. Twisting the crucifix with no apparent interest, Roxie pertly rose from her seat with a terrific swish of moth-eaten lace, completely ignoring this intruder. If possible, her intimidation factor only rested in the clothes. Standing erectly showed every flaw; it showed thinness by the puckering folds in her velvet blazer, where ribs were. Yet she snarled, literally. Her dusty rose lips formed a distate-filled pout when he mentioned handshaking. Roxie recoiled a step, scowling with aversion toward human contact. "Look, let's not get all touchy-feely until at least season three," she shot him down, hands forming claws at their sides. Her eyes darted rabidly toward the door. The caged animal feeling was so ugly, but felt so tempting at first. She prowled a few steps toward the exit, restlessly gnawing her pierced lip. After all, she signed up to travel and wrangle dragons. Just herself and death-defying encounters with fire-breathing beasts. Just herself and her broom. Ramen and guitar in a one-man camp. She never feared the dark, but embraced it with open arms. Herself. The Lone Danger. I can't do documents all day! CAN'T! Can't deal with Mr. Pep Squad over here who practically tried to snog me. I want freedom. I want to fly and face death. And an escape from. Incompetent. Insensitive. Imbeciles! Her head roared and her chest heaved with sickened dislike for the man at the desk, the man before her, and oh great let's multiply, the man who entered. Bloody kiss-up. First day and already pandering for a raise. And probably gonna get over someone who's GOT mouths to feed! Her disgust for the man was clear. Then, Dummy n.1 came up with sheer brilliance. "Hah! Humbug!" she trilled, doubling over with peals of gleeful laughter. "Bite me! Sweetie, I do love your courage. But really," he gaze touched to the practical armor she donned, cocking her head with bewilderment. "You're a fairly handsome boy. You have a shot at a wife. Let's not fight with me. Yawon'twin!" she spat hotly, the adrenaline of debate spicing her veins. Stupid little boys. Almost reminds me of---NO---let's not go there. "If you'd listen to your boss, mate, he'd just said my name several times. Tsk, tsk, not a very promising start." her lips smacked authoratively over the words, eyelids drooping boredly. Flicking a stray lock of her black waterfall back, her arms traveled to her hips again, fingers aching against the crush of the numerous spikes at her waist. "Ms. Mathias. No nicknames. No first names. Or you won't be able to pronounce words, let alone ANY name, Kapische? Anyway, boss, if I'm all done here, I think I'll haul some. Sucked meeting ya," she shrugged with a losing smile and swooped toward the door with deafening clunks, the odor of conversating people, with good intentions (and blasted camraderie) too much.

"Nice meeting you, too," Alex said, sarcastically, under his breath, "Ms. Mathias." To his boss he said, "Anything else?" losing the sarcasm. "If not I'll just go."

Teal blink in disbelief as Roxie began to go on about how she wasn’t going to be the most, admirable, employee. As much as he wanted to kick her out of the office there and then, he did remember reading over her file. She was gifted, very gifted, in working with Dragon’s and would with no doubt be a massive asset when working with them. Although, disrespect was one thing he had trouble swallowing. ”Don’t worry about it miss, I wasn’t planning on it.” he said with a venomous hint to his tone in response to her telling him to ‘scratch her name off the list’. Then there was the boasting, she even went on to label her self a bigger pain in the butt than the dragons… That might just hold true. “Let’s not get too cocky now.” He said with a wink to his new, difficult, employee. “And let’s hope you earn every knut of your paycheck. If not, then me and you will be having some talks in my office, and I know how much you’d enjoy that.” Teal said, aggravated as he took the final swig from his mug. “As for the Leaky Cauldron, I care either. Don’t really remember much of that night anyways.” Teal admitted, and smiled to himself inwardly but kept the malevolent start on his face.

Teal scowled as that girl leaned towards him, What kind of deranged psycho acted liked this to their boss, on the first day of work? Teal didn’t cower backwards, not a chance. Instead he leaned forward, just less than a foot away from her face. She explained that she was in a great mood and Teal took a deep breath, exhaling out of his nose. “Great to hear Ms. Mathias, but I’m not here to talk about what mood your in.” he said, pulling out a notebook that had a lot of information on the upcoming convention. He needed to talk about all of it with his employee’s.

Teal grinned as Roxie looked clearly appalled by her new Ministry badge. She went on how about how it was somehow a tracker, and Teal merely furrowed his brow and show his head. “Yeah, whatever you say.” Bloody psycho.


Teal held his now empty coffee mug and scowled, a long day without the coffee was never good. Holding his breath, he watched as Mr. Griffin introduced himself to the heathen. Please be decent, professional at the very very least, Teal ran over in his mind. No of course not, Roxie’s comment was way out of line; this girls a mess. And right as Teal opened his mouth to snap at her Alex intervened himself. His retort was just as rude and Teal looked to Ms. Athlon wondering what the poor woman’s reaction was at the moment. Teal was about to scream at the top of his lungs at both of them when there was yet another person entering the room. He breathed, very deeply as he wanted this day to end more than anything he could think of. He rubbed his eye’s very quickly before he matched face with file, as yes the new member of the Pest Advisory Board. The man stuck out a hand and actually introduced himself in a civilized way. Thank GOD. Teal shook the man’s hand firmly, his dark blue eye’s seeping into his emerald ones. “Pleasure to have you here.” Teal said with a blank nod, the man had to understand that Teal was having a bad day by the mere expression on his face. “Teal Andrus.” he said returning the introduction as he shuffled a few papers on his desk.

Teal watched on as they continued to argue and once Roxie had nearly finished his final sentence he absolutely exploded. He slammed his coffee mug down on his desk and felt it break into a few different pieces. “STOP!.” He yelled across the small, yet packed room to Ms. Mathias who was attempting to exit. “This isn’t Hogwarts, children, you are working with DRAGONS.” He said, glaring at both Roxie and Alex, but mainly Roxie. “If you two really want to duke it out, do it outside of work. Not here. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD.” He said, LOUD and clear.

Teal took a long deep breath reached over to his desk and picked up a certain notebook. He tried to clear his sudden outburst from his mind but couldn’t. That was probably do to a couple of things… One being his heavy workload of late. The main reason being that his son was coming to live with him tomorrow, his son that he hadn’t spoken to once. The stress was far too much for him to handle. Tucking the notebook under his arm, Teal headed for the door. He stopped at it and looked back. “Ms. Mathias and Mr. Griffin, if you could please follow me I will show you to your offices. Plus, there are important matters that we need to discuss that actually involve the things you applied for.” he said with a bitter bite to his tone.

Teal looked back to Jakob and Raven with a sympathetic smile. “I apologize, I am going to have to get back to both of you.” he said, scratching his temple. “Ms. Athlon, if you could just momentarily return to the Spirit Division offices, I will have Vlad explain everything to you that I was going to.” He said with a weak smile, making a mental note to memo Vlad about it ASAP. “And Jakob, the Pest Advisory Board Offices are just down the hall to the left. Can’t miss it, and I’ll be there to settle you in after I am finishing in Dragon Restraint.” he said with another quick look to his broken coffee mug. “And if you don’t mind, could you please repair that mug?” he asked with a small, guilty smile.

Turning back to Alex and Roxie, Teal gave them a short sigh. “Alright then, follow me.” he said, and headed out the door on his way to the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau.

"I'll get it." Alex pointed his wand at the broken mug and spoke the spell to fix it, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath and followed his boss and Roxie outside the office. Way to go, Alex. he thought disapprovingly to himself. "Mr. Andrus, I'm really sorry," he began, not caring what either person thought, but stopped at the look on his boss' face.

Jakob could tell by the atmosphere and the strain on the man's face that today was not going well at all. Maybe I should introduce him to Grace... He thought vaguely of his first-year sister. She would be able to help with his stress at the very least. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Andrus. I didn't realize now was such a bad time..." Jake was beginning to feel a bit guilty... then again, this guy looked like he could use a distraction right about now. He deftly pointed his wand at the broken mug, watching it repair and refill itself out of the corner of his eye. "I'd really like you to meet my little sister," he added as an afterthought. "I think you would enjoy that. It would be good for your health too."

Wow... Jake felt really bad for these guys. Who would want to work with THAT? He turned toward her, trying his hardest to be charming, but he thought it came out more like... He didn't know what, but it wasn't charm. "Thank you, Ms. Mathias," he said, acknowledging her compliment on his looks, trying not to say what he was thinking I bet I could beat you with one hand and half my brain tied behind my back. It was a good thing that his face was so hard to read, his composure excellent.

Teal watched on warily as Alex fixed his mug, rubbing his temple again in the process as he was developing a headache. Teal looked to Alex as he apologized and nodded his head. It was all behind them now, and Teal was never the grudge holding type, only under extreme cases did he truly carry on hatred. "Its fine, its fine." Teal exclaimed blankly, trying to hide the irritation that was in his life at the time. "It's behind us, we have other things to worry about." he said with a definite nod, thinking of the convention.

Teal smiled as his other employee spoke, "Pleasure to meet you as well Jakob." he said with a professional nod. "Not a bad time at all, just, bad timing I suppose." he said with a wink. Teal sighed slightly as he asked that he should meet his little sister, good for him? He wasn't ever good with children so he highly doubted that would work, but maybe she would be someone that could entertain his son that was getting in tomorrow. "That would be great." he said warily, turning around and opening the door.

"Alright then, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Mathias. Let's head out." he said with a nod, exiting the room and heading to the Dragon Restraint Bureau. Once they had exited before him, he looked back to Jakob, "I'll be with you in Pest Advisory within the next hour." He said tiredly, and headed down the corridor.

Catlin walked up to the division heads door and knocked waiting patiantly for a response

A long day again, Teal was briskly shuffling though paperwork. Hearing a knock on the door, he quickly rubbed his eyes and set his quill down. "Come on in." he said in his deep, gruff voice. Hopefully there wasn't a problem, he didn't know how he could handle any more stress at the moment.

Upon hearing the order to come in Catlin slowerly opened the door and entered the office Good day Mr Andrus, My name is Catlin Scuto and I work in the elf relocation office. Why did she just say that of course he knew that he employed her! she thought to herself wanting to slap herself. Catching back up with herself she continued, Its just Jack sent me to see if you have heard any news about what happened with Sparky the elf once he left our floor and was taken to the Minister. She paused for the moment going through it all in her head she was sure that was all, Oh no wait there was one other thing Has anyone been assigned to deal with the sphinx in the breakroom? she asked inquisitively. standing waiting for a repy she suddenly felt rather nervous

Teal grinned up as his employee came through the door, apparently feeling the need to introduce herself. He simply smiled, and motioned towards the chair, “Please, have a seat.” He said, sneaking a quick sip out of his coffee mug. Ms. Scuto began to go into the the whole ordeal with Sparky, Teal gave the woman a smug grin. “All is well with Sparky, for the time being.” He said with a nod, that moody little house elf was always going to be starting trouble within the Ministry, he had a feeling. “The elf made his way into the Ministers Office and it was taken care of from there.” He finished, glad that all of that was over.

Ah, then there was the ongoing problem with that sphinx. He was pretty sure he ordered his division head James Randall to deal with that, but seeing as he hasn’t seen the man in a fews days it appears he hadn’t. “I’m not entirely sure, I’ve been a busy man lately. The breakroom is acting as the sphinx’s holding room until we can get ahold of the Minister.” He said with a sigh, “And as a matter o’ fact, I better go check on there here after I finish my paperwork.” He said, rubbing his temple as he sighed a few more papers.

Drago knocked on the door and waited patiently, just in case he was interrupting something. Not that he was an impatient man. He had his coffee, and the sphinx was fed. Not too bad of a wait.

Just as he was about to add something to his list of things to say to Ms. Scuto, there was yet another knock on his door. Man, it's busy this time of year. Teal took a sip out of his coffee and looked back up to the big door. "Come in." called out his deep voice, wondering who stood beyond.

Drago slipped in and gave a small bow, though he couldn't tell anyone why he did it. Somehow his more formal upbringing was starting to get the better of him. And of course, all without spilling a drop of his coffee. "Pardon for the intrusion... But there is a very hungry and pregnant sphinx who nearly ate me in the break room, and is feeling quite ignored. I can understand if the Minister is busy, but no one else seems to have thought it wise to feed the thing. I managed to convince it to let me go out and bring back lunch for her, but I do not think that she will be be content much longer in there. She was pretty cranky. Oh, and something about wanting to be freed of cells and offices, because her child should live in freedom."

Teal smiled as Mr. Carracio slipped into the room. His bow was foreign and something he wasn’t used to, but it was nice to see; he had to admit. Perfect timing, that bloody sphinx was being all sorts of trouble still. He hadn’t managed to work it out, and he had expected James to finish it. It seemed like something had come up for him, and the Sphinx remained an obstacle.

Handling it with force was usual an appealing idea, but it was pregnant and no measures would be taken that would possibly hurt the child. “Ah, yes. The Minister is too busy to handle this at the moment.” He said with a nod. “But maybe, maybe I can convince her to comply.” He said, rubbing his chin. “That sphinx belongs to Gringotts, and there is nothing we can do to ensure her escape into her habitat.” He said with a frown, that would cause a riot with the Goblins. “But, her child is a completely different story.” He said, looking around his desk for something to right on. He finally found it and scribbled down a reminder and stood up from his desk. “It might be a tough case, but I think we will win the childs freedom in court. If we let her know that, hopefully she will be at ease with us. Getting her stressed out right before her childs birth is something we have to avoid.” He said with a nod, taking steps towards the door. “Alright then, lets give it a try.” He said, smiling both to Mr. Carracio and Ms. Stuco.

He nodded to Teal, considering. "The child will need to be cared for, of course. If necessary, I am prepared to care for the young sphinx, if we cannot win her freedom as well. I would not normally offer, however I have a feeling it may be essential in negotiating with her. She has decided to consider us allies, due to my concern for her and her child."

Violet had talked to Elizabeth Laurent, like Teal had said. She pushed open the door to his office and stood in one of the corners, waiting patiently for him to be available so she could retell the conversation.

After dealing with, matters, Teal finally made his way back into his office and was relieved to see Violet back from her trip to Diagon Ally. Hopefully everything went well, "Ah, Violet. What did Ms. Laurent have to say?" he said, concerned, as he sat down behind his desk, gesturing for her to have a seat opposite him.

Violet sat in the chair he gestured to. "It went quite well. She was a bit intimidated when i first arrived, but she calmed down once I told her what I was there for. She thought that I was accusing Ollivander's of taking all the wood at first, but when I assured her I wasn't accusing her of anything, she relaxed." Violet took a breath. "She said that there were not very many wand-trees in the Dark forest with good-quality wood. She thinks that there is a possibility that imposters are taking large amounts of wood, and trying to frame others. She is going to get in touch with all the wand-makers she knows, to see if they took a lot of wood from the Dark Forest. If they all deny it, we will have to send someone to investigate. I'm to go check up on her in a few days." Violet sat back, finished retelling.

Teal nodded when Violet mentioned that Ms. Laurent was a bit intimidated. That was one thing that Teal had learnt through the years, the Ministry was a rather intimidating industry. It was the next part that bothered Teal, it looked like this was going to turn into a long, drawn out case. He was hoping that after the convention, things would finally calm down and he could just kick his heels up, no such thing was going to happen.

He took a quick sip from his coffee mug, and sat it back down on his desk with a frown. “Ah, I see.” He said with a nod. “I am not very familiar with wandlore, but that does make sense. I can see why dark wizards would want to take wood from dark tree’s.” he said with a sigh, picking up his quill and writing down a few notes. “Alright, well, after then convention we can check back in with Ms. Laurent and go from there.” He said professionally, scribbling a few more things down on his parchment. “And we need to start planning our mission into the forest. This needs to take action directly after the convention, so, in about a weeks time.” He said with a nod, writing down dates and descriptions.

Dark Wizards in the Forest eh? Teal shuddered at the though, he himself was a decent duelist but he figured it would be prudent to have Magical Law Enforcement involved as well. “I know that we will be more than capable of defending ourselves against the centaurs.” He said, then paused for a moment. “But if there are any Dark Wizards in the forest with us, they won’t just step down. It might be smart to bring along a few aurors as well. Don’t you think?” he asked, pressing his lips together in thought. "We have no idea as to how many there are out there taking wood from the trees." he added in a afterthought.