Rex looked at the letter and was quiet for nearly five minutes. Then he handed the letter to Alina.

"Alina, as division head, I'd like for you to do the honors," he instructed because in all reality he wanted to watch whatever was to happen.

Alina watched Rex puzzled. He'd been staring at Herod's letter for a good while, and she wasn't quite sure why. Had Herod written an essay whilst he'd been out? Surely it just needed a 'Hi, this is for testing the spell, Blah blah blah' type message?

Anyways, she sat there fingers tapping lightly on the table, looking over the map. She wondered quite where the inventor might be based. Somewhere near London, in the south of England most likely, but where. With any luck they'd soon find out.

And then Rex passed the letter to her and spoke. "Me?" she questioned, faltering slightly. The plan had always been for Rex to do it. She shook her head - why was she questioning her boss? "I mean, of course..." She took her wand from her robes, and placed the letter on the map.

Alina said the incantation in her head first, to ensure she had it correct. And then she cast it onto the letter. "Fateor satus!"

The ink started to move off the page, winding its way on to the map. It followed the roads and streets, and it was clearly heading towards Diagon Alley. Finally it came to a halt. Alina leaned in close to study where the ink was indicating. Standing up, she raised an eyebrow and invited the others present there to inspect before she announced where she thought Herod had written the letter.

Rex squinted at the map because he had left his reading glasses on his desk. The location's name was a blur. "Alina, can you tell us the name of the location?" he asked.

Selena walked over to Alina to see where the ink had ended up.

Well...it had gone to Diagon Alley. But that was not enough.

"It needs to be a specific place to be viable" Herod said, eyeing the map for the place where he knew the ink SHOULD fall.

"I know," Alina said to Herod, as he said about the place needing to be accurate. She'd already thought that one through. Because as Division Head, it'd be her that had to take the flack from Rex if she led them all on a wild goose chase across England. And something told her Rex wanted results. Not the Patents Division to be having a tour of London or beyond whilst there was possibly dark magic on the loose.

"Sure," she said to Rex, noticing her boss was squinting at the map. "I'd say it's pointing to The Leaky Cauldron, more on the Diagon Alley side than the Muggle one..." She looked up at Herod. "Is that correct?" She really hoped it was, else they'd come to ANOTHER dead end.

"Can you be any more specific?" he asked her. "Perhaps if would help if we magnified the map...." he said, getting his own wand out.

"Augeo!" he said, tapping the map. Instantly it zoomed in on the Diagon Ally part and it was very clear to which shop the line ended at.....

Alina blinked as it looked like the ink crept further along Diagon Alley. It must have not quite stopped, and been moving very slowly. But it had definitely extended from The Leaky Cauldron.

Alina leaned in to see where Herod had magnified the map. "Aha!" she exclaimed with a laugh. "You wrote the letter at Florean's! I think you did, at least. Enjoy an ice cream when you were there?" She smiled, before becoming more serious. Time to use what they'd learnt to get this inventor - with any luck.

Victory at last!!!!!!!

"I had a huge sunday........it was jalapeno flavored! I loved it....." Herod said, happy, no....ecstatic!!!

"That means that it works!!!! and......that we can trace this.." he said, extracting the real application from his inner robe pocket "...application to the original writer!!" he said, laying out the paper.

"Perhaps we should now involve the Aurors...." he said, wanting to follow protacal, but...."then again, if we think we could handle it......" he said, wanting to get out in the field. "Its up to you sir..." he said, praying that Rex was feeling adventurous today.

Alina looked bemused at Herod's choice of ice cream. Each to their own, she supposed. The Division Head had much more traditional taste in flavour - but then, she'd been brought up on muggle ice cream. So some of the options at Florean's seemed...odd to her, even now.

"We can indeed," Alina said with a nod. She picked up the original document from where Herod had laid it on the table, and cast another glance over it. Who was this person? With a flick of her wand, she duplicated the patent form, so that they had a hard copy of the original when the ink moved off of it.

"Not at this stage," the Division Head responded on account of getting Aurors, and looking at Rex. "They don't appreciate being called out without good reason, and we haven't got that yet. Once we know who'd we're dealing with, maybe." She shook her hair back. "Which means we need to get on with this spell, and find the location." She looked at the Department Head. "Would you like me to perform it once more?" She thought he probably would, but it was good to check. More polite.

"Certainly" he said....then "but we'll need a bigger map. We don't know where this guy is, just that he's near London, so we'll need a map of London with the surrounding area too. Here we are!" he said, waving his wand and making a large map appear. It had all of London and the surrounding area and even a bit of a nieghbooring town. "Here you are...." he said, passing it in both Rex's and Alina's direction, since he didn't know who would be casting it yet.

"Of course," Rex replied solemnly. He was quietly contemplating exactly what he needed to do after they figured out the exact location because the entire situation was now becoming quite complex.

"Ok...." Herod said, shifting the map toward Alina. "Here you are......." He backed away to give her room to perform the spell.

Alina nodded to the others, noting the thoughtful Rex. Was he worried? Probably. Alina was too, about this case. Because it was so unusual. She took her wand from her robes, and held it ready in her left hand.

"Fateor satus!"

One again the ink spread from the page and onto the map. It wound its way round the outskirts of London, roughly following the M25 anticlockwise from Heathrow. Alina leant in to see if the ink was slowing down. It wasn't, and it was now heading north - closer to London. The ink travelled past Mitcham, before slowing down. It finally came to a standstill in...

Tooting.

Alina blinked. And blinked again. Before sitting back to rummage through the files she'd brought into the Conference Room with her. She found the one she was after, and quickly turned to the page with all the details of that inventor on it. She glanced between the file and the map. The roads matched. Ah.

"I think I've found who it is," Alina said with a slight grimace and laying file down on the table. She glanced at her watch, and her eyes widened as she saw the time. She was due for another meeting, soon. What a lovely coincidence. "Er. And oddly enough, he's due to arrive soon."

If Herod had been drinking pumpkin juice, he proably would have spit it on Rex in surprise (acciedntly of course and thank god he wasn't drinking at the time!!!)

He did however, almost, fall off his chair.....As he regained his balance he said, "What?!?! You know this person!!! And he or she is COMING HERE!!!" he sputtered. "I need not remind you that this is a Dark Wizard capable of engineering a complex magical item........this person will be dangerous and would not walk into a situation like this unready for a fight!!!" he said, almost drawing his wand.

"Please elaborate...In the mean time...perhaps we should set a trap. As far as I can tell.....he/she does not know that we know who they are. We have the element of surprise!" he explained.

"Rex....any thought?" he asked.

Rex was deep in thought and he turned his back to the group as he ventured over to the glass that separated the conference room from the work area. People were busy working and ignoring a strange looking man who looked rather lost.

"Alina, you said that you had a meeting with someone. I think he has arrived," he said slowly and looked over his shoulder at the group huddled around the map. "I think someone should invite him in."

Alina looked at Herod. "Knowing this person would be a bit familiar. And it's not like I invited them here in the knowledge they were linked to this patent." Alina sighed. She already knew this was an unfortunate development, being caught slightly unawares.

"He booked an appointment with me. Sent an owl a few days ago about a patent he wished me to look over. Nothing suspicious. Just the usual kind of stuff we deal with, marketing details and the like." She turned to Rex as he spoke.

"He has?" Alina glanced through the glass to the work area. There definitely was a conspicuous man out there they didn't seem to know where to go. She glanced at her watch once more. "A tad early, but yes, I think that's him," she said quietly as she leant back and away from the map.

Alina stood, before smoothing her robes hesitantly. What was going to be a simple meeting about a potential patent was now going to be a rather awkward one, in light of what the location on the map had told them. "I guess I should do the honours, since it was me he booked the meeting with." She took a slow breath, before heading to the doorway.

"Wait!!" he said. Then he wispered........"Should we draw our wands?" he asked. "I feel that even if we don't have them aimed....I'm taking mine out. Its only safe......." he said, removing his wand and putting up his sleeve. "If I feel things getting heated, I'll conspiculously remove it under the table and be ready to disarm" he said, looking around.

"Everyone ready?" he asked...

"Put your wand away - that's an order!" Rex firmly said to Herod and turned around to face the rest of the division. "That goes for all of you. The only time anyone, and I repeat anyone, brandishes his or her wand is when someone points their wand at you."

There was a hard glint in his eyes as he spoke. It was as if he were daring someone to defy him. "Everyone needs to act normal. The last thing we want to do is alert the man that we're on to him."

To make his point, Rex returned to his seat at the conference table and waited for the others to follow his lead. He reached for a paper and looked at everyone. "Do the same. Drink your coffee or tea or read a paper. Your hands should be present at all times."

He waited a few minutes and nodded at Alina. "Invite him in."

He put his face up against the glass wall and peered in. "Hmm. I don't see a dragon or mistletoe. I'd hate to catch dragonpox or suffer an infestation of Nargles. Is it safe to enter?" Brett asked Alina who was holding the door open for him.

Alina nodded. "I'm sure it is. I've been sitting in this room for at least the last hour, and haven't had any issues." She gave a glance towards Rex, who was now settled into 'reading' a newspaper. "Dragons would just mess up our recent redecoration, and totally the wrong time of year for mistletoe. So no worries on those accounts."

"Please feel free to take a seat." She gestured to one at the nearest end of the table, before clearing her throat. "This is Mr. Thatcher," she introduced from the doorway. No point in going all the way in when she had a cup of team to go and get. "Mr. Thatcher, this is Rex Vindictus, Department Head, and the Patents employees." She looked round the room, where she noted the map and Patents forms were still laid out near where she'd been sitting.

"If you'll excuse me a moment, I've got a cup of tea to make for Mr. Thatcher. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." And with that, she headed to her office to get a teabag.

"Please hurry. I need to take my tea!" he called out and he positioned himself in the doorway.

That cross looking man reading the paper was her boss? Brett's eyes widened even more as he nervously entered the room. The first seat he found was only steps from the doorway and he sat down. There were many papers scattered on the table and it looked as if some people were disassembling whatever it was they were discussing earlier.

A short while later, Alina returned with a large mug of tea. "There you go," she said, placing it down on the desk in front of Mr. Thatcher. "One cup of tea, with milk and three sugars. I hope I've made it to your satisfaction." She smiled gently, before heading to where she'd been previously sitting. Alina thought she was quite good with tea orders - she'd made a fair few when she was the Department's secretary.

Now how to address the actual situation? As she thought about this, Alina's eyes widened as she realised the patent form and maps were right in the middle of the desk - in full view. She stole a glance at the inventor. Had he noticed? She hurriedly folded them both and put them in the top most folder. At least that being labelled 'Brett Thatcher' wouldn't be too fishy - he had scheduled a meeting with her, so it'd be noly natural she'd do some background research. Just not a whole division doing this research.

She looked up. "So Mr. Thatcher, what did exactly did you come to see me, and well now, us, for?"

"Thank you, ma'am," Brett replied and sat himself down at the table. He took a sip of his tea and noted the people staring at him. His left eye twitched and his left shoulder gave a slight jerk. Another sip of tea.

"I'd like to know how long it will take to approve my patent application before someone else steals my idea."

Alina watched the man intently as he took a sip of the tea. It seemed to his satisfaction, so that was a good start.

"Usually we try to file them as quickly as possible, for exactly that reason." Alina answered softly. "Do you have the fully filled out form with you?" She looked at him thoughtfully. Usually people didn't book meetings just to ask how fast a form might be processed. Owls, yes. Howlers, yes. Drop in randomly, yes. A booked meeting? Odd. They were usually to discuss what exactly was going to be included on the patent.

"I will say," she added carefully, fiddling with the edge of the file in front of her, "That due to recent developments I think this one might take longer to consider than usual." She glanced between Herod and Rex. "What area is the Patent based in? I mean, the market for it?"