This decision was made for her, though, since Jack was the one to approach Melanie. Her blue eyes widened in surprise as she noticed the grin that was plastered across Jack's face and immediately sent off an order to her brain to provide a plausible explanation for his behavior. This was probably the reason the 21-year-old just stood there for a few seconds sort of staring at Jack even though her eyes had slightly lost their focus, while she tried to figure out what he was thinking at the moment. Without much success, though.

After another moment of awkward silence Melanie shook her head causing her long blonde hair to fly through the air and then her eyes finally refocused on Jack's face and she realized exactly what she'd been staring at the last few minutes. A little reddish teint appeared in her cheeks as she quickly cleared her throat before saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, Jack...but what?!" Then her blue eyes fell on the drink in his hands and a small smile crept across her lips as she guessed what his question must have been. "Yes, of course, thank you." Trying hard to keep them from falling back into the awkward silence she'd just caused Melanie tried her best to keep their little chat up and so she asked the first question that came to her mind, "So, are they together now?" She nodded at Armen and Oceana. Yes, very great topic, but whatever.

Turning her head at a quite familiar voice Melanie was glad to have someone else to talk to, someone to distract her, someone to provide her with a little more time to figure out what Jack was thinking right now. "Angelica!" She greeted her cheerfully. "Thank you. It's so nice to see you. Oh, yes it really does look fantastic. Who organized this awesome party?" Then after a short pause Melanie half-turned back towards Jack to face them both as she added, "Oh, and it was very nice of you to invite me. I was very surprised to find an invitation on my counter."

Teal had heard the door open behind him, but he didn’t give it the slightest amount of attention as he was waiting an answer from one of Lorraine’s employee’s. Then, out of the blue he felt hands covering his eyes, and then a very familiar voice that he could pick out of a crowd of a million.

Putting his own hands on top of Lorraine’s, which were still on Teals, he pulled hers down and turned around to face here with a big smile. “You think you’re sneaky do you?” He said jokingly, as he embraced her strongly, dropping a quick and discreet kiss on the forehead; he didn’t know if Lorraine wanted to show too much affection in the midst of everyone else. After letting go, he looked to her with an impressed expression. “Your break room looks really nice, well done.” He said with a nod, Teal was a horrible decorated and if he tried to decorate, it would be scary.

at that moment Armen had been talking to Oceana he noticed a woman walk in. "Hey Oceana look its Lorraine, lets go welcome her." and he walked over to her and the man with her. "Welcome to the party. Im Armen Recard and this is Oceana Mason we put this little party together." he said as he shook the man's hand. "Well Lorraine merry Christmas." he said giving her a grin. "So do you like it?"

Oceana walked over with Armen and smiled at the man that had walked in she didn't recongise him but guessed he was new, and said "merry christmas" to Lorraine she was wondering how many more could fit in this room she looked at Armen as if to tell him off for bragging

Madison offered her hand for a warm welcoming and smiled. The gentleman was very nice, something she was thankful for. "It's very nice to meet you Armen. I'm Madison...Myers, for now," she smiled proudly with a firm handshake. She was newly engaged and could not wait to take on the name of her first and only love.

And then she heard the door open. In walked Lorraine, the one person she needed to chat with, but at the moment she seemed rather busy with someone she had no idea who. They seemed to know each other...hmmm. She would wait to speak to her boss at another time.

Teal turned around as two of the Employee’s came over to greet him and Lorraine, he gave them a small nod of recognition as they introduced themselves. “It’s nice to meet you two.” He said with a smile as he shook their hands. “I’m Teal Andrus, Department Head over in creatures.” He said with a nod, clearing the air that he wasn’t a new employee if they had thought that.

“The place looks great.” He complimented to Armen and Ocean with a definite nod, looking around for the drinks. “Do y’all have any firewhisky?” He asked, with a wry smile in Lorraine’s direction; he was quite sure she knew it was his drink of choice.

Another woman in the room caught his eye for only a split second, she looked pretty familiar for some reason. He was almost positive that he had seen her in Lorraine’s office once, but wasn’t 100% on it. She was very appealing thought, there was no doubt there.

Oceana extended her hand and said "welcome Teal yes go and help yourself there is plenty on the table, thank you we decided with a school's theame for some reason i can't remember now" she laughed and then looked at Armen "lets go and see Melanie" she said stenly

"It was nice to meet you Teal." Armen said as he was about to leave them with Oceana. "Have a nice time Lorraine if you need anything we will be over here. When he was outof earshot with them he said "Oceana why did we have to leave them so quickly." he asked with a grin on his cheery face.

Oceana smiled and replied "because he is here to see Lorraine" she smiled kindly and squeezed his hand "i think in the same way you want to see me"

"Ohhh." he just realized "Ok." he smiled and squeezed her hand back playfully

she smiled and said "anway there are plently of people here to mingle with Armen you don't have to stay with me" she picked up two firewhisky's and passed one to Armen

"well that is true." he said "But i would rather be with you." he said taking the drink and sipping it.

Oceana smiled and replied "i know alright i will stay with you for another half an hour we still need to see Melanie"

"Ok" he smiled "Wait a minute what happens in a half an hour?"

Oceana chuckled Armen was sweet "you have to go and leave my side" she replied

"Ok then lets make the best of our time now." what do we do?" he asked looking at her

Well, since everyone was introducing themselves why would she not do the same. Madison walked over to where Lorraine and the gentleman were speaking and smiled as her cheeks blushed in color. She was rather shy and not one to draw attention to herself but, at this moment she just had to meet more people. It was her way of forcing herself to come out of her shell. "Good afternnoon, Lorraine," she gave a nod of her head towards her Head of the Department along with her gentleman friend. "Hello and welcome."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well o'coure imma Moniz. It's what we do." He said the words escaping before he even had time to think about what he said. It was something he usually did. However sounding so...conceited, was not something he usually did. Shrugging the fact off he hoped nobody noticed.

Jacinto felt stupid...and blown off and ignored. But mostly stupid. Standing there he wondered if everything was alright with Mel. First he hadn't seen her at work. Now this. She seemed confused or embarrassed. Perhaps he had done something wrong.

Coughing Jack tried to take his mind off the awkward silence. Looking around the room a bit he noticed more people had entered. Lorraine had been one of them, and a man who he had never seen before. However Lorraine and him looked pretty close.

About to repeat his question again he stopped as Melanie answered him. Handing her the bottle he titled his head to the side. "Yea' okay?" He asked slowly. Looking over his shoulder to see what she was talking about Jack shrugged. "No clue. Bu'...they look like they 're." Jack really wasn't observant with these things. "Oh! Yea' I tried ta' find ya before, but I couldn't. So, left it there instead."

Lorraine should have guessed that Teal would have easily been able to figure her out the moment she spoke. For one, she didn't think he even knew anyone else in Magical Transportation. Biting her lower lip subtly, as Teal pulled her hands down, she couldn't help but smile in return when he turned to face her. "Stealth isn't my strength when you're around," She teased, embracing him in return, but then released as they were in a place of work. "But I'm glad you could make it."

Noticing him look around, she nodded towards him. "Thank you, but actually it is Apparition Center you should be thanking. They're the ones who threw this all together." She explained, glancing around in search of some of its employees.

As Lorraine glanced around, she noticed Armen and Oceana both come to greet her and Teal at first. Teal introduced himself, as did both her employees. Oh they were such wonderful people; all of them were, really. "Merry Christmas to you both as well," the brunette nodded towards both Armen and Oceana. "The room does look amazing, so thank you both."

Her hazel eyes then warranted over towards Madison for a brief moment as she could have sworn the woman was staring at her. Hmm... perhaps she would drag Teal over to meet her in a moment...

Lorraine redirected her attention back towards Teal and had to fight back a snicker with his question. Leave it to Teal Andrus to ask for the firewhiskey when first meeting someone.

"Excellent thought, I could go for a mead myself," Lorraine replied, figuring she was paying for the foods and beverages anyway. Well the Department was, but same thing really. As she was about to direct Teal over towards the refreshment table, it seemed the moment had arrived.

"Madison! Good afternoon," Lorraine beamed at her assistant, noticing her also greeting her gentlemen friend. "Happy holidays and good of you to join us. This right here --" The Department Head inclined her head towards her right and the taller gentleman, "-- would be Teal Andrus, a long-time friend and companion of mine, as well as Head of Magical Creatures."

Teal nodded in appreciation as Armen and Ocean walked off after introducing themselves, they seemed like nice enough people. Her comment made him smile weakly, but in a warm way. Looking into her eyes as she said that, he grinned broadly. "I'll take that as a compliment." He said jokingly with a smirk. "I'm glad I could too. The way my day was going I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it down. I had to clear out my office pretty fast, thanks for the invite." Teal said softly, looking into Lorraines hazel eyes. Involuntarily, Teal took a look at his watch. Good thing that his house elf was pretty strong and capable of defending itself, she and Cy were probably waging war at the moment.

Grinning as Lorraine requested a mead, he began to take a step over towards the drink table when the woman that had caught his eye a bit earlier had made her way over to him and Lorraine. Her and Lorraine exchanged a few words, and Teal watched silently until he was brought in as well. "Thank you, Madison-- correct?" That was what Lorraine had just called her, if he wasn't mistaken. Teal gave Lorraine a side smile as she introduced him to her employee, Madison. Nodding, Teal put out his hand to Madison for a brisk shake, "Yes, as she said, I'm Teal Andrus." She seemed like a nice lady as well, it seemed like Magical Creatures and Law Enforcement were the Department's that received the very high-strung, hard headed personalities.

Taking a small step over to the refreshment table, he gave Lorraine and Madison a slight smile. "Can I get either of you a drink while I'm over there?" He gave Lorraine a fast wink, letting her know that he knew to get her mead... of course. Lorraine really did love that stuff.

Angelica listened to Oceana's comment. After a moment replied back in a whisper "I understand. Isn't it better that i know though?" Looking around the room she took in the conversations and people. Even though it was Armen and Oceana's party she still felt obligated to keep an eye on things. If there was trouble brooing somewhere then Angelica would need to act swiftly. Turning back to Oceana she whispered "All right keep it a secret until you two know if the relationship is really going somewhere." Hearing the comment about Armen and giggled agreeing "Yes, Armen is a very curious man."

Angelica listened with interest as Blaze explained what they were working on in the portkey. Thinking she asked "So your going to investigate the unregistered portkey appearance at the opening ceremonies of the international conference?" It had been rumours going on about that portkey and Angelica hoped that some sort of investigation were going to be put in place. As the topic changed to her own division she smiled replying "We are working on creating apparition lessons for Hogwarts, its a big job. We also monitor the apparition network. And my employees created this christmas party for the department." Angelica was very proud of her employees but the problem she had was letting them know her feelings.

As Melanie noticed her Angelica smiled saying "Armen, Oceana and Jack planned and organized the whole christmas party. I'm glad that you could come." Watching the exchange between Melanie and Jack she wondered if they actually had taken the time to talk about Melanies new job in Diagon Ally. Deciding to intervene in the akward moment Angelica asked "So, Melanie how do you like working in Madam Malkins?"

Oceana smiled at her department head and replied "thank you Lorraine i'm glad you like it, hope you enjoy yourself, we have plenty of drinks and food to keep everyone going," Oceana giggled and then said "and as i have said to Teal pleanty of firewhisky, but i think we are still waiting for some more people to arrive yet" she smiled nervously

Oceana nodded as she listened to Angelica speak and replied "yes it is better that you know, we will keep it a secret untill we know or untill someone spots us" she laughed and looked at Angelica and giggled with her and nodded about Armen.

Upon noticing Jack's obvious confusion and anxiety which was probably due to her weird behavior from before Melanie blushed slightly in embarrassment. Oh great, now she had made him feel uneasy! She mentally slapped herself for her actions as she took the butterbeer bottle from Jack giving him a warm smile. "Thank you, Jack." Nipping at the butterbeer Melanie's blue eyes flashed back towards Oceana and Armen who definitely looked quite close.
Watching the two interact with each other Melanie had to think back at her first day of work and how Armen had to Lorraine's obvious annoyance kissed the Department Head's hand as he had introduced himself. He definitely was sort of...well, different.

Chuckling at the memory Melanie rolled her eyes at Jack as she heard his answer. How could Jack not have noticed that Oceana and Armen were well slightly more than co-workers?! With a sigh Melanie gave Jack a quite pitying look before saying, "Jack...you really didn't notice, did you?" Gee, men could be so unobservant about those things at times. It had been the first thing she'd noticed after entering the breakroom but whatever.

Melanie almost choked on her butterbeer as she heard what Jack said next. Coughing she tried to put on an innocent look and even half-managed to Melanie replied, "Ah yes, I...uhm...must have been...in the backroom or something." Or hiding behind the racks. "Sorry I missed you, Jack."

Melanie's eyes started to twinkle in excitement as she heard Angelica's answer. "Wow! Really? You did this?" Her blue eyes scanned the room looking at all the amazing decoration her ex-co-workers had put up. "It's awesome!" She said her eyes now on the banners Oceana had bought at her shop not too long ago. And her delivery of the banners hadn't been too late either, apparently. Amazing!

"My job?" Melanie asked before turning her head and her full attention back to Angelica. "Yes, I absolutely love it!" Gesturing at the banners that had been hung up all around the breakroom Melanie added cheerfully, "I sold those to Oceana, you know. She was my first real customer."

Lorraine snickered lightly when Teal took his stealth as a compliment. As he should have considering the fact that he was in charge of Magical Creatures – having tamed DRAGONS for Merlin’s sake. If he wasn’t stealthy, then … well, she didn’t really want to think of what could have been without that skill. Giving him another hug, she breathed his sweet cologne through her nostrils, as just one whiff wouldn’t hurt anyone. She missed that scent, as she pulled reluctantly away, knowing she had to be professional now and looked up into his blue eyes. “Well you know, if the excuse works to be able to get people out of the office at the end of the day, I’d take it.” Lorraine replied quietly, amusing herself. He was such a busy man, as creatures always seemed to give trouble. Just so long as they didn’t damage the broom regulations or destroy a whole slew of floo powder, then it rarely involved her department.

She smiled subtly as Teal introduced himself to Madison as well – oh he was a darling. And then before she could say another word, he was over by the refreshment table asking of a drink, but no sense in her replying, since he already knew to get her mead. Hopefully Madison wouldn’t feel too ashamed to ask…

In the meantime, while Teal had busied himself with getting the refreshments, Lorraine turned back towards Oceana. "Oh you're quite welcome, as I would never lie about the decor," she nodded politely, a slight twinkle in her hazel eyes. The brunette found it mildly amusing the mention of Teal and firewhiskey, as she knew how much Teal loved the drink. It was just amusing that a relative stranger knew already. "There won't be when he's done with it," she whispered toward the Apparition employee, tossing her a quick wink too.

Glancing around at the crowd for a moment, Lorraine tried to recall if there were others missing. Upon realizing only a few were missing - such as Kyra and her new employee, Jonathan, and Winter and perhaps a few others - Lorraine turned back to Oceana. "This might be all who are attending for now, if you want to make a little toast or something for celebration on finishing another year? Onto 2067..." she mused at the thought. Oy. She was getting old, as that big four-zero was creeping up on her. "Others can catch up later if they decide to join..."

Oceana smiled and nodded "well the drinks need to be drunk Lorraine" Oceana said with a giggle looking over at Teal "its a good job Armen bought more firewhisky than we intended" Oceana thought for a moment and replied "i would love to make a toast, Armen was around here somewhere but i'd gladly make it Lorraine" Oceana smiled and walked over to the other side of the room.

Oceana stood on an decorated box she just whipped up and looked around the room she suddenly had nerves but she clincked her glass and said a little louder then normal "Excuse me could i have everyones attention a minuite?" she looked around the room and waited for the place to settle "i just wanted to thank everyone for coming it has been real fun putting this together with my colleague Armen and we along with the whole Apperation center want to thank you for coming along, 2067 is not far away and lets spend the rest of 2066 partying Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!" Oceana blushed and got down of her box and walked over to get herself another drink....