Miley walked out of the lifts and headed over to one of the benches.She sat her stack of papers down and fixed a piece of her hair that wouldn't stay inher hair clip.When she got done fixing it,she looked around the Atrium and noticed Warren leaning against the wall.Hmmmm.She walked over to him and smiled. "Long time,no see...?"she said.

Warren sat back watching with a bemused expression as someone refused to have their wand weighed and recorded at one of the security desks. Poor bloke. Probably fresh from Hogwarts manning a desk where you get the grunt of the hectic people's nerves and frustrations. As the argument started to get heated he pushed off from the wall and stood up, preparing himself to go to the security desk as he knew that his formidable size next to that of the scrawny security guards would probably end all argument, when he heard footsteps coming his way. He watched as the argument died down and turned his attention to the footsteps that didn't sound like the familiarity of Alexa's steps to see... He grinned, a rare thing for him, and stood up. "Well, look who it is. What brings you back?" He said as he took a step toward her and gave her a hug.

"I missed the Ministry waaaay too much,"Miley told Warren. "Truth is,I love Ireland,but it doesn't compare to London and the Ministry." She nodded at the fact.She hugged Warren back when he gave her a hug. "So,how have you been?It's been way too long since I've talked to you."

Warren laughed and shook his head, "You missed this..." he waved his arm around the to indicate the building, "outdated building? This stuffy city? Tell you what love, you stay here and I'll go back to Ireland." He smirked and sat down on the bench again looking up at Miley from this rare angle, "I've been...good." His arm fully healed now, though his worries about what Alexa might do going full throttle in his mind. "We had an interesting training session on Level 2 that you missed out on."

"Yessss,I did miss all this..."Miley said.She waved her hand indicating the building,just like Warren did. "Well,you know,I'm the kind of person who gets homesick and stuff.And,I just missed it.I missed all you guys." She giggled when Warren said he'll go back to Ireland. "Awww,but,I just got here.You wont leave me just,yet." She smiled. "Training session?Sounds interesting.Why don't you tell me all about it?"She walked over to Warren and sta down next to him on the bench.

Warren smirked, "Well, I guess that's understandable." After all he got that way a few times in Russia. Even after everything that had happened. And after he left Alexa it had gotten worse, almost a self-destructive spiral downwards on his part. He looked at Miley and smiled, "I missed you too." Shaking his head he laughed, "I couldn't even if I wanted to. Not yet." There was just too much going on with Alexa. He didn't know why he was obsessing over it. Probably because she was going to go and he knew it yet wouldn't be able to stop her. "Hmmm. It was interesting. Except for the fact that I missed about half of it." As Miley sat down next to him he glanced at her and then back to the people walking around, "Alexa and I got into a duel. An actual duel."

Miley listened to Warren talk and when he mentioned him and Alexa getting into a duel,she turned her eyes back towards him. "A duel?An actual duel?Were one of you trying to hurt the other?Were you guys mad at eachother?" Wow.Too many questions at once.She shut her mouth and waited for Warren to answer those question she asked.

Warren pursed his lips at Miley's question and nodded as he stared out at the people, "An actual duel and...I'm not sure.... I wasn't but she might have been." He closed his eyes and looked down at the floor, "Actually I came here right after leaving the house where I broke...well some things after Alexa went to bed early. I was going to look up someone before she did but when I got here...I don't know...I calmed down and found myself here." He looked at Miley and smiled rather sadly, "She's going to leave and there's nothing I can do. She wants to do it on her own and honestly I don't blame her. I did when I had the opportunity but then again she also saved me. That...that's what I'm afraid of."

Arcius marched through the Atrium on his way to the lifts. He glanced around his, taking in the decor, the witches and wizards hurrying around him - the sheer scale of it all. He spotted a rogue fleck of dust on his sleeve and flicked it off. This was the beginning of what would no doubt be the rest of his career.

An actual duel?Woah.That was-unlike Warren and Alexa.The last time Miley saw them,they were a perfect couple. "I'm sorry to hear that.I can't imagine why Alexa would duel with you.She doesn't seem like that type of person,"she told Warren. "You broke something?Who were you going to look up?" She was getting quite curious now. "Afraid?You're afraid something is going to happen to her?"

As Ater crossed the Atrium he saw the fountain to his left and decided to exam it when he left. At this point he wanted to go through security and find the Law Enforcement floor and present for duty, as soon as possible.

As he walked quickly across the large room, he noticed the fine marble and the hurried people walking from one place to another. Soon he would be one of these people, and he couldn’t wait for it; he had been very excited at the thought of working for the Ministry, and now he was about to begin.

Armen was walking down to get a copy of the Daily Prophet. Normally the tall, 23 year-old didnt walk to get the paper all the way up from the 6th floor because being employed in the Appration Testing Center he was an expert at Apparating, but he decided to do some people watching as he went. But he didnt see the man standing right infront of him and he walked clear into him. "Oh Im so sorry sir." he said to the wizard.

Ater was walking when someone bumped into him, a scowl was forming on his face but he caught it on time, it wasn’t the place for scowling and the person probably didn’t do it o purpose.

When he looked at the person, it was a dark haired man, a couple of inches shorter then himself, and a friendly manner “No problem, sir. Are you ok?” he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Armen smiled at the man. "Yes i didnt mean to run into you like that. Im Armen Recard of the Apparation Dept. I dont normally walk down here to get my paper but i decided to this morning and look what it gets me. Running into people. Im so used to Appaating. Oh man look at me being rude whats your name and do you work here in the Ministry?"

Ater looked at the man with a smile slightly tugging at his lips, as Armen introduced himself. When he finished the Slytherin bowed and then extended his hand to the Aparation Dep. Worker “A pleasure to meet you Armen, I’m Ater Penumbra, first day working in the Law Enforcement Department as a Hit Wizard.” He announced with a smile “And no problem about the nudge, it happens.” He told the man, so he would not worry.

“Aparation Dept. it must be quite an adventure, to work there.” He half asked half affirmed. If the young ones where half as bad at aparating as brewing the poor man had his work cut out for him.

Jake casually walked into the Atrium, his eyes focused on the extremely long piece of parchment he had up close to his face, held in such a way to prevent it from dragging on the floor.

Grinning, Jake could almost imagine Rachel writing this - all alone in some dark corner of the common room, biting her cheeks and eyes alight with excitement as she ran everything in her head before writing it down. He continued walking, going in the general direction of the lifts, not particularly interested in where he was going.

BAM!

"GARH!" he shouted as he toppled over someone, feeling both himself and his unfortunate victim crashing on the floor loudly. For a moment, he didn't move, only testing himself for broken bones. Not finding any, he groaned and slowly picked himself off the man whom he had collided with. "Sorry," he mumbled, hoisting himself into an upright position on the floor as he raised his left hand to feel the large bump forming on his forehead, the other still clutching his niece's long letter.

Ater had being looking at Armen interested in the man’s reply when he felt something sturdy yet obviously unbalanced hit his left side, and then the floor was no longer under his feet.

THUD!

He felt himself collide with the floor; but being a Hit Wizard he had his reflexes, even if they were majorly oriented towards other people. As he fell he rotated so hi fell sideways as he raised his right arm, to protect his head, as if it was a pillow, as his left arm, was bent at the elbow so his arm was as close to his body as possible, while his hand was opened acting like a small platform for the body toppling over his own.

‘What the hell was this? Whack a’Penumbra day or something?’ he thought to himself, in the 5 seconds it took his body to remain static on the floor. He rose to a sitting position, with a raised eyebrow almost touching his hair line. Ater watched as the man about his age, felt his head for damage, and apologized to him.

“No problem, Sir. No harm no fault” was his response, with a flat tone, even though inside Ater was seething. He wasn’t particularly fond on harsh connections with the ground. Picking himself up with grace, he looked over at Armen, as if apologizing for the interruption of their conversation.

“Are you alright Sir? Anything graver than a bump?” he inquired, truly preoccupied with the other man, he seemed to not have fallen as well as Ater, and the Slytherin boy did care about people, he wouldn’t be a Hit wizard if he didn’t, but he was also a Slytherin, and a normal man at that, he was entitled to feeling a bit put off.

Great... Rachel has a Hogsmeade weekend soon, and because I'm useless at Healing Charms she'll see me with this huge egg on my forehead. Fantastic, he thought dryly to himself, gently laying the letter on the floor as he turned to see the damage he had done to his poor victim. To his surprise, he saw that the man had managed to fall on his side and therefore had avoided any injuries apart from a few scrapes.
Jake winced unnoticeably at the man's tone, recognizing it as the tone used by someone who was a little put out but was too mannered to actually voice his complaints. His parents often used that tone with him when he had still lived with them... Jake pushed the memories aside and tuned in on the conversation again as the man began to speak.
"I'm fine, it's just a little bump and nothing else," he replied with a tight smile, unsure whether the man was asking out of politeness or rather because he actually cared. Heaving himself off the ground, he swayed a little as the world tilted and went black behind his eyes. Used to this phenomena, he waited patiently until the darkness went away then said, "Again, I am truly sorry. To the both of you," he added, nodding to the other fellow too. Uncertain what to do with himself, he kneeled down and carefully folded up the letter and putting it in his pocket, rising again.
"By the way, I'm Jake," he said, shaking off the weird mood that remembering his parents always put him in. He smiled hesitantly and stuck out his hand to the man he had fallen on, wondering how he would react.

Ater nodded as the man replied he was fine, and proceeded to rise. He began to turn to Armen, when he noticed the man swaying in a blind he was near the man, helping him to the ground so he could kneel.

“Please allow me Sir.” Ater said his voice warmer now, as he placed his worry for the man in front of him, above his nuisance at being thrown down. Removing his wand from the hiden pocket of his left sleeve, he waved it at the kneeled man saying medicor offa in a clear voice followed by sedo, and immediately the lump disappeared along with some of the pain, and residual headache from the blow.

“There is no problem Sir. No one got hurt… well almost” he told him with a smile, indicating that the almost was the man himself. He then watched as the man placed a paper in his pocket and introduced himself as Jake. Ater took his hand firmly and shook it “Pleasure to meet you Jake, I’m Ater Penumbra.” He told him, and bowed as soon as the other man had released his hand.

ooc: sorry it's a bit short XD

Jake looked at the man apprehensively, wondering whether he was genuine. Ahh well, even if he hexes me into next week, I still knocked the guy over so... he thought and shrugged slightly, allowing the man to help him. Eying his wand with hopeful eyes, he noted that the tone he used was a little kinder than before and - "Ouch!" he yelped, hands shooting up to feel the damage done to his forehead, his eyes staring unseeingly ahead. He ran his fingers gently over his forehead and when he got to the area of his bruise he gasped in shock.
"It- it's gone!" he exclaimed, a grin slowly spreading across his face, not even caring if all the pain hadn't disappeared. "Oh Merlin, thank you! Thank you so much - now I won't look like I've been been hit by a muggle car when I go see my niece!" he babbled, more grateful than the man could possibly guess. Whenever he met Rachel at Hogsmeade, he always attempted to look like the cool wizard Uncle while at the same time also be a responsible adult figure in her life, which often proved to be quite difficult since he occasionally had trouble looking after himself. Sometimes he even wondered how it was possible to love her so much after knowing her for only just over half a year. Other times he even pretended like she was his own daughter, just for the sake of it - but then he remembered that as much as he adored the fifteen year old, she didn't truly belong to him and one day she would have to go back and confront her parents. Until then... I'm all she's got.
Focusing back on the man, he shook his hand and smiled as he introduced himself to be Ater Penumbra. "Pleasure to meet me, Mr. Penumbra? Really?" he asked with a small smile, raising one eyebrow with a questioning look. He highly doubted that meeting him had been a pleasure for Ater; the opposite is more like it.

Ater watched as the man yelped as he healed his bump, and had to contain a smile as he knew the spell he had used would not be painful, the smile did pass through, whoever, when the man began to smile as he excitedly exclaimed his bruise was gone.

At Jakes comment about being ran over by a car, and enthusiasm at not appearing hurt to his niece he did chuckle slightly. “It was nothing Jake, you would have done the same” he told him, despite not knowing if it was true or not, though the man didn’t seem the kind to run if he had injured someone.

When Jake questioned how pleasurable meeting him had been, Ater gave a small regal laugh, and nodded “Well maybe a little painful, I’d wager, but I’m certain I won’t be forgetting your name anytime soon now.” He told him with an equally warm smile, as he added “and please, call me Ater.” being called by his last name always made him feel like his father, and though he loved the old man, he really didn't like it, and as such he endured it only as much as he had to.

“I’m heading over to the Law Enforcement Department, today is my first day as a Hit Wizard and in the MoM. Which Dept. are you from, if I may ask?” He questioned the man before him, he looked physically capable of being an Auror, though his reflexes where a bit lacking, maybe Magical Cooperation, who knew.

Jake grinned and nodded, then cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "Well, I think that - with your health at my best interests - I would have quickly called a Healer or someone more competent with healing spells to look at you," he said, chuckling slightly. Sticking both his hands into his pockets, he made sure that they stayed far away from his face, since he reminded himself a little of a muggle born first year at Hogwarts (as he was, over ten years ago) who got excited with every bit of magic he saw.

"Ahh well, I guess that's a good thing. I certainly won't forget yours, Ater," he replied with an amused smile, leaning on his leg as he examined the man before him. He looked to be roughly the same age as him, maybe a little older with the air of someone who's very confident with himself. I bet he was in Slytherin... He does look kind of familiar, Jake thought to himself, easily picturing the man before him in the green and black Slytherin uniform. He had nothing against Slytherins as opposed to some of his friends - truth be told, he found all the stereotypical models of all the four houses to be annoying.

"Oh, wow - first day. I remember my first day, it was actually in the same department as you're in now - MLE," he said, remembering the days he used to work for Rebbecca Todd. "If you enjoy it, it's fun there. But I didn't like it much, I preferred education so I transferred departments and now I'm a division head at the Dept. of Education," he continued proudly, grinning as he thought of his current beloved department. "You should stop by sometime; something tells me you'll like my office," he added as an afterthought, sensing that the man was culture oriented.

Warren took the lifts down to the Atrium and looked around. Nothing much had changed since the last time he had been down there...well except maybe the security guard wasn't being argued with this time. He glanced into the glass and saw his reflection. Not to bad for not having been home in days. He wasn't about to step foot in his own house...not while Alexa was there. She needed time. He needed time. Maybe this was for the best after all. She'll go do what she needs to do without worrying about him and he can...well there was the question wasn't it. When your whole world revolved around one person what do you do when they're gone?

He tapped his pocket and felt the comfort of his wand. Why was he down here? To stay out of the office, idiot. Ah that was right. To stay away from Alexa. Sliding his hand into his pocket he pulled out a notebook with a few notes on some unsolved cases and headed over toward a bench.

Ater chuckled as Jake told him he would have called a Healer on him, though if Ater wasn’t good at some healing basics he would have called someone too, though as a Hit Wizard he had to know how to heal some things, or he might perish for it.

He smiled at the man in front of him, as he admitted to not forgetting his either. He liked this man, Jake seemed nice and a good sport, He learned he began in the MoM in the MLE department moving on to the education, and felt respect for the dark haired man, he moved up by his own will and sweat, and that was something Ater respected.

“I hope I’ll like it, it is something I felt the pull for, it always intrigued me, and as I had finished my Potions Masters, and traveled for a year, I decided to join and do my share of helping.” Ater told the division head of the Education Department, with some pride in his voice. Maybe Jake would like that news, as a Potions Masters allows Ater to teach if he so desires, and he wants to do so at some point.

“Oh, you believe so? Then I will definitely pay you a visit.” He said to Jake with a smile, wondering what might be of interest in his office to him.

Stepping out of the lift, Alexandra strode toward the exit of the Ministry intent on getting a drink at the Leaky Cauldron. She was halfway to the doors when she spotted a familiar figure just up ahead immersed in his notebook. A slow smile spread across Alex's face as she straightened out her skirt and gave her long red hair a quick shake.

She made her way over to him, tossing a dazzling smile at a young wizard walking in the opposite direction and he almost crashed into the wall from staring at her. Alex chuckled as she continued toward her target, men could never get enough of her. Stepping up beside Warren, she leaned in close to him. "All work and no play makes for a very boring day, Warren" she purred into his ear. Alex moved in front of him so that he could take full advantage of what Alexandra Montrose had to offer.