Rex took the paper and studied it carefully. "Two leagues," he said and raised an eyebrow at Tom. "That are too big. Why not four leagues of five? One of the complaints was that the playoff of one game was too short. Not to mention, they'll complain about the names of the leagues." He handed the paper back to Annabeth.

"Try again. As a former athlete, I completely understand their mindset with these matters."

Tom sighed. "I ment we'll have two leagues of ten teams." He looked up as Annabeth walked in with Rex's copy, he hoped that Rex would be happy but he wasn't. "I was thinking that it would be best value as they could play each other home and away and have more competition, if you have too few in a league the league become boring." He hoped that Rex didn't mind him saying so. "That is why I thought two leagues of ten would work great."


OOC: Sorry Kay I was half asleep when I did the post.

"But they'll complain about having too many teams in the league and the absence of a true playoff system!" Rex roared and slammed his fist down on his desk. "Travel expenses will go through the roof and then the team owners are going to be questioning the Ministry!"

"Try four leagues of five teams each and try to make it regional. They already complained about the expenses last year, especially the team from Aberdeen who had to travel all the way to Southampton and then return home and then go back south to Cardiff!"

Danny swallowed nervously, his hand poised ready to knock. However, he'd hesitated; there was shouting coming from inside the Department Head's Office and he wasn't sure whether he should interrupt. But the letter had clearly stated: "...and then report to Rex Vindictus's office where he will then provide you with more details regarding your employment in the Ministry." Yes. He looked down at the letter clutched in his slightly sweaty hand and swallowed again. That was what it said.

He looked up again. Rex Altair Vindictus, Department Head, Magical Games and Sports had been enscribed in golden lettering. This was definitly the place...

So, gritting his teeth, the 25-year-old tapped his knuckled gingerly against the hard wood of the mahogany door, readying himself for the worst. "Oh boy..."

"Not to be rude, but i disagree,"she siad, "Havign two leageus ,keeps it nice and organized, 5 leageus gets out of hand, first of all, the season would be too short with 5 leagues,second of all,having two leagues,is good because all the teams who have lesser stats are playign lesser teams,and all who have hgiher stats play the hgiher teams,if you have 5 leagues,teams could dominate certain leagues,and it would become a joek to watch."she siad,she was becomign slightly irritated,had been,wuite sure the leageus were perfect. "and if you want a league name change, I will oblidge to that."she said. She wasn't going down without a fight.

Rex hadn't had his cup of coffee that morning and now an employee was challenging his authority.

"TOM! Get your employee out of here and get back to work on solving this fiasco!" Rex yelled and his blue eyes bore into the woman. "End of discussion!"

He heard yet another knock on his door. "Enter!"

The word "Enter!" echoed loudly in his ears. Right, be strong, Danny. You can do this! he told himself firmly as he pressed down on big, brass handle. The door opened, revealing the fairly modern office of his Department Head. There were already three people in there, two men and a woman. One of the men (and he was guessing that this was his Department Head, Rex) seemed kind of...well, angry? And the woman was looking slightly agitated too.

Feeling the butterflies creep into his stomach, he poked his head around the door and smiled sheepishly. "Hi, I'm Danny, the new Gobstones employee?" He preyed to God that Rex didn't take his anger out on him; he'd heard from previous yellings that the Gobstones Division was in some sort of fiasco, and him being the new employee...well...he was kind of asking for a beating.

Tom looked at Rex and then at Annabeth Jackson. "Miss Jackson can you please go into the division and get on with changing the leagues." He decided that he would have to have a word with her later.
He hoped that she wouldn't argue, He didn't want Rex to get into a bigger mood than he already was, he still needed a word with Rex.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. Employee?She had a name. "Fine. I will leave and work on a new league,but I am nto done here."she siad,angrily,she kept control,but still she was fuming with anger. When she walked out,she had to try so hard not to slam the door.But she was poltie and said, "hello danny,"before she left.

Rex shook his head as the woman walked out and made a mental note to write her up for insubordination as the new employee walked in. "Ah, yes. Mr. Smith! Welcome to the Ministry," he said and nodded his head towards the other man in the room. "This is Tom Simpson, your division head and I'm sure if you follow him, he'll show you around the level and get you started on fixing the fiasco."

Annabeth had calmed down by now,and had a somewhat smile on her face. She knocked on the door,and waited for a response. She just needed to shwo Tom the new leagues,and then hand them to Rex. She realized ,yes blowing up was wrong. But she still thought,she had the right to speak her mind,and she did,she wasn't going to regret it either. She waited patiently,as she whistled quiety to herself,"the song that never ends"

Danny instinctively nodded when Rex said his name, before looking over at the man his Department Head had indicated to. Tom Simpson, Division Head. he thought to himself, keeping a mental note. So this man was his new boss? He seemed nice enough. But what was this "fiasco" they kept going on about? The whole situation made him feel quite stupid. He turned to the man now known as Tom Simpson and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Tom." he said, trying his hardest to keep his voice level. God! He was so nervous! Hopefully Tom would explain the budding matter dubbed for now as "fiasco" when he was showing Danny around the level. He hated feeling stupid. It made him feel...well...stupid.

Tom smiled as he looked at the man. "Nice to meet you Danny." He smiled as he looked at Rex. "Okay Rex I'll talk to you later I want a word in private with you about something." He looked at Rex again and smiled before turning his attention to Danny. "I'll fill you in while I'll show you around."

"Sir!" he said, almost running in. "There is a HUGE problem!!!" he said, panting. "Normally I would have taken it up with my division head first, but this was way too disaterous to wait." he slowed down, catching his breath and then put the file he was carrying spread out on his department heads desk. "I was reviewing my patents when I opened this one and started reading. As you can see, it is called 'Imperious Masks'. When you put one on, you are 'imperious'ed by the owner.

The further I read, the more illegal they seemed. Then when I got to the part that he'd already releashed about fifity to a group of muggle maskeraders I ran right here. He also has a huge supply ready. I don't know why he thought they'd be approved, they are illegal!!!!

The magic is pretty straightforward. It's just an Imperious Curse, and a simple charm to bind the mask to the face so that it can't be taken off. There are also instuctions on how to mark your mask so that you control the affected persons.

What should we do? What can we do?" he asked, completely flustered and terrified. Unforgivable Curses are bad enough, without mask floating around and such.

Rex had to replay the scenario in his mind several times. "Do me a favor - bring this to the attention of your divison head and I'll be there in five minutes," he said.

Yes, heading straight to Rex’s office was unquestionably the right choice here. Colin had just enough time to glance over at this guy’s little office that looked so … so … so boring. The office was glass and the door, from the looks of it, looked like it had never been shut before. Plus there wasn’t a splendid view to look at like Rex had in his office. And that view was going to be something that this Quidditch player was going to be looking at the whole time, especially if he ended up getting looked at funny by more female employees. Did they not know that he had a terrific smile, was very handsome, loved chocolate frogs, and could whip out autographs faster than any man in the world? Surely they knew that much. But they didn’t remember that he was single?! What in Merlin’s pants was wrong with those women?

Plopping down on one of the chairs, his eyes instantly went to the window panes. They were displaying waves crashing onto white sand at some tropical beach. Those Americans need to set up their pitch in Hawaii. Pronto! Oh how he wished that there could be a Quidditch pitch made at a place like that....

Remembering that Rex and that other guy had followed him to the office, Colin turned his head to Rex and that nameless guy and looked at the two men in front of him. “So, gents,” Colin spoke, placing both of his hands behind his head. “What can I do for you today?” Write up several autographs? Give a million and one reasons why the United States needed to move their Quidditch pitch to Hawaii? Did they want to take a picture with him for the Daily Prophet? He was definitely the right man for the job if it had anything to do along those lines!

Ughhh Colin MacKenzie really was the most arrogant, self-centred man he'd ever met!! And since Skander mixed with rock stars that was saying a lot since most of them believed they were all important too! Hell Skander was a rock star himself before he and his band decided to take a break.

"What can I do for you?" Skander asked incredulously as he looked at the man sitting languidly in a chair in Rex's office. How could he ask that? How could he act so innocently when his division had just seen a story, that thankfully hadn't been released yet, that claimed... "You can start by telling us why one of my employees just received mail that included a story about ANOTHER one of your scandals." Skander grit out as he tried not to jump to conclusions about a man who was quickly getting on his nerves.

"Skander, chill!" bellowed Rex as he entered his own office and resisted the urge to punch Colin MacKenzie in the jaw. "Let me, handle this. So...Colin." He paused and folded his arms. "Tell us what in Merlin's great hairy wart is going on?"

Breathing in and out in a calming manner Skander closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "Sorry Rex, it's just that these accusations are pretty serious, not really a good note to start the job on." Taking a seat Skander decided to just follow Rex's lead this time.

Destiny was late.

Come on, come on, come on... The elevator finally pinged open and a voice began speaking. Pushing herself off the walls to get a better start, Dessie SPRINTED down the corridor down to the Head's office, glad that she had thought to apply a few charms to her hair before leaving the apartment.

Shoes in one hand and briefcase in the other, her ankle bracelet bounced up and down her skinny, dark leg before she FINALLY saw Mr. Vindictus' office and screeched to a sudden stop, her heart beating wildly in her chest from the physical exertion as well as the monumental nerves.

Calming down enough to think properly, she popped her black heels back on and straightened the suit she had taken four hours to pick for today. Well, here goes.

Knock, knock.

Colin leaned back in his chair with a puzzled look. "I'm here on a social visit?" he joked and heard the knocking on the door. Was it the press? "Come on, Rexxie! You know that the ladies find me irresistable and I really think that we should have our Spring training sessions in Hawaii or some other exotic island."

Rex heard the knocking on the door and glared at Colin. "Not another word from you," he grumbled while shaking a finger at him. "I want you to hear whatever's being printed in the media before we even start working on damage control. But first things first - I need to see whoever's outside my door, so play nice. He cleared his throat. "Come on in!"

Hearing more than one voice behind the door, Dessie groaned. Not only was she late, she was also apparently disturbing the head in some meeting of his. Taking a deep, albeit shaky, breath as Mr. Bossman Vindictus, Dessie opened the door and walked in, a light, nervous smile on her lips.

That is, until she saw Colin MacKenzie sitting there.

O_O

Shooting him a smile, Dessie desperately tried to clear her head and focus on her agenda. New employee - need to get assigned - COLIN MACKENZIE WAS HERE - try not to get fired on first day.

Okay. "Good morning, sirs, Mr. Vindictus," she gave the man behind the table a nod and forced herself not to glance at MacKenzie. Or fidget with her skirt.

"My name is Destiny Young and I was recently hired into department. I was told to come to your office to get assigned to a task - but, er, if this is a bad time I could wait outside..." Dessie said, allowing herself one PEEK at the famous Quidditch player and the other guy who was in the room.

"Oh, and call me Dessie," she added quickly, biting her lip anxiously as she came to the conclusion that she wasn't very good at playing it cool. Not good at all.

Colin shot the woman a brilliant smile. "Hello there, Dessie. I'm Colin, by the way," he winked and leaned back in his chair. Rex sure knows how to pick good looking employees.

Rex rolled his eyes and resisted, yet again, the urge to punch Colin in the face. "Welcome to the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Ms. Young. I believe that you've been assigned to the British and Irish Quidditch League that's led by Mr. Skander Beckett," he said to the woman and nodded at the other man who was sitting in the office.


Now he hoped that Skander would say something. Anything.

All I want to do is break Colin's nose.

And that Colin would just shut up for five or even ten minutes.