"Mhm..." she glanced around. " That's quite odd, but I suppose it is normal, because, as you say, this is the Department of Mysteries."


" I agree, and yes that is fine, most people call me that. You may also call me Melina, if you would like to." Melina smiled at her. " So, were you born here in London?", she asked out of curiosity.

"Fascinating. Which school did you attend? At any rate, it's a pleasure to meet someone of a similar mind to my own," she grinned. "Oh, really? I've got a cousin starting Hogwarts next term. Small world, isn't it?"

Then came the patronizing smirk. "I know I will," she replied, restraining the urge to stick her tongue out at him. After all, she wasn't in Hogwarts anymore, and it wouldn't do for her to engage in such unprofessional (but, still rather fun) with her direct superior.

"I'll keep that under consideration. But, until I've worked here a bit longer, I prefer to address everyone properly. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, though," she added, not wanting to seem to stand-offish.

"Ah, yes. I was born in St. Mungos and have lived in London my entire life. Not counting my time at Hogwarts, of course. And yourself?"

"Alright, I can accept that.", said Melina and then answered her question"I was born in New York City actually. I lived there up until I was 20 when I moved here to be with my husband, who had a switched Departments and had to move here, though at the time, he wasn't yet my husband."

"You're married?" Selene asked, slightly surprised.

It seemed as though everyone she came into contact with was married. It made her feel a bit lonely sometimes. Not that she would ever admit to that thought publicly.

"Yes, to a wonderful man." Melina replied with a grin. "You seem a bit taken aback. Are you alright?"

Hmm. A lot of people seemed to be married around here. Kris had just started dating again, anyway. But then he realized that Selene had asked him a question.

"I'm originally from Germany, actually," he said. "So it's no school you've heard of. I would have gone to Durmstrang if it wasn't so far away."

It was nice to see his employees chatting. He began to carefully unpack the Time Turners, and he set them each in a small dish, making sure none of the sand from it spilled. It wasn't sure of what could happen if it did.

"Germany? Hmm, I've always fancied taking a holiday in Bavaria. Have you ever been?" she asked. Who better to ask than a native of the country?

"I'm perfectly alright," she said, turning back to Melina. "Just astonished that so many people I know are married. Well, I'm happy for you both," she smiled beneficently. "I'm single at the moment. But, I look forward to having a family one day."

" Thanks.", smiled Melina. "I'm sure you'll be married too, one day.", she said to Selene.

And to Kris, said "Oh, that's so cool. I went to Germany once. I had an extroidinary time."

"I've actually never made it to Bavaria, but I've heard it's nice," he said. "I'm a native of Heidelberg, to be specific. The only major cities I've been to were Hamburg and Berlin."

Hmm. These dishes were full with the sand from the Time Turners, and it looked as if the ones before were a little sloppy. Just great. Letting out a small sigh, he flicked his blue eyes over towards Melina, who had addressed him next.

"It always makes me glad to hear people enjoyed their stay," he said, smiling. "Some people think we're rather... stubborn." Which was entirely true. But so what, he wasn't that thick headed. "And the language is very rough for people who don't know it."

" I found it very fun. I love learning new languages. And I don't like to stereotype." Melina said as she watched the Time Turners. "I like to get to know the person before I conclude anything." The Time Turners had slowly leaked until most of the sand had filled the dishes.

"English was a challenge at first for me," Kris said, looking back in the box. It seemed he had gotten them all out. Putting his wand in his left hand, he Banished the box and then put the wand in his right hand. "It's always good to be ambidextrious."

More of a comment to himself really. He looked at the table, and then waved his wand over everything there. A light shone, and it enclosed over the table, glowing slightly.

"Don't touch that until tomorrow, when I remove the spell," he said. "It's to prevent anyone from messing it up, and only I can remove it. And if it is touched... well, you'll find out what happens. So please, don't touch it."

He looked back around the room. "Are there any questions?"

Selene listened quietly to the exchange between her colleagues, mostly remaining quiet; but, she would nod occasionally, when it was appropriate. For the most part, though, she remained quiet until Atkins asked her a question directly.

"None at the moment, sir. Except...Why did you decide to come to Britain?"

"Nope, though I am rather excited for tomarrow, I will admit that.", Melina who was quite eager to begin the next day, said. "Actually, I do have a question. May I have a hint at what we are doing?", she asked excitedly.

A personal question? Not really what he had in mind, but whatever works. He stood up and leaned against a wall of the room with his arms folded, eyes looking down at Selene in a non-menacing way.

"My dad's job," he said. "And then my own. I was recommended this position from the German Ministry."

Kris smiled at her enthusiasm about tomorrow. Even though it may not be too thrilling. "Tomorrow we're going to start the end of a task of separating the sand, glass, and wood from the Time Turners. Not extremely thrilling tomorrow." He nodded his head towards the table. "We'll have a mini training session on that, and then the next day we'll learn how to make new ones."

"I see," she replied evenly. God, I hate being short. Would anyone notice if I took a few sips of Skele-Gro, and came back to work a few inches taller on Monday? Very slowly, as to avoid detection, she tried raising herself up onto her toes a bit more, in an effort to make herself seem taller.

Well, at least she'd be getting some work done tomorrow. It was rather fun being an Unspeakable. Now, whenever her mother asked her intrusive questions about what she got up to away from home, Selene could always give her that excuse: 'Sorry, Mum. You know I can't tell you. Unspeakable and all that.'

Kris sensed her feeling short, so he conjured chairs for all of them to sit in. Then he wouldn't tower over them. He laughed slightly at her response, and he sighed slightly.

"I know, not as exciting as me getting kicked out or something," he said. "Guess I'm a rather boring person."

"Thank you," she said graciously, before taking a seat in one of the chairs Atkins had conjured, though that didn't stop her from raising an eyebrow at him. Had her attempts to overcome her vertically-challenged situation been that obvious?

"Quite boring," she concurred, in a tone that was clearly teasing. "You could have at least made up a story about being caught in a compromising situation with the German Minister's significant other, thereby causing you to be banished from the country."

Kris watched her assess him, and he couldn't help it for being polite. He didn't want to seem intimidating, because that may cause problems. Just wanted everyone to feel welcome here.

He couldn't suppress the laughter that came from him with her answer. "Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Ravenclaw?" he inquired. "Because you act a lot like my sister does with the witty remarks."

She chuckled a little. "Oh, no. I was definitely a Slytherin. You know, lurking in dark corridors, attacking innocent little first years and all that other utter nonsense. The Sorting Hat did consider putting me in Ravenclaw for a while, though. But, I manage to talk some sense into it."

"I would study when I had to, but I just couldn't imagine having to live with that many people breathing down my neck to study all of the time for seven years." She shuddered dramatically at the thought of having to be a Ravenclaw. "Slytherin was perfect for such a little wise-cracker like myself."

"Well, that'll be fun.", Melina said. "I've always wanted to learn how they were made. It'll be a great new experience. Seems it must be a bit trickier than just putting together the glass with the wood and putting the sand inside of it."

"Yeah. That would be too easy, wouldn't it?" Selene supposed, agreeing with Melina. She turned her attention to their Division Head. He ought to have all of the answers. "Are the shards and splinters going to attack us as soon as we try to repair them, or do we have to do some particularly tricky charm to fix them?" she asked, looking at Atkins inquisitively.

Kris laughed at her remark about the wise-cracker. Yes, she definitely was.

"Karma never mentioned them having to study all the time," he said. "Then again, she was a bit more of a free spirit. They weren't as hardcore as people make them seem."

He looked over at Melina again when she inquired about the time turners. They were pretty decieving by looking at them, seeming so simple. And most people forgot the simple fact that they weren't.

"Right," he said. "It's not as easy as it seems."

Kris ran a hand through his hair. Some of these may have had their magic go wonky, or some of them were purely hexed. "We'll have to see," he said. "Depending on how well they were made, determines that."

He lifted up a particular containter holding a broken time turner. There was a red X on the outside of it, and he moved it down for them all to look at. He motioned for them to come closer.

"This one," he said. "Is either hexed, or the magic is old and wearing off. Any of the ones with an X are showing properties of irregular time turners. I'll handle those until you feel more comfortable with the others."

"I wouldn't know how Ravenclaws behaved amongst their own. My housemates and I were planning world domination in between classes." She paused to feign an 'Oh no! I've said too much!' expression. "I suppose you have a point though. Since I, nor any of the Slytherins I knew during my time at Hogwarts, are not the incarnation of evil, I suppose not all Ravenclaws would rather study than breathe," she smirked.

Crap, it was rarely ever as easy as it seemed.

Selene moved closer when Atkins gestured for her to, paying strict attention to what he was saying the entire time. It was rather generous of him to take care of the more dangerous ones. Then again, she and Melina hardly knew what they were doing quite yet.

Melina leaned closer as Kris explained that it was, in fact, not that simple and that the Time Turners with the red Xs on them were abnormal therefore he would handle those until Selene and herself felt more comfortable with them. "Alright, Gotcha. Stay away from the red Xed Time Turners. Shouldn't be too hard." Melina nodded. That is until I start doing it too long and stop checking. That wouldn't be good. She thought to herself. Okay, I got it! I'll just remember Abnormal is for Atkins to fiX. A for abnormal and Atkins and X to remind me that I shouldn't fix the X ones. I've got it all figured out., She added, laughing to herself

"Okay."

Kris set the Time Turner down inside the little bubble he had conjured around everything. He stepped back, and Vanished the chairs that they had been sitting on. It was getting late, and he wanted to get out of here. And he was quite sure they wanted to do the same.

"Tomorrow, we will work on separating the broken Time Turner pieces, like I said earlier. I don't have anything else for you today," he said, leaning against his desk. "So, if you'd like to go home, feel free to go on ahead and do so."

Then I can do the same. He folded his arms and waited for their response, but he probably already knew what it was going to be.