"Good, I'm looking forward to seeing all of you there," Samantha said happily. "After the convention, I will be revealing a surprise of my own to all of you, so there is a lot of excitement planned from all sides." Samantha couldn't say anything more than that at this time.

Lucy was curious, but she kept a professional expression.
"What is the job of new employees, like me and Annamaria, at the convention?" she asked. She was a bit lost and the Ministry was a world itself.
The woman made a note to herself. She had some owls to send and few people to visit.

Annmaria's curiosity was definitely piqued when Samantha mentioned yet another announcement and her mind immediately set itself on trying to figure it out. Her mind had always worked this way; As soon as it was presented with a mystery, it set about rifling through a mental filing cabinet of all her memories, looking for clues and whatnot that might lead her to a conclusion. She chewed a little on her lip as she thought about what had been said when she heard a man speak. She smiled over at him in a silent greeting as she didn't want to interrupt the tour. " Oh, that's a good question." She said as Lucy spoke up. She looked to Samantha for the answer, as now she was wondering herself what she and her fellow employees would be up to at the convention.

"It's a learning experience," Samantha smiled. "A cultural opportunity where you will have a chance to meet people from all around the wizarding world, and a vast opportunity to learn. For anyone who wants to gain knowledge in a short period of time, this could be the perfect opportunity to do so. Of course, you'll mostly just be observing things, but it's still a very worthwhile investment of time for all of you."

She nodded.
She would have to like to work, real work and not just observing but she was new there. That though didn't erase her slight disappointment that Lucy keep hiding. The woman liked to have some action, professional challenges. This last year, she had been working with muggles, a challenge itself because she had been raised as a pureblood and didn't know anything about the muggle world. Now, remembering that experience, she smiled.
Thanks Merlin Chloe had given her that suggestion.

"I see." she said, speaking politely as alays.

"Don't worry, I suspect there is going to be even more to be done next year," Samantha said, knowing that there were many plans in the works regarding the implementation of the OWLs and NEWTs as well as many other opportunities and things for the Ministry employees who were interested, possibly including even teaching special classes and working with others in the planning phases of things. "If you like interacting with others, I think you will be pleased. The convention is going to be important simply because many of the plans we have in store for you will be revealed there, and I think all of you will be excited by what we have in mind," she promised. "But for those who don't attend, all will be revealed to you as well, after the convention is over."

Annamaria thought to herself that it would be exceedingly fun to observe the differing ministries at once, seeing as how they all had vastly different opinions about almost everything. " I'm always up for learning about a culture I've got no clue about, at any rate so it'll be nice to just observe all of them...and I admit I'm as curious as a cat about what the big reveal is going to be," She said, smiling and laughing a bit. " I'm terrible about surprises, I always want to know right away what's going to happen." She admitted, giving a little shrug.

"I can understand that. I've always been that way, too!", Samantha said. "But sometimes it's just as much fun to wait and find the surprise out later on. Well, it makes it more fun for me, anyway!" With that, she gave a little laugh. Everything would be revealed in due time, and she knew the employees would be pleased with the way things were going to turn out for them.

Lucy wasn't the most talkative person. Sometimes. She had learn to listen carefully in order to use what she listens. The woman she had turned into seemed more a Slytherin than what she was, a former Hufflepuff.
But this time, she brooke her strict rules of behavior on a place like the Ministry.
"I liker learning new cultures and new languages. You have travelled a lot?" she directed the question to both, Samantha and Annamaria.
Travelling was probably her big passion, after paperwork. That was what Eva used to say about Lucy.

It was in her blood. Her grandmother, and her mother, were from Ireland. Fromn her father side, her grandmother was french and her granfather and her own father were english. It was a big mixtures of nacionalities and languages. While she was growing up, Lucy didn't like that fact, because it mean she had to spend her holidays in Ireland, France, England and still go alone with her parents somewhere else.

"I love travel!", Samantha said enthusiastically. "It's so exciting to learn about new cultures and customs and to see new places. I've travelled a bit, though not as much as I would like. If I had my way, I'd be taking trips all the time!" Samantha recognized the fact that the main reason she hadn't travelled as much as she would like was because of her drive to get ahead, she was so busy working that she didn't bother going anywhere, and the jobs she had in those days weren't ones which would afford much of a travel opportunity. She had put everything aside in her strive to get ahead, including her chance to have a family of her own. Well, the days would be coming soon when she would have more chance to travel, she recognized with a smile. "I think it's safe to say that there may be some travel opportunities coming up for Ministry employees. You just never know!", she said.

Annamaria nodded as Lucy asked her about traveling. " Well, I did yes. After I graduated, I thought it would behoove me to learn more about other cultures so I took a year off to go to various places...Egypt, Germany, Iceland to name a few." She laughed when she remembered the last one. She had been extremely amazed at the midnight sunshine. " I'd still love to go visit the United States though, not to mention the Central and Southern Americas as well." She looked over at Samantha as she spoke enigmatically about opportunities for travel. An excited little grin moved over her face and she looked at Lucy. " Well, looks like we have more surprises in store for us then, hmm?" She said.

"I won the passion of travelling when I was a teenager. I didn't really like travelling when I was a kid." Lucy usually never talked about her childhood, but there she was, breaking her strict rules of behavior and conversation again.
"I go a lot of times to Ireland and France. Of course, travelling is connected with languages, in the first place. it is important to develop and study the language of a place before we visit it. Don't you agree?" she asked.

She turned at Annamaria with a smile:
"It seems like it. We'll have to wait and see."

Annamaria nodded and she wore an expression of agreement as she regarded Lucy. " Oh yes, of course! One should always learn at the very least enough of the local language to get around comfortably." She said. " There was one time when I accidentally mistranslated the word 'fish' for 'bathroom' in Icelandic, it was quite funny when it was all said and done." She said. " Yes, we will have to wait," She said, and her excitement built up all over again as she thought about the upcoming convention.

Lucy laughed.
"But... 'fish' and 'bathroom'? I can't imagine more different words." she said. She had a couple of funny episodes during the holidays, wile she was teaching when french friends to learn english. Or better, when she was still learning gaeilic vocabulary. Looking back, it had been the best time of her life.

She was enjoying that tour guide to the Ministry. Samantha and Annamaria seemed nice. Lucy considered for the first tiem the advices of a fourteen year old girl. Maybe that girl wasn't too mistaken.

Jake walked confidently into the room, beaming at his co-workers. "Hello everyone!" he called as he went to his office. Taking out a tiny box from his pocket, he put it on the floor and undid a few charms, making it very big and heavy. Quickly and efficiently, he took out his personal things and arranged them on his desk.
Once done, he put the box in the bin and went outside to greet his fellow workers. Finally, after all this time, I'm here!

Lucy looked around surprised as another co-worker, this time a man, greeted her and Annamaria. She kept her mind busy wondering how many people Samantha Rose had there working for her.
"Hello." she greeted when he came back from his office with a confident walkng. She couldn't help studying him. Something she had learn a long time ago was to study the other with descrition. That was what she was doing right now.

She hesitated, ending for convincing herselg with the thought that, if she really wanted to work there, she'd have to get along with her co-workers and be less.. cold. She kept hearing that from Eva and Chloe all the time.
She fianlly gave a step forward to introducce herself.
"I'm Lucy Stedman." She hated her first name, although she had to use it for professional reasons. She decided to hide it, this time buty if you searched for a 'Lucy Stedman' in the Ministry, you wouldn't find one.

Jake turned when someone greeted him. "Hey there! My name is Ron Rider, but please call me Jake, I hate my first name," he said and held out his hand for her to shake. Keeping a friendly environment between the workers is one of the basic keys to success, he thought as he smiled at her. Besides, I need more English friends!

Ron, or Jake, as her prefered to be called was way to friendly and way too good looking.
Those were Lucy's first opinions about him, that she pushed away to the back of her mind. She glanced at his hand before shake it for brief seconds. But a smile appeared on her lips as he talked.
"Are you from Australia?" she had spend there a month with a cousin and due to her previous conversattion with Annamaria and Samantha, Lucy had been thinking about all the trips she had done.
Lucy's accent was english, completly british, but when she was in Ireland she didn't take too long to catch the irish accent. Aww, she still blamed her grandmother for that.

the twenty six year old kept smiling. Meeting another person that didn't like the first name wasn't uncomum but, from all the places she had been, usually first names tend to be a little.. exotic for an english woman.
"Well, at least you have a second name that you like." she replied. "My parents gave me the beautiful name of Lucille Hope." she said it with enough sarcasm to someone realize she was being ironic, but not enough to scare someone. Lucy could be coldly scary.

Jake smiled as she shook his hand. "No, I'm British through and through. But after I left Hogwarts, I moved to Australia and lived there for four years. I guess the accent still hasn't gone away," he said, grinning at the woman.
He laughed when she told him about her name. "Well Lucy, personally I think that Lucy fits you more. I mean don't get me wrong, Lucille Hope is a lovely name," he winked at her, grinning mischievously, "but..." he trailed off, still stifling a laugh.

Lucy heard him attention. If he had been 4 years in Australia, right after leaving Hogwarts he should be at least 4 yeras younger than her. He didn't seemed to be, though.
"How is Australia? Is it everything like the movies or it is completly different?" she asked, interested and again, being extremly polite.
She blinked twice when he laughed but she hide her surprise quickly and replied:
"Of course it his. Nobody could ever give me a common name, like Mary, Rachel or Susannah." she loved those three names. To her bad luck, her parents didn't like it.

He smiled at the memories. "Australia is great. It's more alive and more exotic than ever. I don't really know if it's like the movies since I haven't been to the cinema since I was 10."
He laughed again, then sobered up when she said the name Rachel. "I think Rachel is a beautiful name," he whispered softly, not realistic what he had said. I wonder if she got the letter yet? Will she agree to see Samantha?

Annamaria walked through the offices of the Magical Examinations Authority, her mind on some work she needed to do when she heard voices in the hall before her. She looked up and noticed Lucy conversing with a new employee, or at least that's what she assumed. She gave a little wave to Lucy, and smiled at the man with her, whomever he was.

Jake turned when he heard another person come in. He smiled back and said, "Hello! My name is Jake Rider and I'm a new employee here." Was this whole department made up of only women? he thought as he grinned at the woman. Samantha, Lucy and this one. No guys?

Annamaria stopped for a moment as the man introduced himself. " Oh, well that's what I was guessing," She said with a bright smile. She came forward and reached out her hand. " I'm Annamaria Purcell," She said, pushing a bit of her red hair back out of her face with her other hand as she spoke. " It's good to see more employees here." She looked over at Lucy and smiled.

Jake grinned and shook her hand. "Hello Annamaria. Yes, so far I've only seen you and Lucy here. Who else is there? How many are we?" he asked, curious. This department needs some shaking up! I need to meet all the new employees, then have a chat with Sam. I'm going to kill her for not telling me I was accepted!