A large mahogany table runs down the center of the room, surrounded by simple black, reclining desk chairs.

Behind the head of the table, opposite the door, is a large projection screen and whiteboard.

This room may be used whenever the entire level needs to gather. Divisions wishing to utilize this room for their own use must request and obtain permission from the Department Head.

With the ongoing remodelling of the whole Ministry and not just level 6 Ingrid had lost track of the party preparations. Maybe the poltergeist incident had something to do with it but lately she had been swaped with work. Carrying a limbo bar under her arm and a big crystal ball under the other the swede pushed up the door to the conference room with her back. Inside Ingrid set down her supplies on one of the tables, pulled out her wand and got to work. Soon a large food table with adjecent refreshments were up along the left wall.

Close to that where several circular tables with corresponding comfy chairs to sit on. A big space had been made in the middle of the room to allow for mingling and dancing. Using her wand she fastened the big crystal ball to the ceiling and then stepped back to watch the fruits of her labour. Something was missing. Humming to herself Ingrid flicked her wand several times and festive decorations appeared all over and around the room. Content with the outcome she left to go back to her desk. There were still things left to do before Ingrid could call it a day and join in the party.

Christian entered the room, his arms filled with cartons and boxes and shakers and bowls and spoons and syrups and anything you could possibly want to make ice cream sundaes. Setting them down on a table against the wall, he smiled at Ingrid, pleased at how she had rearranged what was otherwise a pretty standard conference room. He would need to remember the versatility of the space for later.

Setting out the variety of wizard and muggle flavored ice creams, Christian cast a charm to keep them cool. Setting out the toppings, he called over his shoulder. "Everything looks great, Ingrid. Thank you for getting this set up."

Turning, he stuck his hand in his pocket and grinned as he pulled out a stack of cards. "I brought clues for charades."

Things were good now. Yup.

Jordan was in relatively high spirits as he strolled into the conference room, knowing what was going down in here. He didn't really adore parties, but they were okay.

For socialising purpose.

Raising a hand in greeting to the other two present, Jordan took a look around.

Armen practically bounced into the Conference Room, he was ready for this party to finally begin. He smiled brightly to each of his colleages as he joined them in the recently decorated room. "Hello all, you know what? I think this room is much better, plus the lack of Poltergeist really helps." he laughed. He was joking for their sakes, inside he was relieved beyond belief, he could not handle another visit from that feind again.

Alright!! Party time!! Nothing was better than parties. Nothing except parties when you should be working. This was going to be great!

He walked into the conference room. "Hey Ingrid." he greeted happily. "This looks great." he commented looking around the room.

People were here! "Hello!" Christian swung around jovially. "Jordan. Armen. Jayden. Welcome! Make yourselves comfortable; get something to eat. Grab a sundae." He gestured to the ice cream bar set up against the back wall.

He walked over to the three of them. "It's all very informal today. Just enjoy." He lowered his voice then, a playful glint in his eye. "Once a few more people get here... party games!" He clapped his hands together, perhaps a little giddily, before heading over to the door to greet others as they arrived.

Ohh!! Sundaes. Jayden would not mind helping himself to that. He went to the back wall and looked at all the choices. This party was the best already. He scooped himself some vanilla and excitedly looked at the topping choices. He poured on some chocolate syrup, some whipped cream, and some bananas. It looked delicious.

Ingrid was just about to leave to change into something more party fitting like a dress. She was though stopped by Christian coming into the conference room carrying an overload of cartons and boxes with supplies for the ice cream sundaes. Debating her options Ingrid sighed heavily and pulled out her wand. Mumbling a spell directed at her clothes she had moments later changed into a pink dress.

Watching as Christian organized the ice cream and toppings she replied cheerily "No problem! I'm just glad that we had time to change venue in time. The poltergeist really sidetracked us." Ingrid walked passed to correct a few of the decorations. Turning back she said grinning in referance to the charade clues "You got them. Perfect! I wonder who will be good at guessing. Time will tell."

Footsteps from behind her called her attention to the arrival of first Jordan and Armen and lastly Jayden. "Hey Jayden! Thanks, I wanted the conference room to get a party flair. Do you think I managed it?" Ingrid looked around the room again proud of her work. Now what was only missing was a few more employees to get the party going.

When Laura received the message about the party today from Mr. Trumbull, well, she was excited! So, she entered the conference room, excitedly of course, all smiles and wearing a magenta dress fit for the not-so-formal occasion. There wasn't a lot of people inside yet, so she greeted them all at once. "Hi, everyone!" she said, looking around the room. "Wow, Ingrid, great work with the decorations. What with the remodeling and everything, you still managed to make this place look amazing," she added to the division head.

"Laura, hello!" Christian smiled broadly as he welcomed another employee. He hoped this would be a good opportunity to get to know his employees in a more relaxed setting. He always believed that people that genuinely liked each other worked better together.

"Help yourself to something to eat. There are snacks and drinks over there," he gestured off to the side. "And an ice cream sundae bar off to the back."

Christian stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. "Enjoy."

Armen smiled brightly and shook Christian's hand. "Again, I havent really introduced myself to you and gotten to know my new Department Head. I am Armen Recard." he smiled again as he looked around the confrerence room. "This party is just waht this Department needs to get back to its previous glory." his head then shot quickly to where Christian had said the sundaes were.

"Sundaes? I didn't know there was going to be a sundae bar!" he must of missed that before. The Division head for Portkeys bounced over to the bar and waved hello to Laura, one of his most faithful employees. "Oh Laura, glad to see you came! Come on over and grab a sundae!" he beamed as he beckoned her over.

"Yeah, everything looks fantastic." Jayden said starting on his wonderful looking sundae. He still hadn't really met any other people on the level. So this seemed like a perfect time.

Laura waved to the department head as he greeted her. She looked around to the food and to the sundae bar as he pointed them out. Mm, it all looked good. She suddenly felt hungry! "Thanks, Mr. Trumbull," she said. "I read something about there being games at this party as well?" Laura giggled a little, wondering what party games Mr. Trumbull had had in mind.

Laura spotted Armen over at the sundae bar and waved back to him. "Don't mind if I do," she said, smiling brightly. "Excuse me," she nodded to Mr. Trumbull as she went to join Armen. Everything looked delicious. Laura picked up a bowl and looked over the choices. "What are you getting?" she asked curiously.

"Pleasure to formally make your acquaintance, my good man," Christian said warmly as he grasped the man's hand. He had a good team here. A good, solid team. "Every party needs some ice cream. I even brought that Bertie Bott's stuff, but I don't know that it was the best idea. Ear wax ice cream could really kill the mood." Christian winked and patted the man on the shoulder. "You'll have to let me know how it is."

Christian smiled broadly. "There are indeed!" Digging through his pockets once again for the cards, he fumbled about a bit.

"Now.. they're here.. some... where," he muttered as he patted down all of his pockets everywhere. Finally, he laid hold to them.

"A ha!" He pulled out the deck of cards he'd prepared ahead of time. "Charades," he said simply, hoping it would liven up the office a little bit.

Charades!

Laura grinned. How funny would this be to play with all of the others in the department? She hoped everyone else would arrive soon so they could start.

"Sounds like loads of fun," she said, gazing at the deck of cards, curious as to what sort of things they might have to portray.

Laura had never played charades with other witches or wizards, only with her family, who were all Muggles. And occasionally her friends when she was in elementary school. She wondered if it was played differently in any way.

"I'm afraid make a terrible hash of the game, but I'd love to participate," Laura said. "Is there a prize for the winners?"

Ingrid turned on the spot to beam at Laura how had just entered the conference room. [b]"Hey, Laura! Thank you, yes, I did. I don't know where from I got the time to do it but i admit the room turned out great. So how do you like the remoddeled ministry?" She didn't mentioned the horrofiying poltergeist incident which had nearly put all the party preparations to an utter standstill. The remoddling had interferred too but not to the same degree. Ingrid was really just glad that they could have a party and with news of a new employee joining the ranks soon it was good to be able to pull of the party at all.

Sundaes right, she had forgotten about Christians plans. Seeing Armen already at the bar choosing toppings Ingrid made her made over. Taking her own plate as she browsed the the ice cream she said to Armen "Hey, Armen! How are things with you? Do you like our new joint office space?" Deciding to go with strawberry, melon and chocolate ice cream her sundae Ingrid started to scoop up a few balls of ice cream.

Turning her attention to Jayden how was already munching away at a big sundae Ingrid said "Your sundae looks delicious Jayden. What topping did you choose?"

Hearing Laura's comment about probably making a terrible hash of the game Ingrid laughed warmly "Laura, you can't know that before hand. And what is to say that anyone of us will be better at charades? Cheer up! I'm certain you will do great. If not then we can be awful together."

Prizes? Hmm had they decided on that, she couldn't remember if they had when Christian and herself had been making the clues. They must have spoken about it right? Looking over to her department head for help Ingrid waited for his response to Laura's question.

Laura nodded in agreement. The conference room not only looked great, it clearly showed how hard Ingrid had worked on it. "I love the remodel. Everyone in the department can work so closely together now. I think it's genius," Laura replied. "I imagine we can be much more productive and efficient now, as we can communicate more easily. And there'll be no more memos flying around."

Laura stopped herself from talking too much and smiled. She turned back to the sundae bar, deciding on chocolate and strawberry. Not very adventurous flavors, but still an amazing combination. One thing was certain, she was not going to risk the Bertie Botts ice cream just yet. As for toppings, Laura went with hot fudge and fresh fruits. "Your melon ice cream looks great! Tell me how it is," she added to Ingrid.

"Thanks, Ingrid," she said to the division head's attempt to cheer her up. She really wasn't very good at charades, but she always had fun anyway. Laura took a bite out of her sundae, relishing at the way the strawberry really tasted like the fruit and the creaminess of the chocolate was just right.

Of course he was late, it looked as though the party was in full swing. He finally found a babysitter last minute and it took him forever to figure out what to wear. He was going to put on a black suit, but Sonja thought he looked like he was getting ready to go to a funeral, so she picked out his clothes. He felt like her was a little too old to be wearing something like it, but his daughter insisted that this was "hip for any age."

He didn't really know where to go or who to talk to with still being new in the department, but he thought the best place would be over by the food. So, he went over there and just gazed onto the excitement.

After another spoonful of the tasty sundae she had prepared for herself, Laura looked up and realized she recognized the man who had just walked into the conference room. She remembered that she had met him in Mr. Trumbull's office recently. He looked slightly unsure to her, so she waved to him and smiled. "Hello, Theron," she said. "Wow, you lucked out, arriving at the department right when we're having a party. Sundae?"

"Oh, hello um...Oh dear, I don't think I've caught your name," Theron felt incredibly embarassed. His cheeks were turning slightly red. "Yeah, I suppose this was good timing, this wasn't at all what I was expecting, it's so much better." He was thinking the Ministry was a bit like a boot camp, a bit uptight and straight forward. But, so far his experience was quite wonderful.

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry. It's Laura, you can call me Laura," Laura said. Whoops, guess she hadn't been clear back in Mr. Trumbull's office. She smiled at his next comment about the Ministry being better than he expected. "I'm glad you think so!" she said. "Truth be told, I felt the same way when I first arrived. I originally wanted to go to Muggle university before looking for a job. But everything's turned out to be pretty wonderful." Oops, Laura didn't want to rant too much about herself. She ate a little more of her sundae, which was sadly nearing the end of its life. "So what did you do before coming to work here?" she inquired.

"Chocolate syrup... whipped cream... and bananas." Jayden said. "And it is very delicious." he said happily. Nothing like ice cream to spread happiness to everyone. "Would you care for one?" he asked. "I'd be happy to make one for you."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poisonedbyyou

"Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry. It's Laura, you can call me Laura," Laura said. Whoops, guess she hadn't been clear back in Mr. Trumbull's office. She smiled at his next comment about the Ministry being better than he expected. "I'm glad you think so!" she said. "Truth be told, I felt the same way when I first arrived. I originally wanted to go to Muggle university before looking for a job. But everything's turned out to be pretty wonderful." Oops, Laura didn't want to rant too much about herself. She ate a little more of her sundae, which was sadly nearing the end of its life. "So what did you do before coming to work here?" she inquired.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Laura," Theron said with a smile. He hadn't really made many contacts. "I was a muggle architect. Well, after I left Athens School of Magic, I began to travel and study architecture and art, met my wife here in London, but shortly after she died, I returned to Greece, where I continued architecture. But, something drew me back to London and wanted a change of pace, so I decided to come here." Well, Theron practically summed up his life. He forced a smile. He always felt like he talked too much sometimes.

It was definitley a nice feeling to get all the compliments for how she had decorated the conference room. It warmed her heart. Nodding to Laura she replied "I agree. Everything will run much more smoothly now that we all work in the same space. It wasn't very efficient when you always need to call meetings to discuss something." On the comment about no more inter department memo's Ingrid faked wiping sweat out of her face. "I'm glad that the flying memos won't be as many in the future. I seriously thought i was going to go mental at one point. The number of them hovering over my desk a few weeks a go was just riddicoulous." Picking up her sundae again Ingrid remembered that she hadn't chosen a topping. Absent-mindedly she poured on some fresh fruits. "I will Laura. I can tell you though that melon ice cream always tastes fresh and good."

A different set of footsteps was heard clattering against the floor. Turning with her ice cream sundae unfinished Ingrid set her eyes on what proabably was Craig's replacement. Having not met the man earlier in the day or week Ingrid put her sundae down and walked towards him with a warm smile saying "You must be Mr Anastakis, the new floo division head, right?" Extending a hand she continued "I'm Ingrid Johansson, Division head of Apparition."

Turning towards Jayden she replied "Sounds delicious! I might try that later if i have more room for ice cream." Raising the melon ice cream spoonful to her mouth Ingrid started to dig into her sundae. In between mouthfuls she asked "Do you like playing charades Jayden?"