Behind the wooden door at the far right of the department corridor, lies the department head's office. Please knock before entering.

As soon as you walk in, your eyes will fall on the many pots of plants situated around the room. Some of them being watered by enchanted watering cans. The office itself is somewhere between being spacious and being cozy. The wall next to the large window - which lets in all the sunlight for the potted plants, is filled with framed moving pictures. Pictures of her family and friends. The wall on the opposite side is almost completely hidden behind a large bookshelf filled with books from both Muggle and the Wizarding World.

The desk in the room is always a bit of messy and your department head is usually not sitting behind her desk. When she is in the office, she is usually sitting on the couch, situated next to the window - with her legs propped up.

There are no rules that you are only allowed in the office when you have some work. Come on in and don't be afraid to strike up a conversation.

Constance Nightingale
Department Head
Department of Magical Accidents & Catastrophes

OOC: Please remember to always RP your character knocking before coming in. Please don’t enter until Constance acknowledges you and allows you to enter. You are always welcome to just stop by and say hello. You don’t have to have an official reason to come see her!

Dianna went into the office of their new Department Head. She had to do this one well since it makes first impressions and that she needed to get the message straight to her.

Knock knock.

Mandie stood outside the office door with her dark wavy hair streaming down her back, blood lipstick and her manicured fingernails that rap on the door in a short sharp pattern.

Three sharp short knocks then two slow ones. It was a sequence she had made up long before she really had necessary need to knock on people's doors, apparently she had made a racket as a toddler with pots and pans.

She bit her lip and waited for some sort of shout of welcome and leaned against the wall, looking around at the portraits of various famous witches and wizards in the corridor.

Constance was just trying to get used to the idea of having an office that she could basically re-invent when someone knocked on her door.

Constance frowned - her throat was still very well itchy from the 'hellos' in the conference room.

Couldn't she just have some time to herself and .. not talk?

NOPE. She was the department head. She couldn't be moody ... wonder how long that will last, she had to be professional.

Clearing her throat, she called out: "Come in!"

Oh. They could go in now? Okay, Dianna went in the office. "Goodmorning Department Head Constance," Dianna said to the woman and gave a smile. "I've got some important things to tell you. A woman just came in the Waiting Area for Visitors and I volunteered to deliver the message to you since I noticed the woman was pregnant."

Umm, what a fuzz. Hold your hippogriffs, Dianna.

Mandie heard Constance's call and walked in with the other woman, Dianna. She waited for Dianna to finish speaking then started herself, "Hello again! Uh - I haven't been given a specific job for my department yet, so I thought I should come and ask, really, just what I'm supposed to be doing"

She smiled at Constance and started fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. Yes, it's true she had been feeling a bit lost at the Ministry without a job to do. Hopefully now she could be a little more useful.

When two of her employees entered the office, Constance was wearing the 'conference room' smile again. Ready to hear them speak.

And she remembered them too. One was Dianna and the other one Mandie Elliot.

"Hello again," she greeted them both before turning her head to Dianna who had started to speak. "Good Morning," she responded. A news? Oh? "What is it?" she asked, curious.

A pregnant woman? "Who did she say she was?"

HMM.

When the other Mandie Elliot spoke, Constance turned to her. OOOH. She was one of those employees. Who had not been told what their job was! "I am glad you came in to inquire about that," Constance smiled before motioning her hand toward the couch next to the wall. "Why don't you sit down, I'll be with you in a moment." she nodded before adding: "Let me just hear what Miss Hudson has to say,"

Mandie nodded and walked over to the couch that Constance had gestured to. She settled herself on the end of the couch and waited for Dianna and Constance to finish.

Mandie wondered who this pregnant woman was. Perhaps she was from another department at the ministry?

"The woman's name was Elizabeth and she's from 'International Cooperation'," Dianna nodded. Ahhh, so much explaining. "Um, her Department Head Gina said she should go to all the Department Heads and tell them that there's a Strike in front of the Ministry right now,"

Dianna was not sure if those were the right words but she used her good persuasion to do so. If not the good then average. "She also mentioned something about 'Get a new Minister and Relive Lord Borr as Minister.'" Hmm... yeah.

Dianna stood there, a bit nervous. She hoped her first 'mission' wouldn't fail.

A strike?

Constance curiosity shot through the roof. She had just started working here and already there was work drama?

Really now .. things were taking no time to spice up. Constance liked that.

Standing up, the new department head ran her hand through her hair - making sure, they were still at their best. "Well, we should definitely check this out." Constance said, looking at the girl who had delivered the news.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Turning her head to the girl, who she had asked to sit down - Constance repeated her question: "And do you, miss Mandie Elliot?"

OOC: Sorry for the late reply guys but Mum in the hospital and I am barely here. =/

When Natasha had something she wanted to say, it would be said no matter what. As she strode up to the Department Head's office door, she sighed melodramatically before knocking smartly with four quick, sharp taps. There was a slight pause as she waited to be called inside, before she became impatient and began to tap her foot. A loud tut filled the silence and she rolled her eyes skywards.

Ophelia had yet to set foot on this floor, but she'd heard it was home to one of the newer Department Heads. She stopped at the door and sifted through the stack of envelopes in her hands, until she found the one marked 'Constance Nightingale' in her pretty cursive.

The woman was probably busy, so she decided to simply stick it up on the door, in a place she was sure it would be seen. Before she left, Ophelia added a simple charm that made the note stick until the person it was intended for took it down, that way she could be SURE that the woman would get it personally.

Now, on to the next office!

Mandie looked with interest as Dianna explained the situation with the strike outside the Ministry. It would be nice to do something around here, Mandie didn't have a job inside the Ministry yet; that had been why she had came in the first place.

She crossed her leg over her other and looked away looking at the pictured walls and the various plants around the room. Mandie looked back towards the conversation as she heard Constance mention her name, "Sure, I'd love to," Mandie said standing, smoothing her skirt and walking the short distance over to them, "So, off to the front of Ministry?"

ooc: That's okay! I hope she's okay

Yes, first mission success! But then Department Head Constance wanted her to go?

Dianna felt weird. "Of course, I would like to come." Dianna said and nodded. Yeh, that's the charm. She straightened her hair and tied it into a ponytail.

Oh, can you believe her luck?

Oh good. Her employees didn't ask much and were ready to go with her. Constance was just a bit too excited for this. It was just in her nature to be this excited about something troubling.

Getting out of her seat, she made her way to the door - giving a little "Lets go" to the girls behind her. What she was not expecting was another employee standing right outside her door when Constance opened it. "Oh hello." she greeted.

She was truly disappointed. She wanted to go see the strike.

Sigh.

"Why don't you girls head over there - learn what's happening exactly and I'll meet you there soon." she told Mandie Elliot and Dianna with smile and then turned her attention to the employee standing outside her door - whose name was Natasha, Constance believed. "How may I help you?" she asked, with a small smile.

Though her attention was already on two places at once: the strike and Natasha, Constance eyes did not fail to notice the envelope on the door of her office. Taking it off the door, the thirty three year old tore it open and began to read while waiting for Natasha to speak.

Hahaha okay. Dianna smiled at Constance and followed her with Mandie. Soon as the department head opened the wooden door of her office, another employee was outside. Gaad, more waiting.

"Yeah," Dianna said and nodded. She looked at Mandie. "Let's just go." Dianna waited for Mandie to go out of the door. As she did, she checked her watch and fiddled with her hair... well not in the girly and flirty way though. That's just not good.

Mandie followed Dianna from Constances office. Well this was inconvenient, she still had trouble finding her way around the Ministry; hopefully Dianna knows her way around. Mandie gave a brief smile to Dianna as she glanced at her.

"So, to the strike?" Mandie suggested, retrieving her aspen wand from a pocket and clutching it just out of view from Dianna, Mandie didn't want to be the victim of angry protesters jinxes or hexes.

ooc: Post next in Picket Line?

Natasha raised her eyebrows as Constance appeared from her office followed by two other employees. She was clearly in a great hurry, but no matter - what Natasha had to say was far more important. About time too, Natasha thought to herself irritably.

'Yes, as a matter of fact, you may help me,' she responded haughtily. She did not return Constance's smile. 'I am both shocked and appalled at the present state of the Ministry. You do realise that this is my first day at the Ministry, I am sure? Nevertheless, I have already taken note of many extremely serious issues with the way in which it functions and am appropriately concerned about many aspects of day-to-day Ministry life. For example, I have yet to be assigned any work to do, and me a talented spell-caster! My many skills make me an ideal candidate for a challenging and vital area of work, and yet here I am, sitting around doing nothing but listening to the idle chit-chat of my fellow employees. On top of this, perhaps you are not aware that a certain Mr. McNally of the Obliviator Department cannot complete a single task correctly. He is awful and will, I rest assured, be fired soon. I also have a list of improvements which I demand to have followed through immediately.'

Natasha withdrew a lengthy piece of parchment from her coat pocket and brandished it before Constance. 'Are you even listening to me!?' she exclaimed as she saw that Constance had been reading an envelope.

ooc: sorry for the so very late reply! >.<

Oh? She was invited for a Lunch with the other department heads. Well now, wasn't that absolutely delightful? She wouldn't have to go out of her way to know who was who at the ministry here. She will soon get a chance to judge know them over lunch.

Constance was almost done reading when Natasha's rather off tone graced her ears. Constance brow rose and as did her eyes to see if her ears were deceiving her or was Miss Montgorse-Ayre actually using that tone with Constance.

Nope. Her ears were perfectly fine. It was just Miss Montgorse-Ayre. The new department head's smile had disappeared and she now had her full attention on the employee standing in front of her. When the girl insisted if Constance was listening to her or not, Constance spoke: "Be assured, I am listening to you just fine, Miss Montgorse-Ayre"

"You maybe a brilliant spell caster but I am not so sure how your memory works because it's not only you who is having their first day at the ministry," she said, her voice smooth and not wavering even a little bit from the annoyance that she felt toward this employee. "While you walked in here today with no idea what you would be doing, I already knew my job and I was already told that this department was an utter mess at the moment and I would have to be cleaning up a lot of what the last department head had left behind."

Pausing to calm her nerves, Constance being Constance again stretched her lips into a small smile and spoke: "Maybe you were busy in some idle chit chat with your fellow employees while I was speaking in the conference room but I did say I wouldn't be handing out tasks right away. But I see you are an eager one and would really like a task." Constance honestly had to restrain herself from smirking at this point. "So, do you see those boxes over there, Miss Montgorse-Ayre?" she pointed at the corner of her office. "They contain my pots of plants, as you can see - and the blue boxes over there contain my books. Why don't you go ahead and use your spell casting abilities and place the numerous plants by the window and my books neatly at the empty book shelf over there." she said, checking the muggle watch on her wrist. The strike would probably be ending by now.

"You doing that would help me speed up the process of getting the divisions, you are suppose to be in, sorted out" It was true. If Constance mind was on how her office looked all the time, she wouldn't get any work done. "And oh, another thing. It is not up to you to judge what Mr McNally is doing. Keep your tongue in check, Miss Montgorse-Ayre. You are here to work and not pass judgements on my employees. Especially my employess. I would not tolerate that at all"

Now Constance could leave, yeah?

"Do you have anything else to say? And oh .. that list of yours. You have only been here for a few hours, Miss Montgorse-Ayre, 'demanding' anything right now will get you nowhere. But if you can't restrain yourself even still, please leave the list on my desk."

When Mandie when beside Dianna, she kenw they were set. But Mandie kept talking. What now?

"Yeah, then strike. Here we go." Dianna said as she pushed the door open and went, hoping Mandie followed her.

Mandie stood outside the door again, she had been here before. She rapped on the door a couple of times. They had come back from the strike that was finished; Lord Borr had fallen.

She waited outside the door, leaning against the wall beside it. Mandie was back here to continue what she had come for in the first place before. She still didn't have a assigned job after - well ages.

Ashley was eager to introduce herself to the Department head. She wanted to make a good first impression so she approached the door confidently and knocked twice before stepping back. She twirled her long hair with her finger, humming to herself while she waited for an answer.

Having just sent out a memo, the final thing to be done in clearing up the mess that was left behind for her - Constance had barely caught a moment for herself, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she simply said, turning her head to check on the plants she hadn't had the time to check on in the past few crazy weeks.

Ella walked into the office and her eyes went to the many different plants around the room. Her eyes found her new boss and she walked over, offering the woman her hand. "Hello, I just started here and wanted to introduce myself. I'm Ashley Green and I look forward to working here."She gave her boss a firm shake and smiled confidently. "You're plants are lovely by the way."

A new employee.

Constance's office smile found the corners of her lips again and she shook her hand back. "Hello, Ashley Greene. It's nice to meet you. I am looking forward to working with you all too" she said, a very well rehearsed line in her head.

Her plants?

"Yes, they are lovely, aren't they?" she smiled, genuinely this time. "Pity, I haven't been able to give them time for a while"