When he rolled his eyes, Pandora felt a little irritated. However when he asked how he deserved her anymore than she deserved him, she softened. "Well, perhaps I was meant to fall into your lap? I'm not sure that I believe in fate, but perhaps somethings are supposed to happen and then you can make what you want of them. So perhaps we do deserve wach other. I, I don't know." She smiled shyly.

She frowned. "Your father is too busy to notice you? Then he's a fool."

When he slid hid arms dreamily around her waist, she nodded. "I haven't looked forward to anything this much in a very long time." She listened as he told her how committed he felt to his work... and apparently to her. She looked up as he blushed and stared at the floor. She stroked his cheek and then lifted his chin so that he would look at her. "Responsible for me? You don't have to be responsible for me to the extent where you work yourself into the ground my darling. We need to look after each other. I want to look after you too." Her expression was open and loving, her eyes warm and soft. She traced her finger over his lips.

Ronan leaned close to kiss her gently. "Well either way, I'm certainly glad we found each other. I was sick of being lonely and lost in London." he said quietly, smiling as gently as he had kissed her.

"It's been the same since Mum died." he said rubbing his right arm gently where his tattoo dedicated to her was under his clothes. Nobody knew about it, not even his father, course when did the man ever talk to him or ask about him as it were.

"Trust me Pandora, if you knew what the project was and how much it affects me, you'd understand why I feel responsible for your safety and health." he said looking sincerely into her eyes. Ronan's finger touched the keys that now hung around Pandora's neck. When her finger touched his lips, he opened his mouth and nipped at his playfully, a mischievous grin on his face

Ronan kissed her again and she surrendered to it. She couldn't stop kissing him here and now, but she would have to re-establish the work rules soon. But for now she would just enjoy it. "Yes, me too." She whispered.

When he mentioned his mother, she pulled him into a tight embrace, noticing that he was rubbing his arm. "Is your arm bothering you?" She asked gently.

When he talked about his project, with such a sincere look in his eyes, something clicked into place. She nodded and said, "I think I understand darling. I'm here, if you want to talk to me about anything. But don't forget that I'm responsible for me too." She thought back to the moment when she would have to walk back into the office. Her attention was drawn away from this thought as he nipped her finger tip. She withdrew her hand from his face immediately, "Ouch! That was uncalled for!" She chuckled. "I'll get my own back Ronan Cavanaugh, just you wait!"

"Not bothering me, no." Ronan said with a bit of a blush in his face. He lifted up his shirt to show her the tattoo he had gotten when he was eighteen. "I got it in honor of my mum." he said, noting his mother's name on the ribbon part.

Ronan grinned and kissed the top of her head. "Alright, I know you're an independent woman." he said.

Ronan chuckled when she took her finger away. "You bring out the wicked side of me Pandora, I can't help it." he said with a wink.

When Ronan rolled up his shirt sleeve and revealed the tattoo, a heart pierced by a dagger, Pandora smiled up at him sadly. She ran a cool finger tip over the letters of his mother's name, 'Aubrey'. "You miss her don't you?" There was understanding in her eyes. "It's like part of you has been torn away." She whispered.

When he kissed her head and made his patronising comment, she pursed her lips. "That's right, don't you forget it either." She told him darkly.

"Oh I bring out your wicked side do I? I may just have to sort that out." She gave him a warning glance.

"More than anything in the world." he replied solemnly, rolling down his sleeve slowly. "She's buried in her native France. I haven't been in 13 years." Ronan informed the young woman standing before him."You fill that emptiness Pandora." he added with a weak grin.

Ronan looked down at Pandora with a clenched jaw, trying to keep track of all the emotions coursing through his body, before leaning forward to capture her lips once again. He was more forceful than before, mirroring the first time Pandora had kissed him when they first met in the Atrium.

He felt no boundaries, only wanting to show Pandora how much he needed her, most of all right now, in his vulnerable state.

Ronan's whole body seemed to change. The pain he was clearly feeling seemed to radiate out of him in waves. Pandora, who had never been so open about her emotions, not the ones connected to the pain she felt at losing her family, was caught off guard. When he told her that she filled the emptiness that his mother had left behind, she reeled, gripping on to his now bare arm as though she were in danger of falling.

"Darling, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have brought it up he-" Her sentence was cut short by his insistent kiss, which had all the passion of the kiss she had given him when he appeared in front of her in the atrium.

She pulled back and saw the vulnerability etched into his face. "Do you have to go back this afternoon?" She wanted to take him out of the Ministry, to go and walk in the countryside and talk. To be alone without all the distraction of work.

Ronan touched Pandora's raven hair and grinned gently.

"No, I suppose I don't have to go back. In fact, I'd rather like the break. Things are all but death in there." Ronan replied chuckling at his own pun since he worked in the Death Chamber.

"Where do you want to go my sweet little rose?" he asked.

Pandora smiled up at him. She wasn't sure where he worked in the Department of Mysteries, he wasn't able to tell her bur she did have a fairly good idea. "I thought that we could go for a walk. A proper walk. I'd have to go home and change out of these." She gestured down at her delicate turquoise robes.

"Malachi left some of his spare walking boot behind when he left for Fiji, I think they'll fit you, if you haven't got any. I want to show my Yorkshire." She smiled softly at him.

"Yeah, I think I'd need to change pretty quick as well." Ronan informed Pandora looking down at his black robes, they weren't as extravagant a color as the young woman's but all the same, people may look at him funnily.

"Who's Malachi, if I may ask?" he questioned with a curious glance. She had never mentioned the man before.

Pandora grinned at him. "Very true. Just no denim, it's not easy to climb the steep bits in. I don't think anyone will see us but our robes could get snagged quite easily."

She realised that he could have had a quite jealous reaction to the mention of Malachi, so his curiosity caused her to be relieved. "He was my tutor, before and after Hogwarts. He's an expert in Magical Creatures." She smiled, trying to reassure him that Malachi was not a former boyfriend.

"Oh okay." Ronan said with a kind smile glad that he wouldn't have to think of any previous men stealing away Pandora's affections.

"No denim, got it. I'm meeting you at the cottage yes?" he asked with an arched brow, asking just so he wouldn't end up in the wrong place and whatnot.

Ronan watched Pandora disappear before him and turned on the spot himself and popped into his flat. He headed into his bedroom to pick out an outfit that would be perfect for exploring around Yorkshire with Pandora.

Being Antigone's first day on the job she had taken to strolling about the Ministry, getting comfortable with the lay out of things. She was wearing her hair in two plaits down her back so as to keep it tamed a bit and out of her face. She stopped in the Atrium and began to admire the beauty of the place, smiling as she dug in her bag for her bottle of water.

Samuel stepped out of the lift without looking where he was exactly going because he had his eyes glued to his handy dandy spell book that he had recently purchased. He was flipping through the pages hoping - JUST HOPING - to come across a spell that could take the permanent charm off his pink desk, so he could turn it back to orange. There was a spell for everything, so there had to be a spell for that. It was just a matter of finding it in this book.

The first time he looked up from his book, he had to come to a quick halt so that he wouldn't collided into this woman that was nearly 2 feet away from him. Thank goodness he had stopped in time! IF he had ran that woman over, he wouldn't know what to say...or do in that matter.

Taking a few steps back, he closed his book and gave the woman a little smile. "Hello," he greeted her. "I'm sorry that I almost ran right into you. I was looking down at my book and not paying attention to where I was going."

Barely taking notice of the near collision seeing as she was oogling the Atrium, Antigone was shocked to hear a man's voice. She turned to face and smiled nervously. "Hello. No problem, I probably shouldn't have stopped in the middle of the Atrium to stare," she admitted with a wry smile. Sticking out her hand she said, "I am Antigone McArdle. And you are?"

'Wow, he is a looker!' she thought to herself. 'Are they growing hot guys on some tree around the Ministry?. She felt her cheeks flush as she thought these things and she chuckled nervously.

Samuel shrugged. "It's actually natural for someone to stop and....stare? Okay, maybe not the staring part of the situation, but standing around is okay," he pointed out with a little chuckle. "Technically, I was doing more wrong than you were. I should have learned a long time ago to not walk and read at the same time." He had done that A LOT during his OWLs and NEWTs years and, luckily, he didn't run into too many people while doing it back in his Hogwarts years.

He had NO idea why the name Antigone had rung a little tiny bell in his head, but it surely did. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Antigone," he said. "I'm Samuel McDean." The fact that both of there last names starting with 'Mc' placed a smile upon Sam's face. It was a weird coincidence.

Antigone giggled and nodded her head. "I suppose you're right about the staring, but I am new to the Ministry. My first day actually. I am just out wandering around and was struck by the beauty of this place," she admitted. "Oh, I love to read, I try not to do so while walking, or driving, but hey some of us are just far more talented than others, eh?" she joked with the man.

Returning his smile Antigone said, "The pleasure is all mine." Dear Merlin! Did she REALLY just say that?! Batting her striking blue eyes at him the flush in her cheeks became more apparent. Antigone was too awkward for her own good sometimes! Yeesh!

"New to the Ministry, ya say? What level?" Samuel asked. It was always good to get to know someone by asking them what level they worked on first after knowing their name that is. "I'm sort new, I guess you could say. I've been working here for a week or so." It seemed more like 2 weeks. Eh, he lost track after his first two days of being in his office. He nodded his head at the mention of not reading while driving. "Reading while driving is never good idea," he added.

Was this girl battering her eyelashes at him? Errrrrrrrrrm, awkward much. He could also tell that her cheeks were getting a little lighter than normal. "Are you...okay?" He questioned with an arched eyebrow.

Antigone felt like bolting away from the dude right then and there. Damn, she was such a freak sometimes! Shaking her head she said, "Um... no nothing's wrong. I think there is something in my eye." SHe made like she was blinking something out and rubbed her eye a few times.

"Yeah, brand spanking new. I am the new Department Head for Magical Education. Where is it that you work?" she said, trying to divert all attention from herself. PLEASE be one of those people that enjoys talking about yourself... or else I am going to run away right now!

Samuel just slowly nodded his head up and down. Something being in Antigone's eye would most definitely explain why she was battering her eyes, but what explained her cheeks flushing? That he was still just a tiny bit confused on, but there was NO way he was going to ask anything about that. He wasn't one for awkwardness.

"Department Head? Impressive," he commented with a grin. He kinda wished he could be a Department Head, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to pull it off. He was just planning on being a Division Head for the rest of him life, or at least until he retired. "Oh, I work in Level 3. I'm the Division Head for the Invisibility Task Force and Experimental Charms Committee," he answered. GAH, there goes the long name again! "Or what I like to call it The Long Named Division," he added.

Antigone felt like breathing a sigh of relief since he didn't further interrogate her on her eye batting. WHEW! The blush left her cheeks and she smile at Sam.

"Well, thanks I do find it pretty amazing that I got the job, but hey, I rreally tried so I reckon I deserved it," she said rather modestly. SHe really knew she was pretty qualified and rather knew she was meant for that job.

"Oh! Level Three, I bet that is interesting. Lots of crazy stuff happening down there?! And yes, I see why you would call that division by some other name. Ever call it ITF and ECC? That is what I would do," Antigone said with a nod.

Busy. Busy. Busy.

That’s how Krel felt lately.

She was tired. She was sore. She desperately needed to get her dragon hide heels off. She really needed a back rub. She was stressed. She was ragged. She wasn’t sleeping well. She was also a bit hung over.

And to top all that off, her new pet fish, Maurice, had died last night.

Her hair was not up as neatly as she usually would have had it. Her tie was a bit crooked at her throat and her brief case was half open and dangling precariously off her left forearm. She had, at some point in her dash to get to her meeting on time, lost her favorite pencil.

Gurgle went her stomach.

“Oh not now,” Krel groaned to her stomach as she pulled up short as a large man passed in front of her near the fountain. “I don’t have time to stop for food…I’m late enough as it is!”