” I did. I vent home undt visited mein vater. Spent time vit Sita.” Lots of time with Zita; time he very much enjoyed. He’d been missing her the last few days, and perhaps their was a slight sadness in his voice. It didn’t last long as he could sense had had made Laurel smile with his joke. Still, while she had a point, things had seemed a bit off in Level 9 without her. He shrugged it off as merely the lack of her constant presence. ”I am glad you are back. Undt your Christmas? How is ze baby? Husbent?” Because he had no idea she had had triplets.

”Help? Of course-“ He just needed to check the Bubotuber pus, and put things back and then he was all hers. Well, add pleasantries with Catherina to the list too. He had the feeling that he had almost smacked someone. He busied himself with pulling the barrel of Bubotuber pus out while the ladies talked about the Hall of Prophecy. ”Are you a seer too?” he asked Catherina. He was about to pop open the barrel when he paused. Perhaps he’d spent too much time with his girlfriend, but he had the feeling the ladies would not like to see or smell the contents of what he was about to open. ” Infentory. Undt you both probably vant to schtep out fur a moment.”

She hadn't minded almost being smacked. Honestly! She just hoped she didn't offend Adam by evading his handshake(?)

At his question, the blonde Unspeakable shook her head "Nah, unfortunately not. Just incredibly in tune to the messages from the universe" She explained half jokingly "But I'm more really more inclined towards potions making." She wasn't going into the whole detail of how the only position available when she applied was the one at the Hall of Prophecies.

At the sight of the bottle he was holding, Catherina crinkled her nose. She couldn't see if the bottle had a label, but its contents looked nasty enough as it was. "Is that....pus?" She guessed, her face contorting into a grimace.

"It sounds like you had a wonderful break Adam." Laurel really meant it. She was genuinely happy for Adam to have found his right woman in Zita. If only some of her other relatives would do so too. Maybe she should do some more love divining on their behalf? In secret of course or they’d get testy with her. The proud mother glow was probably radiating out her as she beamed broadly. "I’m glad to be back too. The triplets are growing and healthy. Aaron is good, he is starting back on level 7 too today, and our christmas was good, but trying to get three toddlers to sleep at the same time is a challenge." Laurel was still a bit sleep deprived, but hopefully it would get better eventually. She let her gaze wander past Adam to the potions shelves and barrels while she listened curiously to Catherina’s answer. It was a pity that she wasn’t a seer.

"Well you’re welcome to divine the messages of the universe with me anytime you want Catherina." Laurel offered with a kind smile before she gave the barrel Adam was standing in front of a curious glance. Knowing him it was probably best to heed his advice. Moving several steps backwards and few extra too, just for safety. The substance looked awful for lack of better word. "Why do you need to open that Adam?"

Catherina smiled, listening in to the friendly banter between Laurel and Adam. It was nice to see other Unspeakables getting along well with one another! Who said that the Department of Mysteries was all doom and gloom?!

At the mention of Laurel's children, Catherina's eyes widened. "Triplets?!" She chimed in, half in astonishment and half in alarm "Wow." She breathed out "That must be something" Serena was terrible to deal with a toddler, constantly putting things in her mouth and all that. She couldn't imagine tripling that chaos!

” I vas zinkingk uff mayhap asking her to move in,” he admitted to Laurel. He hadn’t actually voiced the idea aloud to anyone and although he wasn’t sure why he had confided the information to Laurel, having said it aloud felt good. He had no idea if Zita would say yes, but well, he liked having her around.

”Triplets?” He hadn’t known she was having more than one baby. He himself was a triplet and he was also the only one that had made it past 3 years old. His hand rubbed his shoulder like it did whenever he thought of his siblings, fingers working the stiff scar tissue there, although it had long ago stopped hurting. He hoped that didn’t happen to Laurel, and no, he was not going to bring up his own sad history with her. He might like the woman, but there were some things he didn’t share. ” Undt vhat are zeir names?” Had his sight been normal, he would have asked to see photos.

”Ja, Bubotuber pus.” Before Adam had met Laurel, he had not really put too much stock in divination, but Laurel had been a bit too insightful on things one to many times for him to not heed her. That being said, Catherina was more than welcome to ‘divine the messages of the universe’ with Laurel any time so he didn’t have too. Nope, he was perfectly happy with being her coffee delivery service and well, helping her out when she needed it. After all, she was always willing to help him out too. Except, it seemed with doing potion ingredient inventory; it had not escaped Adam’s notice that both lady’s voices were a bit further away (Laurel’s especially). ”To check how much is in it.” He answered Laurel’s question. He wasn’t sure how they conducted inventory with the orbs, but well, he sorta needed to know how much of each potion ingredient was in the lager. Besides if he finished this up, he could accompany Laurel to Airey's office for her broken orbs and he could turn in his inventory list and discuss why there were so many missing potion ingredients (and yes, he forgot that his translation quill had not been cooperating during inventory and the list needed to be re-written.) ” Vill take only one moment.” He cracked the seal on the barrel, not bothering with dragon hide gloves as this was a barrel of treated. A woof of petrol wafted through the room as he gave the barrel a little shake as he leaned over it.

"Oh wow! That’s a big step Adam. I’m sure Zita will say yes to moving in with you." Laurel could consult her crystal ball, but Zita’s feeling of love for Adam seemed real and genuine.

"Yes, triplets. Sorry, I didn’t tell you Adam." Laurel apologized with a look over at her friend feeling a little guilty for not sharing the wonderful news with him sooner. "We didn’t know we’d be having three babies until just near the birth." She had though had her divine hunches of there being more than one baby a very long time. "Their names are Ariadne and James. We’re still a bit undecided on the last name though Aaron quite likes Tiffany." Turning to Catherina at her astonished outburst she smiled. "I can tell you it’s never dull Catherina. Three babies are a handful, but oh so lovely."

Adam confirmed Catherina’s question. It was bubotuber pus in the barrell. Laurel wished she had had a pair of dragonhide gloves to put on since the pus was pretty acidic if her memory served her right. As the barrel was cracked open and the smell of petrol filled the air Laurel wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ew, pus still doesn’t smell nice."

Catherina shook her head, taking another step back as the barrel was cracked open and the smell of petrol came wafting out of the offending container. She pinched her nose hard "That is foul!" She exclaimed. Turning to Laurel, the woman asked "Why is Adam taking inventory by the way? Have supplies gone missing or something?" Who would want to steal Bubotuber pus though?

He didn’t much care for the name Tiffany, but he knew better than to say that aloud. After all they weren’t his children and he had no say in the matter. Instead he gave the barrel of pus a swirl, listened and then put the cover back on, giving it a few good whaps with his fist to close it. He ignored both women's reaction to the Bubotuber pus. He knew it smelled (he had a pretty sensitive sense of smell himself) hence why he had suggested they back up. ”Because,” Adam answered Catherina’s question, even though it wasn’t directed to him. ” Airey asked fur an updated infentory.” Because apparently the one he had conducted before the holidays wasn’t good enough. He pushed the barrel back into it’s place. ” Laurel do you mind recorting down zat it vas full.” He wasn’t going to go near the pen right now. He was still mad at it. And yes, some did seem to be missing...

He wiped his hands on the corner of his coat and then pushed some hair out of his eyes. ” I am done. Are you ready fur our meeting vith Airey?” he asked Laurel. They didn’t have one scheduled, but that had been the reason she had come by right? Maybe he had misunderstood her. After all, Catherina had popped up not long into their conversation and he had been mad at his translation quill. He might have misunderstood her in his anger.

"Well that is unfortunate" Catherina replied at Adam's explanation on Airey's request for an updated inventory. Maybe Airey forgot what Bubotuber puss smelled like and was entirely unsympathetic to the people who had to encounter it.

"Well, if you guys have an appointment with Airey, I'd hate to delay you" She said with a smile. It was probably time to head back to the Hall of Prophecy. It had been left empty for far too long. "I have to get back into the Hall now anyway."

"No, of course not Adam." Laurel murmured as she took up the pen and paper from off the floor and scribbled down that the bubotuber barrel was full on the inventory parchment. She was relieved when the lid was closed on the barrel because the smell the pus oozed out felt like it incased eveything. Laurel silently listened as Adam explained to Catherina the purpose of his actions. Interjecting she added to Catherina. "I've done inventory of the orbs and prophecies and other valuable documents in the prophecy hall too." And she was deeply concerned of her findings, but not surprised. Both her cards and crystal ball had predicted this. It was serious.

Turning to Adam she nodded "Yes, let's go with haste and see Airey. This can't wait." If their boss had other appointments then they needed to be canceled. This was acute and concerning. Looking to Catherina she smiled. "I'll see you later, It was nice meeting you Catherina, i have a strong feeling that you'll be an asset to our department." And with that Laurel turned and started to walk to the chambers exit.

Jane had been unsuccessful in getting Airey Flamsteed to allow her a private workspace last year (though she had managed to get a good look at the man at last and was rather startled to see how much he'd changed since their first meeting earlier in the year in the Hall of Prophecy). So she'd done what had been suggested to her--commandeered a corner of a potions workspace in the Love Chamber.

Jane carefully lowered the flame under the Bain Maria containing her latest working and leaned over to watch carefully the reactions that might be taking place inside. She'd been warned that the atmosphere in this chamber might be distracting, but was pleasantly surprised to find that was not the case. The odors that reached her from the central fountain merely smelled like fresh breezes, old parchment, and the embers of a low-burning fire, just the sorts of smells that usually surrounded when she worked. And this was not surprising, because though she cared deeply and fondly about a number of people, Jane had always been rather indifferent to romance.

She finally thought she saw something beginning to form in the globe of the Bain Maria and watched closely until she was sure the next step was properly underway. Then she leaned back again, stretching and rubbing her lower back with one hand. How long had she been working here? And was she still alone? She realized that her work kept her isolated for a great deal of the time, not leaving her much opportunity to meet many of the other Unspeakables, or any Ministry employees at all, for that matter. She hadn't see the Unspeakable she'd met last year form the Hall of Prophecy--Catherina her name was?--since that strange incident with the rock golem, and no one had seen Dr. Nykto since the commotion he'd caused at the opening gala this year. The last Jane had seen of him, he'd been being marched off by Mr. Bain, presumably to receive a reprimand. But he seemed to have disappeared since then, and Jane was worried about him.

Jane decided that she really needed to get out of the lab and meet more people if she was to function in this new setting properly.

He'd promised Zita he would keep a low profile around work and it had been a promise he had kept. He'd done his duty of course, manning the entry chamber to make sure nobody got into the Department, but otherwise had kept away from the front lines and the dram and the fires. After all, what good would a mostly blind man have done in battle anyway? And on top of that, he had a baby to think about and house he was now paying for and had his salary cut with all this pureblood nonsense. Nope. Adam was not a rock the boat kind of guy.

Unless you were talking about potions.

Now there? There Adam liked to live dangerously. He'd left off on experimenting while Airey was acting - well, non-Airey-ish, but now that Airey seemed his usually neurotic self again? Adam had gone back to his experiments. Only it was too bad that he was a wee bit on the stressed-out and not-sleeping side. Any day now, Zita could go into labor and well, he wasn't dealing with it well. His hair was a mess. His clothing was a little wrinkled and he had taken to drinking coffee again. Something he hadn't done since Reil had made him drink (and eat) so much of it he hadn't slept in a week. It made him gag and his stomach churn, but at least he wasn't falling asleep on the job.

He added a pinch of that, a dash of this, and gave his cauldron a stir, then sat back and rubbed his eyes. If his calculations were correct the concoction should turn a deep shade of jade then blue before -

BOOM!

A large dark plume of smoke billowed up from his workspace and the smell of burnt chicken and pineapples wafted through the room. His glasses were covered with gunk and his black hair was starting to turn a delightful shade of pink-orange.

Laurel was sitting in her own little bubble cubicle getting some paperwork done when she first heard the BOOOOM! and then felt the rocking of the hall. She managed just in time to save a prophecy orb from rolling off her desk, hitting the floor, and breaking into thousands of pieces. Laurel was still getting used to going back to normalcy after all the Grindewald and battle aftermath.

Standing up from her desk, she pulled a hand through her blond locks as she left the hall to find the source of the BOOM. Her instincts told her that a certain german had something to do with it. Walking the short steps from the prophecy hall to the love chamber, where the smell of burnt chicken and pineapples filled her nostrils. Had Adam been making lunch? Heading in Laurel first saw the dark smoke that billowed up from Adam's desk, and then his dishevled figure where the pink-orange hair really stood out against everything else. Doing her best not to laugh at the sight Laurel called out "Adam, are you all right? What happened? I just heard a large boom."

He was waving his hand in front of his face in an attempt to clear the dark billowing smoke. It didn't help, seeing as his glasses were covered in gunk and he didn't realize it. Adam wasn't dumb mind you, his eyesight was sincerely that bad. He coughed hard, dislodging his glasses and then realized they were part of the problem and pulled them off then rubbed at his face. It had been a while since he'd had a potion go side-ways on him, but still, his fingers instinctively went to his eyebrows. Thank goodness they were still there. He let out a sigh.

Only to startle and nearly drop his glasses into his still smoking cauldron at the sound of Laurel's voice. The glasses bobbled in his hands but he managed to catch them. "Laurel!" he said sounding both excited to see her and embarrassed. He started rubbing his glasses off on his shirt, smearing more goop on himself. "Vell, I guess I added too many rose petals undt perhaps a bit too much honig (honey)." He stuck his glasses on his face and looked in Laurel's direction. "Or too much schtrawberry chuice." He shrugged. At this point it was too far gone a loss to figure it out.

Jane had just used the complicated protocols necessary to unlock the door to the Love Chamber and walked over the threshhold when she hear a loud BOOM!, followed by a strong but confusing scent.

NO! It couldn't be!...Had her potion blown up? How could that be possible? When she had last checked on it, it was doing fine, and she was counting on finishing it before the end of the year so that she could give the improved version of the elixir to Airey Flamsteed.

She rushed over to the potions area to see what had happened and discovered that it was not her own workstation that was having the problem, but apparently that of one of the resident potioneers of the Love Chamber--at least, she surmised that from the gunk on the man's glasses. Still...her potion was in such a delicate state, it might still have been affected.

She rushed past the man and woman and the smoking potions station and quickly examined the elixir gently cooling in its retort. It should have been an emerald green color, just ready to turn the deep jewel-tone of the finished brew, but Jane saw with dismay that a smoky, dark cloud had started to form in the center of it.

"Oh no!!" she cried. Whatever the other potioneer had been experimenting with had affected her potion, and Jane was pretty sure that she couldn't stop it in time. It was ruined, and so were her hopes of finishing the test samples in time to give to Flamsteed before the winter holiday season began.

Laurel wondered if she needed to send a patronus to the maintenance cleaners when Adam acknowledged her presence in all his gunkyness. She watched how Adam tried to clean off his dirty glasses on shirt to little use, it just spread more gunk everywhere. Shaking her head, as her pulse slowed down Laurel said "Thank merlin that you are all right Adam. I didn't know what to think when I heard the BOOM. I feared a fire or an explosion or something." So she had come running. Throwing a glance into Adam's cauldron she asked confused."What kind of potion were you trying to brew? A food potion?" Strawberry juice, rose petals and honey weren't ingredients that rang any bells in any potions that Laurel brewed on occasion.

Laurel was still trying to grasp what Adam had done when another unspeakable rushed in and over to her workstation crying out at the sight of the state of her potions. Turning to look over at Jane she called over "Hi Jane, is everything all right?"

It wasn’t the first potion to blow up in his face and it likely wouldn’t be the last. He was now digging into his jacket for his wand. Having found it, he waved it around over his head in a clockwise manner and the smoke in the room started to swirl and billow back towards the cauldron, which he then covered with a cover to trap it. ”Vell, so long as it vas not anozzer schtar...” He said because in this room he could after all. It warmed his heart a little to know that Laurel was worried about him. So he gave her a big smile as he started pointing his wand around the room and silently using the Scouring Charm to clean up his mess. ”It vas a fariation uf ze lofe pot-“

He was interrupted when someone rushed passed him. He had thought himself alone in the room today, which was why he had been experimenting. . The scouring charm stopped working as he leaned back on his stool watching Jane go to the point where he teetered and almost fell over. He had the sudden feeling he was in trouble. Or going to be yelled at. In his book they were one and the same. He looked to Laurel and then back to Jane. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything, but felt compelled to do so. ”Ermm….Can I help mitt anyzzing?” Laurel would save him if Jane jinxed him right? Merlin he hoped so.

The voices of the other Unspeakables barely penetrated Jane's consciousness as she continued to study her elixir--the darkness within was definitely growing. This refined batch would be useless. She sighed softly but deeply, closed her eyes and took a few deep, centering breaths, and the lifted the cover off the retort and vanished the entire potion, before it turned into something ugly.

Well, there was several weeks work lost. Still, it could be worse--she had already developed the original elixir, she had all her notes on that and the improvements she'd introduced, so she should be easily able to recreate it again. Easily, but not quickly. She had told Flamsteed that the improved version would be ready by the end of the year, but now it looked like it would not be possible until after the holidays.

Jane finally came to the awareness that other people were speaking to her and turned to her colleagues. "Well, no, everything's not quite all right. Whatever that explosion was, it disturbed the elixir I had resting here, and I'm afraid it's ruined. But I have all the notes on it, I should be able to re-do the experiment." Jane looked sadly at her workstation again, then returned all the equipment lying out to their proper places with a wave of her wand. "Next year," she added a little glumly.

Then a thought occurred to her. "Are you both all right? Did anyone get hurt by that explosion?" Because she always had those first aid remedies in her bag. Just in case.