It had taken him a little while to figure out exactly where the English Ministry of Magic was. It wasn't as if one could simply ask people on the street, and even if you found a wizard one would most likely find themselves being laughed at. Sander guessed this was the sort of thing people just knew, and decided after a while to simply pretend that he did the same.

He ended up following a pretty average-looking man, had it not been for the fact that you could easily tell he wasn't a muggle, especially if you were used to seeing undercover-wizard and knew what to look for. Even though this wasn't the first wizard Sander had attempted to follow in the hope of finding the entrance, this one is worth mentioning because it (finally) turned out to be the right one. After a slight misunderstanding and some utter confusion having to do with a telephone-booth, Sander found himself in a room, that could only be described as enormous. Bigger and more impressive than the official Scandinavian office, which he had often visited with his uncle when he was younger. The memory brought a small smile to his face and he sighed, trying to focus on his task.

Sander drew some of his hair out of his eyes as he tried to take in all of the new impressions from the room. All around him there was a constant buzz of voices, and even something that sounded like the flutter of wings. Thanks to his condition, he was also able to take in hundreds of unknown, yet interesting, smells and sounds coming from all around him. It was hard to know where he could begin. A slight fear welled up in him as he realized the clock was ticking, and he had still no idea where he could find the place he was looking for. Surely, there had to be an information desk or similar around here, but from his current position, he had a hard time spotting one. Therefore, he decided it better to simply ask someone nearby, and picked a wizard at random. Trying to smile gently, he walked forward and cleared his throat for the other one's attention. “Excuse me,” he said. “Do you, by chance, know where I c-can find the, uhm, Department of Magical Law Enforcement? I'm kinda l-lost.”

A tall man in a long black cloak and fedora flooed into the atrium of the British Ministry of Magic. He walked briskly towards the lift. He only paused to look at the fountain in the center of the enourmous room. It consisted of five sculptures: a foolish wizard, a pompus witch, a goblin, a centaur, and a house elf. The latter three were staring lovingly at the witch and wizard.
"It is almost sickening how these human wizards have degraded my kin over the past milenia." The man, Alphonse Wendsleydale, removed his fedora, revealing noticeably pointed ears and a fair face, but, to Alphonse's relief, no one noticed. Sighing, Alphonse, continued his journey to the lift, the golden employee badge on his chest gleaming. Suddenly, he felt a person tapping on his shoulder. Turning around he saw a small framed, sickly man. His blonde hair was greasy, and his body was torn all over with scars.
“Do you, by chance, know where I c-can find the, uhm, Department of Magical Law Enforcement? I'm kinda l-lost," he said.
"Sure!" Alphonse said, smiling. "It's on the second floor. Go up the lift, down the hall, and its to your left. I'm going there too. What a coincidence, huh?" On that note, Alphonse left the man in th atrium, determined to get to his meeting on time.

Voices echoed through the hallway as numerous witches and wizards gathered up their belongings to take home for the weekend. Harry could hear one witch, just outside his office, chattering away about the "most amazingly wonderful" dinner that her boyfriend was making for her tomorrow night. Harry cringed as she let out a squeal that sounded like a mix between a tea kettle and a dying cat, and shoved his chair roughly back while standing up. The chair hit his filing cabinet, the sound echoing in his small office, as Harry walked over and slammed his office door shut. The office was silent now, just the tick-tock of his clock reminding him that he still had work to do.

The ministry doesn't know what they are getting themselves into with this one... Harry thought as he slumped back into his chair, placing his head in his hands on the desk. Experts or not, we shouldn't be taking anyone out there. It should be me, Ron, and maybe a few other aurors who are used to these kind of situations. A long heavy sigh escaped his lips as he muttered, "This isn't going to go well".

Harry peaked between his fingers at the clock hung on his wall, opposite his desk, and groaned as he discovered that he only had 5 minutes to get to the hall where he would be meeting with the experts that the ministry had called upon. Brushing his thick dark hair out of his eyes, Harry grabbed his things and rushed out of his office into the bustling hallway of the department of magical law enforcement. Harry hoped Ron would remember the meeting, though perhaps that was wishful thinking, because he didn't have time to find him. Harry's robes billowed around him as he strode purposefully down the hallway towards a mess of corridors and large wooden doors. After taking a few twists and turns, Harry threw open the door to the Hall with one minute to spare. The lights came on as he entered the room and Harry was happy to see no one was there yet.

At least I'm not late. Harry thought as he walked over to the head chair at the long wooden table and sat down.

----------------------------------------

Small droplets of rain had begun to form on the outside of the cab window. They slid down the glass into each other, picking up speed as they joined with other gem like drops. Eve watched them slip down the glass surface and pulled her long black coat tighter around her thin frame. She was thankful to have brought a jacket, since England whether was so unpredictable (and wet). Eve was unsure as to whether or not she should wear muggle clothes or wizarding clothes, but had finally settled a pair of black heels, tight dark wash skinny jeans, and a silky cream tank top that skimmed her silhouette. Her dragon necklace hung over the top of her shirt, resting between her breasts.

"We're here miss."

Eve glanced up at the smiling cab driver and gave him a big grin, "Thanks very much!" She leaned forward and placed the money in his outstretched had and smiled awkwardly as he stared a little too long at her. "Well, thanks again..." she said before slipping out the door and onto the damp streets. At 9:45 on a Friday night, the streets were packed with young people on dates. Eve frowned as she walked past at least 4 pairs of snogging couples before finally reaching the phone booth that would take her into the Ministry. Eve followed the instructions she was given and after a few tries, she found herself being lowered into the ministry.

She had expected it to be quiet so late in the evening, but just like the streets the ministry was alive with people. Eve brushed a long crimson curl out of her eyes before starting to walk into the large crowd of witches and wizards. After walking for a few minutes, she found herself completely lost.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to find this place when there are literally no signs anywhere!" She muttered, furrowing her eyebrows at the various corridors that lead away from the main lobby. Heaving a heavy sigh, Eve fixed her eyes on a plump witch that was standing beside one of the corridors and begun to walk to wards the woman.

"Excuse me, but could you possibly tell me how to get to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" Eve asked, smiling hopefully at the woman.

The plump witched looked up at Eve, who easily stood a foot higher than her, and gave a chirpy little laugh, "Why yes! Oh and isn't it just a lovely evening too, miss? My boyfriend, you know, has a wonderful weekend planned for--"

"Well that's just fabulous. Mazeltov and all that to you." Eve cut in, exasperated with the women for wasting time. She certainly didn't want to be the last one to arrive.

"Oh, um, thank you..." The witch replied, flushed from embarrassment, "T-The Department you're looking for is down this corridor and on your left."

Eve smiled and replied with a simple "Thanks" before taking off down the corridor with long strides, her crimson hair bouncing around her face.

The ride on the lift seemed to take ages. Suddenly, it stopped. An emotionless female voice rung out: "Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services."
Realizing that this was his floor, Alphonse stepped off the elevator. He followed a series of signs that led him down a maze of hallways, lined with identical wooden doors. "How are people supposed to get around this place, all of the doors look the same," he mumbled to himself. As he was occupied with his thoughts, Alphonse accidentally bumped into someone in the hall, causing him to drop his hat. As he bent down to pick it up, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, ma'am."
As he straightened up, Alphonse saw the woman's face for the first time. She had very pale skin, and her head was framed by fiery red hair. Alphonse's golden eyes darted to her shirt where a silver guests' badge had the gleaming words 'Meeting, Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement' on it.
"You have a meeting here too?" He asked. "Me too." My day has just been full of strange happenings today, He thought. First the boy and now her.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Asked a voice, thick and deep with an Australian accent, rich and suave, yet cool.

"Of COURSE I'm sure." Came the reply, deep, smooth and with a base tone. "Just around the corner here."

"You said it was 'just around the corner' THREE CORNERS AGO." Came the first voice, riddled with irritation.

Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley of the Aurors, nearby, couldn't help but perk his ears up at the argument that was taking place outside in the hall where he was. Normally, he would have been in his office but he was taking care of some last-minute paperwork that had needed to be done for Minister Shacklebolt's review. Hermione had always stated that he was a bit a lazy and, unfortunately, sloppiness wasn't tolerated in a profession such as professional dark-wizard catching. Even if it WAS just signing papers and filing reports.

Glancing up at the clock, he recalled that a meeting that was ordered by the Ministry was due to start in a few minutes, and cursed. He had only a few minutes to get there, or else he'd be late! Turning to head out of the room, he nearly ran into the two men who were standing there bickering. The first one was a tall young man, with long crimson red hair in a mullet and goatee, wearing what appeared to be Muggle clothing--a button down shirt and slacks with brown shoes. The second one, however, Ron was surprised to see looked far more...odd, to say the least. Standing tall himself, the first thing Ron noticed was the tail--but then as the figured turned, the Auror found himself blanking staring into the most unnerving yellow-and-black eyes he had ever seen outside that of Voldemort's when he was still alive. ...Yet, this person didn't have any sort of a dark aura about him, but it was clear that he was frustrated about something.

Clearing his throat quickly to avoid the image that he was staring, Ron was even more surprised he was able to find his voice. "Excuse me, gentlemen, is there something I can assist you with?"

The half-dragon man blinked, regarding Ron as if noticing he was there for the first time. Smiling broadly, he grinned, showing off an even more unnerving set of unnaturally sharp teeth. "Yes, of course! Could you, please?" He turned off to the red haired young man, who seemed affronted that they were asking directions. "You see, my cousin here and I are in a bit of a dispute. We're looking for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?"

"Actually, yes, I do." Ron stated, feeling a little more at ease at this strange person's amicable behavior, even though he still felt a little guarded. "In fact, I'm on my way there now for a meeting."

"Indeed? How very curious! We are as well!" The dragon-man spoke, turning to his companion with wide, bright eyes. "Isn't that a coincidence?"

The redheaded mullet man didn't seem so amused. "I wouldn't think it so coincidental that we're just incredibly lucky."

Ron, in spite of himself, couldn't help but slight smirk. "The hall is this way. If you don't mind, if you'd just follow me..." With that, he moved off to head down the hall to turn another corner, making his way through the crowds.

"Well isn't this just lucky?" Ron heard the dragon-man speak up behind him. "Now we'll be able to get to the meeting on time!"

"Maybe if you had just let me look for the damn place from the get-go maybe we wouldn't have been in this situation to begin with." The second man hissed.

"Oh, come off it. And lighten up!"

"I'll lighten up once we're out of here. This place gives me the jibblies."

The two of them continued to chat amongst themselves, with Ron tuning them out after a while. The trip did not take long. His robes swirling around him as he carried himself with a hurried pace--yet not actually trying to run--he navigated the twists, corners, and hallways and even up a floor before they finally reached the department. Throwing open the door and noticing that they were only just a minute or two past the time--Ron was immensely relieved to find that he wasn't the only one that was late for the meeting.

"Sorry about that, mate." Ron said to Harry at the end of the table. "I almost forgot we had the meeting today. Surprised I got here as soon as I did."

The two men following Ron came in behind him, the redhead already taking the first available seat closest to the door...the half-dragon taking his time and taking in everything as he scanned the walls, the ceiling, Ron as he moved to take a seat next to the young man with wild black hair and--he paused, gazing at Harry and tilting his head, as if mentally asking himself if that was indeed the Boy Who Lived. Biting his lip, and not wanting to stare, the half-dragon simply averted his gaze after a minute.

"You can take a seat, Mr..." Ron stated, "I don't believe I ever got your names?"

"Oh!" The half-dragon fidgeted lightly. "My name is Drakengarde...Drakengarde Nightwing. Most people generally just call me Drake." He gave a lightly, friendly smile and moved to sit down next to his cousin.

"Ryu." The redheaded wizard mumbled audibly, stroking his goatee and gave a bit of a wave, glancing up at the clock. "Are we the only people here? When are we starting?"

"We can't be, we only just got here." Drake spoke up before Ron had a chance to reply. "You know that meetings never start on time, cuz. Why are you so impatient?"

"I just don't like being here."

"You didn't have to come." Drake snorted.

"You didn't have to ask me." Ryu snorted back.

"Oh, so now this is my fault?"

As the two of the began to squabble among themselves again, Ron shook his head and turned over to Harry. "...Heh. Reminds me of us back at Hogwarts. In any case, do you know exactly who's coming? Where's Hermione, anyway? I thought she'd be here with you, being as punctual as she is."

The instructions on how to get to the meeting were easy enough, even after he was slightly distracted for a moment, looking at the giant statue in the middle of the room. "Uh," he suddenly remembered, looking for the man that had helped him, but couldn't see him. He would have to thank him later, seeing as the man had mentioned something about going to the same place as him. On his way to the elevator, he was unfortunate enough to bump quite heavily into an older witch, who looked at with cold eyes. "Sorry," he almost exclaimed, forgetting to hide his Scandinavian accent as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. She nodded slightly at him before continuing, seemingly not phased by the incident. Sander stared after her a moment, before his cellphone reminded him that he now had five minutes left before he had to be at the meeting. The poor boy ran for the elevator and was soon out in the correct hall, where he once again saw the man who gave him the instructions, talking to a woman. Deciding it better not to disturb them, he walked slowly, hoping they would move on before he reached them.

EMILY
Emily rushed through the halls, avoiding everyone. Being around so many half-breeds disgusted her, but she couldn't show it. Here she was just another witch, but with an expertise in charms. She only had a few minutes before the meeting started and wanted to start on a good foot, as to not attract any suspicion. She didn't want to admit to herself that she was nervous, but she had been training for this for almost a year. This was her moment and she couldn't screw it up. She looked up ahead of her to see a familiar face, Hermione Granger, witch extraordinaire, rushing down the hall. She swallowed the pure hatred towards the girl and rushed to catch up to her.

"Excuse me, could you show me where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is? I have a meeting there in about five minutes." She asked her, feigning confusion.


HERMIONE
Hermione rushed from her office towards the meeting. She couldn't stand being late, but she had to at least have something prepared. Just as she was about 30 seconds away, a tall blonde girl with big blue eyes stopped her. The girl seemed to know who she was and asked about the meeting.

"Well I'm heading there right now so you can just follow me." She quickly replied before rushing in the direction of the room again. She didn't mean to come off rude, she just didn't want to be late. But sure enough, she still arrive with a minute to spare and slide behind the table Ron and Harry were at. The girl followed her and sat on the opposite side of the room. She looked uncomfortable and out of place, but Hermione pushed her suspicion out of her mind.

"You two here earlier me, what's next, flying pigs?" She joked as she turned to face her two friends.


DRACO
Draco walked through the door not to far after Hermione. He slid next to her and looked around the room.

"Well this is quite an odd bunch, eh Potter?" He said turing to Harry. The trio didn't think he was evil anymore, but there still seemed to be some mistrust. But he couldn't blame them. He had let his father and Voldemort control him, but not anymore. He didn't want to show it, but Draco longed for their friendship and trust all the time. He tried to focus on the task at hand but his mind drifted often. He would have to maintain focus to prove himself.

"Shall we get started yet?" He asked Hermione, Ron, and Harry as he checked his watch.

Eve was rounding the corner at the end of the corridor when someone walked into her. She tripped, but managed to keep her balance and remain standing. Brushing waves of her fiery hair out of her face, she turned to look at the man who had so clumsily run into her. As he apologized to her, she had just enough time to catch a glimpse of his pointed ears before he replaced his hat. His golden eyes, combined with the pointed ears, automatically made Eve remember the young man from Hogwarts. His name was... Al... Alphonse? Was that it? Something along those lines. She recalled that he had been in Ravenclaw, but the two had never spoken any words to each other.

"No harm done." Eve said with a chuckle, waving a hand to show she wasn't angry at the situation. He noticed his eyes lock on her guest badge and was about to ask if there was a problem when he mentioned that he was there for the same meeting. "Really? Well the room is at the end of this hallway, apparently. I think we have a minute or two before it starts but I hate being late, so, uh, I'm going to go. See you in there!" She gave him a half smile and spun on her heel, rushing down the hall towards the door. She opened the door and immediately locked eyes with Harry, who was sitting next to Ron, Hermione, and Draco (of all people). Harry smiled warmly towards her and said "Good evening, Evelynne. Please take a seat." Eve smiled back and slipped into a chair at the far end of the table.

----------------

The sound of the door creaking broke Harry out of his thoughts and he found himself looking at the freckled face of his best friend as he lead in two wizards. Ron apologized for being late and Harry gave a teasing smile and rolled his eyes in response. Harry was happy people were finally starting to arrive, though he wished they had all been a bit early. He didn't want to be sitting around all night waiting to start this meeting.

Suddenly he felt as if he was being watched and raised his emerald eyes to see that the half-dragon wizard staring at him. He tried to smile, but it came out as more of an awkward grin than anything else. The two were Drake and Ryu, unusual names for wizards but Harry thought they seemed alright. The two began to squabble and Ron turned towards him, saying "...Heh. Reminds me of us back at Hogwarts. In any case, do you know exactly who's coming? Where's Hermione, anyway? I thought she'd be here with you, being as punctual as she is."

"I'm not sure where she is, actually. She'll be here soon, probably with a million charts, graphs, and maybe even a little skit all planned out. You know Hermione, always over prepared for everything..." Harry said with a laugh, and at that moment Hermione burst into the room looking a little flustered. She took a seat next to Ron and before Harry could respond Draco entered the room. Harry forced a smile and said "hello", before turning to Hermione.

"Hermione, did you bring anything to help with the meeting? Any information or... you know... charts? I mean, I can just start talking but you're so much better at things like this than I am." He gave her an embarrassed and hopeful smile.

The door opened again and Harry caught the color of crimson in the corner of his eye and looked up to see Evelynne Endora enter the room. He smiled brightly at her, remembering her from their years at Hogwarts and said, "Good Evelynne, please take a seat."

Alphonse waved at the witch as she ran down the hallway. He stood there for a moment before he realized that he had to go to the meeting too. He sprinted down the hall as fast as he could. When he reached the right door, he wrenched it open and rushed in, expecting to be the last one there. All eyes were turned on him: and there were only eight people in the room, not nearly enough to fill it. "I suppose that I'm not late, then?" he inquired, his heart racing from the run.

"No," the platinum blond drawled. Alphonse remembered seeing his face in Hogwarts, but it was muck more pompous then. Seeing him brought back bad memories of his encounters with Slytherin, but Al pushed them away, refusing to stereotype someone he barely knew.

"Good," Al replied, relieved not to be late. He sat down at the table, a few seats from the witch that he had met earlier, and set his hat on the table. Out of the corner of his eye, Al saw something move. He looked towards the motion, and saw a long, scaled toil swishing around. Good, he thought, at least I'm not the only demi-human here.

Something else caught his gaze- a blond witch seemed to be staring, almost glaring, at him. As soon as he looked at her, she looked away. Alphonse was a little creeped out, but shrugged it off as mere paranoia.

Once again, he turned towards the red- haired witch. "Hello," he greeted. "I believe we didn't get formerly introduced. My name is Alphonse. And yours?"

As others started coming in, Drake's eyes glanced back and forth around between everyone. Recognizing Harry and finally recognizing Ron for who he was, Drake felt like he should have slapped himself. He had been to Hogwarts, and yet he didn't associate faces to names right away.

Ron smiled widely as his Hermione came up. Winking at her as she took a seat, he gave a sort of half-shrug. "Perhaps. We DO live in a world of magic. Anythings possible." He folded his arms as he sat back, before giving a nod over to Draco to acknowledge his presence. Even though it had felt like years since Voldemort's defeat, Ron still didn't trust the blond man any further than he could throw him...and, as far as he was concerned, the oceans would boil over before he ever would.

Back at the opposite end of the table, Ryu was smirking as he noticed not one, not two, but at least three rather attractive females entered into the room.

"Well, well, well," he murmured slightly, "Maybe this won't be so bad after all." Glancing over at his cousin, he arched an eyebrow. "Say, you went to school with some of these guys, right? I don't suppose you'd introduce me?"

"Oh...ah...no." Drake fumbled, his eyes already locked onto the gorgeous red-headed witch with the dragon pendant. "I...ah...I'm just as clueless as you are."

"What?" Ryu sighed. "You mean you went to school with these people and you don't recognize anybody here?"

"Well, everyone here who's famous or wealthy." Drake squeaked. "But everyone knows them. You know me, Ryu! I...kept to myself more often than not."

That wasn't entirely a lie, Drake figured, but it wasn't entirely the truth either. He did have a couple of friends, but that was mainly due to self-isolation. He didn't want to be around people because he was always afraid he would inadvertently hurt somebody, due to the fact he could never control his powers. His inability to control his own magic had left him so scared over being able to perform magic that he had personally begged the Headmaster to NOT allow him to attend classes with any students, to request personal instruction from the other teachers on an individual basis. Dumbledore, for his part, had agreed that while the idea had merit (some students learned faster or slower and differently than others after all), he warned that most of the other teachers wouldn't be so keen on the idea on having to teach a single individual person on mentor/tutor relationship when they all had large classes to deal with. Snape, on the one hand, Drake remembered, was particularly vehement in this regard...not that it had mattered to the young man, he was always very good at Potions anyway and that was the least of his concerns.

Thankfully, most of the other teachers were a little bit more receptive towards the idea. Pomfrey didn't seem to mind and had found it rather refreshing because it allowed her to focus more on the student's strengths and areas of improvement, and McGongal had felt the same way--even if she was a little stern. Little Flitwick, especially, Drake had particularly bonded well with. Always cheerful and pleasant, despite his goblin ancestry, Drake had came to view Flitwick as a sort of personal mentor not just because Flitwick was his Head of House during his time in Ravenclaw but primarily because he WAS part-goblin. Unfortunately, others—among them, Dumbledore himself—saw social interaction as being much healthier to Drake’s development and growth and had him integrated with normal classes…classes that Drake would go to great lengths at times to try to keep to himself as much as possible.

To a certain extent, Drake mused, the same relationship could have been shared with the groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures professor Hagrid...him being a half-giant, and Drake being a half-dragon, Drake figured they had a little bit more of common ground, aside from only partial-goblin Flitwick. Unfortunately, Hagrid absolutely frightened Drake beyond all reason--yes, it was true that Hagrid was really a kind and gentle man, but Drake was rather impressionable. His large form and imposing figure did very little to dissuade from the first appearances that he was VERY intimidating...which was exacerbated by the fact that Hagrid held a deep love for very dangerous beasts. Dragons, in particular. A love which Drake felt bordered dangerously on the line of near-fetishism. As a result, Drake tended to steer far, far clear of Hagrid whenever he possibly could.

It was probably wrong to treat him like that, on retrospect...but Drake couldn't help but feel utterly creeped out by him. Every time he had wanted to approach the half-giant to be amicable and friendly, he would completely lose his nerve. Drake did manage, if nothing else, to make sure he was sent a card whenever he sent them to his mentors upon his graduation. Unfortunately, despite all his time studying at Hogwarts, Drake made little progress upon mastering his latent powers. He could partially influence them to do what he wanted, but the spell results were often dangerous and unpredictable. In fact, the only spell Drake could reliably cast without any real fear of backfiring was the Banishing or Knockback Charms...and even they, if not handled correctly, could potentially cause severe wreckage.

Still, his time at Hogwarts hadn't been just studying--he had also trained. To compensate for his lack of magical ability, Drake had trained his physical attributes to their limit. He spent several months running, jumping, swimming in the lake, lifting weights, and otherwise constantly push himself to add on to his already considerable physical conditioning. It had surprised him, though, that even despite his physical training he still only looked...a little more bulked than average rather than completely ripped.

"Drake?" Ryu asked, snapping him out of his mental reverie. "Hello in there?"

"Oh?" Drake shook his head, not realizing he had been staring at the redheaded woman the entire time. "Sorry...was lost in thought."

"You were staring." Ryu smirked. "Saw something you like?"

A pinkish blush went across his face, and Drake diverted his attention so that she wouldn't see--in case she saw him. "...you could say that." He whispered a bit.

Truth be told, she was actually the only one he had really recognized outside of Malfoy and the Trio. Evelynne Faye Endora was her name, he recalled, and while she didn't share his house of Ravenclaw, instead being in Gryffindor, she DID share a lot of his interests, if he recalled properly. She had a love of music, much like himself, and she always wore that dragon pendant. He assumed she had a love (or at least an interest) in dragons, but he never really knew as he had never actually approached her while in school.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to harm her either—it was also the fact he was unbelievably shy. Ever since he had first laid eyes on her, Drake had always felt attracted towards her. He had only learned of her name in passing and her interests through asking questions about her if not through direct observation both in class and out of it. They had shared the same Care of Magical Creatures class, and she was the one reason Drake could tolerate being around Hagrid. However, as much as wanted to—even though they were in the same House, Drake was never able to muster up the courage to actually speak with her.

To see her, of all people, here…in all places…

“Drake?” Ryu asked again, arching his eyebrow. “You’re lost again…”

The Aussie crossed his arms, and when he didn’t get a response, waved his hand up and down Drake’s face. When Drake still failed to react, the young man simply rolled his eyes.

“Whatever…” Deciding to follow his cousin’s example, but be a little more proactive about it, Ryu turned to the closest beautiful girl he spotted…which just so happened to be Emily. “Hey, there. What’s cookin’, good lookin’?”

Luckily the two others moved pretty fast, and Sander was able to continue his adventure down the hall after they slipped through a door further down. Knowing he was going the same way, he paused a moment before pushing down the handle and walking inside.

Wow. Lots of people. Sander swallowed and seemed to linger by the door for a moment, unsure if it was traditional for him to say anything, or simply sit down without a word. He decided to close the door behind him - perhaps a little harder than he first intended - and went to find a seat for himself, preferably not too close to any of the other ones in the room.

After his uncle had died a year ago, Sander had disappeared from the wizarding world, which is why it only occurred to him as he sat down, just what he had been hiding away from. For thirteen months now, he had been living in a normal muggle apartment in the middle of London, trying his best to live a normal life. Thanks to his accent, most people just took his odd behaviour as another sign of him being foreign, and he was lucky enough to be corrected, or at least partly accepted. He didn't want to think about, or know at all, how the Ministry of Magic had managed to track him down and send him that letter. Not even his closest friends or colleagues had been able to contact him through that entire year, which made it quite impressive, even if all of his closest ones where still stuck in Norway. He sighed, noting that his hair had fallen in front of his face again, which meant that he probably looked like a complete idiot in his greying and torn robes. He brushed some of it behind his ear and attempted to focus on a point in the room where he wouldn't meet anyone else's eyes. While the others talked, Sander remained silent and simply listened.

OOC: No Harry this post... Not much for him to do at the moment.




Evelynne slipped off her heavy black coat, letting it fall onto the back of her chair and leaned back slightly while crossing one leg over the other. She subconsciously fingered the dragon pendant that hung around her neck, trying to see if she recognized anyone else at the table besides the golden trio and Draco Malfoy. Her eyes lingered briefly on the blond boy, remembering his horrible ways back at Hogwarts. She had spoken with him on occasion, if she absolutely had to, though their exchanges were usually laced with sarcasm.

"Hello, I believe we didn't get formerly introduced. My name is Alphonse. And yours?"

Eve looked away from Draco and into the rich golden eyes of the young man sitting next to her. She smiled kindly and laughed, "I knew it was Al-something! We went to Hogwarts together, though I don't expect you'd remember me. I was in Gryffindor, the same year as you. My name is Evelynne." She realized that she was still playing with her necklace and quickly dropped her hand, tucking a few curls of hair behind her ear, "My expertise is apparently crucial to the safety of the wizarding world... though I can't imagine why my extensive knowledge of blast-ended skrewts and the mating habits of dragons could be all that important." She gave a low chuckle and shrugged to show she really was confused about the situation and then arched a brow, "What about you, Alphonse? What sort of expert skills do you have? The ability to blow the perfect bubble, perhaps? Or maybe you're a head stand specialist?" She smiled kindly, hoping her humor wouldn't fall short on the somewhat serious looking wizard.

A prickling feeling at the back of her neck alerted her to the fact that someone was watching her. Eve glanced in the direction of the end of the table and saw two men around her age. One had vibrant red hair and a roguishly handsome face, and she was quite certain she had never met him before. Seeing the red hair reminded her of Charlie and she smiled to herself for a moment, remember the amazing summer the two had had. Eve had never dated anyone while at Hogwarts, though she had been asked out numerous times (sometimes by the same individual), and was shocked to have found herself dating Charlie. The relationship had just happened so naturally that she hadn't really thought about it. What they had was mutual respect and a shared passion for dragons that allowed them to get close to each other. When the summer ended (though she had managed to stay an extra month), they decided it was best to go their own ways. If they were ever able to see each other again, then that would be great... but they weren't going to put their lives and dreams on hold. She had received a letter from him yesterday, but hadn't had the chance to open it yet.

Eve snapped out of her day dream as the red headed man muttered something to the person sitting next to him. She flicked her golden eyes in his direction and was shocked to see who it was. Drake! Drake wasn't the sort of wizard that you could easily forget. His appearance was striking to say the least, but Evelynne had never been intimidated by him and she couldn't imagine why anyone would.

While at school she had noticed him around and always felt like he was a little bit sad all the time. She never really saw him speak to anyone or make any effort to socialize, but then again she hadn't really been miss popular either. Eve had always been torn as to whether or not to start a conversation, but had decided it best not to. If he had wanted to talk, she was sure he would have approached her like everyone else did. Some people just liked their space, right? The fact that he was shy had never really crossed her mind, since she was such an outspoken individual.

Just then, the man next to Drake addressed the girl sitting next to him. "Hey, there. What's cookin', good lookin'?"

Eve rolled her honey-gold eyes and chuckled to herself, unable to keep herself from responding to the question that wasn't direction to her, "I bet lines like that get the ladies banging at your door every night." She gave a sarcastic wink and a small smile to the red headed man.

"No, my specialty is much more than blowing bubbles," he chuckled, finding the joke funny, "and I couldn't do a handstand to save my life. I'm good at potions and healing spells. I've actually created a few, myself. I work in the Experimental spells and Potions division here." Alphonse suddenly heard the door shut behind him, and turned around. It was the blond wizard from the atrium. "Excuse me," he said to Evelynne. "I've got to say hi to somethingone." She was occupied looking at two wizards at the end of the table, and apparently didn't hear him. Taking that as a yes, he walked over to the young man and held out his hand. "Sorry about leaving earlier," he apologized. "I didn't want to miss the lift. I'm Alphonse. What's your name?"

It took him a moment to realize someone was talking to him, as Sander was trying his best to stare at the floor. Eventually he looked up at Alphonse.

"Oh, uh, hi!" he tried to smile, though wondered if it might have looked slightly weird and crooked. "Uh, d-don't worry about it, a-at least you helped me find the way," he tucked his hair behind his ear again. There was no hiding the accent now, he had been too surprised by Alphonse suddenly standing there. "I'm Sander. N-nice to meet you."

His attention slipped for a moment as his eyes flickered around the room. There were too many people there for his liking, almost huddled together. He was unsure of who but someone smelled.. different. Despite his uncle's encouraging, Sander had never really embraced his wolfish side, and hadn't really trained these senses, therefore he was unable to pinpoint the smell. He let the matter pass and quickly looked back at Alphonse.

"Nice to meet you too, Sander," Alphonse replied politely. He noticed that the frail person looked very uncomfortable, as if he didn't like being around so many people. His eyes were darting around all over the place, and he was fidgeting his hands a lot. "Don't like being around so many people, huh?" Alphonse said as he sat down next to Sander. "Neither do I. You could say I encountered some... racism while at school. Especially from that nasty witch Umbridge. Nearly got kicked out of school when she became headmistress." He looked back at Sander. "So," he continued, "what's your story?"

Elle hesitated outside of the door. Suddenly angry at her own stupidity, she seized the doorhandle and turned the knob, walking in quietly, knowing that the majority of the people were already present. She left the door open a crack, because closed doors scared her a little bit, they just looked so ominous and menacing, and took one of the only open seats. Looking around the room, she saw some that she recognized, including Alphonse Wendsleydale, one of her former house members.

She felt a little silly being so uncomfortable, since she was a year older then mostly everyone in the room, but nevertheless, she was uneasy. After just sitting for a minute or so, she slipped her hand into her pocket and took out a tiny book. flipping it open, the book grew to a larger size, and Elle did what she did best; she read her spellbook. Reading through her own notes, she took out a quill and began to add in certain things that she remembered from earlier. Eventually, Elle grew bored, and put away her book, resting her cheek on her fist and listening to snatches of the chatter in the room.

EMILY
Emily had to hide her disgust when the boy tried his lame pick up line on her. Here she was a sweet fun person, and she didn't like. But the boy wasn't unattractive and could be an asset later, so she didn't shoot him down.

"Not much, hot stuff." She replied, winking. Her normal self was a little bit of a slut so this felt more in character for herself anyways.


HERMIONE
Hermione looked around the room at the conversing people then up to the clock. She pulled her presentation out of her bag and set it on the table.

"I guess we should get started, I do have something prepared." She said to Ron and Harry matter-of-factly. As she stood up she started to catch a few people's attention and looked back to Harry and Ron for approval.


(no Draco for this one I'm afraid.)

Ryu blinked, leaning back somewhat in surprise. He hadn't actually expected his stupid little pick up line to actually work. He was so used to getting rejected, if not slapped outright, that he briefly looked over at Drake in surprise.

"Whoa, look at that!" He whispered, somewhat excitedly.

"I know, she didn't grab you in a chokehold and piledrive you through the table or something. That's a first." Drake mumbled, a bit more audibly than he had intended, with a rather impressed look on his face. The Aussie glared at him with a slight scowl, trying to prevent his face from becoming pink but then turned back to Emily flashing his grin again.

"Say, babe, are you doing anything after this? How about you and I head out and grab a drink or something?"

Smirking, yet shaking his head, he ignored his cousin to glance over at the other people around the room. Noticing both Sander and Alphonse, Drake couldn't help but partially listen in on them...he, too, had felt a sort of kinship with them--especially after he noticed Al's pointed ears. His own sense had told him that Sander seemed to not be fully human, either...and, from the sounds of it, both of them were loners as well. He had rubbed his throat a little, thinking about getting up and introducing himself when he noticed Hermione stand as if getting ready to speak.

Ron himself simply smiled and gave a nod--he wanted the meeting to start, figuring the sooner it started the sooner it could end.

Morisson checked his watch as he stood around the corner from the room where a dozen or so wizards and witches had dashed off to. It seemed they were all in a hurry to the meeting that he, too, had been invited to. Every time the door opened, he could hear their voices and he stared at his watch, hoping it would speed up. He only needed another minute, but it seemed to creep by. He started to walk toward the door. He wasn't going to be later than absolutely necessary.

Despite being a highly organized individual only sometimes prone to digressions, Morisson had not been able to find the meeting room as quickly as he had hoped. He wanted to be seven minutes early, but too much time out of Hogwarts, caring for his bees made him think that the Ministry would be a little more organized than it had been. A hive of activity, the place was far from a hive structure. He was lucky he had made it here when he did, otherwise he never would have seen everyone dashing about. Although he'd been in Hufflepuff, it was impossible not to recognize Hogwarts's big wigs as they made their way into the meeting. First Ron, then Hermione, and finally Draco. He vaguely recognized a few of the others, but not everyone, surprising given their age, about his. Had some not gone to Hogwarts?

He was standing outside the door and about to enter when he heard Hermione's voice. "I guess we should get started, I do have something prepared."

Bollocks. Still fifteen more seconds before the timing was right for Morisson to enter. Numbers were everything. Thankfully, Hermione had stalled, giving Morisson just enough to quietly enter the door and step in, right when his number magic suggested would be most fortuitous for him. At least it was the second best time for him, the first one being fortuitous and early.

"Sorry I'm late," he said with a humbled but not quiet voice. He quickly scanned the room, counting, and determined that someone else was in the seat he should have been in. "Damn," he muttered and settled for the closest available seat. He passed a man with stunning yellow and black eyes and smiled to himself. He was glad he didn't have black and yellow eyes. That would have just been too much for him. He could, however, appreciate it in someone else.

It was then that he noticed the letter had misspelled his name. "Morrison? Oh, that'd be the day. Stupid spell checking. Could never be an arithmancer with that name. I'd rather die."

Eve wasn't entirely surprised to hear of Alphonse's specialty, since he was well known to excel in the field during his time at Hogwarts. She nodded and smiled as he explained his expertise and then watched him get up and walk over to a small sickly looking boy. It only took her a moment to recognize the symptoms of the boy and she arched her brows at the idea that the Ministry would allow this. Eve, herself, had absolutely no problem with werewolves and actually found them to be quite interesting but she knew very well that the Ministry did not share these feelings. A werewolf, a half-dragon wizard, and a half-elf wizard all in the same room by invitation of the Ministry?

"Must be more serious than I thought.." She muttered to herself, looking away from the pair of young men and towards the flirtatious Australian who sat next to Drake. She caught part of their exchange and smiled to herself, shaking her head in amusement. She had never understood boys who flirted like that and was the sort of girl who told guys to bugger off if they continued to try and pick her up. Really, lines like that don't work on girls. Or... do they? She shrugged to herself, deciding it wasn't important and that if they did work on other girls they just simply didn't work on her.

The door creaking broke her out of her thoughts and she saw another familiar face walk in. Elle, was it? She was in Ravenclaw, if Eve remembered correctly, and a year ahead of her. The witch looked a little awkward and sat down, pulling out a book to read. Evelynne furrowed her brows at the girl, wondering if she remembered her at all. Perhaps-

The door opened again and a very tall, pale, and handsome wizard walked in wearing black and yellow. She smiled brightly at him, remembering his face from Hogwarts. She was trying to place his name when he took a seat on the far end of the table from her. Her smile faded slightly and she tossed her hair over one shoulder and turned towards the head of the table. I wasn't invisible in school. Honestly, do they not remember me? I mean, sure, I didn't go to any big parties or sleep with all the guys but I didn't live in a hole! She thought to herself as she slid the strap of her tank top back onto shoulder, as it had slipped over her smooth ivory skin. Maybe I just paid more attention to everyone else than they did to me? She felt a little awkward at the thought but shrugged it off. She had always been very perceptive and had a great memory.

At that moment she saw Harry and Hermione stand up and muttered, "Finally..." before giving them her full attention.

--------

Harry smiled widely at Hermione as she stood up, pulling a presentation out of her bag. Thank Merlin for Hermione. He thought with a relaxed sigh, running a hand through his messy dark hair. Harry straightened his robes and stood up next to Hermione, "Yes, lets get going. We can fill anyone in who shows up late." He nodded towards Hermione and gave a wide wave to everyone in the room, hoping to get their attention as well.

"Alright everyone, I think we're going to uh... start now." Harry said, perhaps a little too loudly. He hated speaking at meetings or being the center of attention and much preferred to sit and listen than to run the whole show himself. "I expect a lot of you know each other already, since the majority of us went to Hogwarts. Though, it may help to... introduce ourselves...?" The statement came out as more of a question as he looked to Hermione for help, feeling like a complete fool. A slight embarrassed flush could be seen spreading across his tanned cheeks and he looked back into the group of faces in front of him, searching for his next words.

The sounds of a chair squeaking caught his attention and he noticed that Evelynne had stood up.

"Hello everyone." Evelynne said, giving a half wave and a bright smile to the unique group of witches and wizards, "My name is Evelynne Faye Endora. You can call me Eve or Evie but please, for Merlin's sake, don't call me E or Lynne." She wrinkled her nose at the two nicknames that people had tried to give her in the past. Her honey eyes scanned the table, trying to make eye contact with everyone as she spoke, "I did actually attend Hogwarts. I was in Gryffindor..." She trailed off, looking towards Harry at the head of the table, "I suppose we should say what special skills we have, then?"

Harry smiled thankfully at her and nodded, gesturing that she should continue.

"Alright, well, I specialize in Care of Magical Creatures and have done a lot of work with studying defense against the dark arts. I suppose the main center of my knowledge focuses around dragons." Eve raised her brows towards Harry as if to ask 'That good enough?' and when he nodded she slid back into her seat and looked out towards the rest of the group.

Drake glanced over at Harry and found that the meeting was already beginning to start. Grinning a little bit, Drake was already beginning to stand when Eve have already stood to introduce herself. Sitting back down and propping his chin on his hand, he smiled as he watched her...feeling quite happy that she DID have a good interest in dragons!

Inside, he wondered, maybe, possibly, would he have a chance? Blinking, and realizing that Sander was still in the room, the half-dragon bit his lip. Well, he needed to overcome his own shyness, and he figured he couldn't wait for her to come to him...when she had finished speaking, Drake moved to stand, clearing his throat a little bit.

"My..." he started. "My name is Drakengarde Nightwing. But, please, just...call me Drake." Turning his eyes around to spot everybody in the room. "My special skills include...well, I don't really know how much I could help. I can't really control my magic, but I AM really, REALLY good with Potions, and I'm skilled in Herbology, which I suppose goes hand-in-hand with Potions to that degree....and I guess I'm pretty good at Geomancy."

"Pretty good? Try incredible." Ryu smirked.

Smiling at his cousin a bit, Drake glanced off with his face slightly pink. "But I suppose my biggest asset would be my physical abilities. Being half-dragon does come with some serious advantages. Enhanced senses, enhanced strength and agility. I can perform some really heavy lifting, so, if nothing else, I can do some serious grunt work if you need somebody in that aspect."

"That's good to hear." Ron mused. "By the way, Nightwing, was it? I think I recall seeing your profile. You're also good at melee combat, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir." Drake nodded. "Various marital arts such as taekwondoe, judo, karate, kung fu....but my I really shine in my ability to handle a blade. Studied at the Eight Sacred Sword School of Swordplay on Black Rock Quay in the Dragon Islands, specifically Shar'Jyai and Utara." He smirked. "I'd...ah...go into more detail but I don't want to derive the chance to speak to everyone else here, so..." he nodded, moving to sit down.

Ryu lifted his hand, but did not stand up.

"I'm Ryu Dayclaw. ...You might recognize my last name, but rest assured I'm not here to cause trouble. In fact, I'm only here because he--" thumbing over at Drake "--asked me to come along. So, if you don't want me here, let me know, I'll gladly leave. But, seriously, I suppose my skills might come in handy for what you might be planning....though I'm not sure my skills are what you desire."

"And what skills would those be, exactly?" Ron said, as he heard the name Dayclaw. "Pickpocketing? Thievery?"

"Among others." Ryu leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. "Along with an in-depth knowledge of Muggles, Apparition, escape, and security bypass. If you need something stolen that isn't nailed down and/or on fire, then....well, I'm your guy." He smirked.

"And why shouldn't we arrest you for even having such skills?" Ron mused.

"Well, if you'd do some actual research, last I checked, having knowledge of HOW to do something isn't a crime in and of itself." Ryu arched an eyebrow. "I'm my father's son, not my father himself. I've never broken into Gringotts, nor do I intend to. Besides, it's not a crime if you're doing it in service for the government, right? For a good cause? Or am I to understand that the staff members of the original Ministry that were arrested, found guilty of corruption, and sent off to Azkaban was all a joke?"

Ron, flustered, really had nothing to say to that. Yes, a lot of corrupt wizards had been arrested and shipped off to the wizarding prison, such as the vile Umbridge, but that was because of crimes against humanity and the wizarding community at large.

"That's different." Ron mused. "Unless you mean to tell us you're blessed with the knowledge of torture and killing, too?"

"There are many ways to get information from someone. I don't deal in torture." Ryu snorted. "Assassination techniques, though?" He smirked. "But of course. Hell, I know 347 ways to snap somebody's neck. 162 of which don't involve the spilling of blood."

Ron went a little pale at that, glancing over at his friends. Should they even allow this person in on the group at all? Ryu, for his part, didn't seem like he wanted to be there anyway, and all he gave was a nonchalant shrug, crossing his arms and flipping his fingers near the top of his head as if he were tipping a hat at them.

"In any case, I'm done." Ryu stated, glancing around to whoever wanted to speak next.

After Ryu sat down, no one else stood up. His speech was very intimidating. After a short, awkward silence, Alphonse stood up. "Hello," he started. "My name is Alphonse Wendsleydale. You may call me Alphonse or Al if you wish. I also went to Hogwarts, I was in Ravenclaw. I excel in potions and healing spells. I've even created a few myself, while working for the ministry. I have a pretty good knowledge of Muggle society, as I grew up with them. I am half high elf, if any of you were wondering. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from any racist comments. I really had enough of those in school." He let that sink in. "However, I'm sure we can get along just fine." He smiled as he sat down, waiting for the next person to stand up and introduce themselves.

Sander had been about to answer Alphonse as the meeting began, and Harry Potter - he was slightly smaller than Sander had imagined him - stood up and asked them to introduce themselves. Oh, no. As some of the other people introduced themselves and explained their reason for being there, Sander bit his lip sharply as Alphonse introduced himself. Better get this over with. He stood up.

"Uhm," he began. "I'm Sander Mathiasen, but I suppose you could call me whatever you like," he fidgeted with his hands a little, wondering where to put them, but deciding to simply fold them in front of him. He was extremely nervous, probably shaking slightly, as he spoke. "I'm actually not entirely s-sure why I'm here, but back in my country I am known as quite the expert w-within the fields of astronomy." He wondered for a moment. "Uh, I," this was silly, he should just sit back down. "As for background information, I went to Durmstrang." He looked around from behind the hair that had fallen in front of his face. "Not really much more to tell," he laughed nervously, and sat back down.

EMILY
Emily smiled at Ryu right before everyone started to introduce herself, but now she would have to focus. She needed as much information as possible and to remember her cover story. She took in everyone's names and information and stored them in her mind. She would have to take some notes later. As soon as Sander finished introducing himself, Emily decided it was her turn and stood up. She looked around the room first before clearing her throat. She didn't want to let her uncomfortableness show as she spoke.

"Hello, my name is Emily. I went to Hogwarts and was in Slytherin. You may not recognize me, however, because I left in my fifth year to be home-schooled. I am an expert in Charms and also have a lot of experience in Defense against the Dark Arts." She almost had to stifle a chuckle at these words, because of the irony. She was the dark arts.

"Anyway, I'm glad to help the ministry in any way possible." She sat down quickly after smiling and wondered if the last line was over doing it. She didn't want to seem like a total goody two shoes. She fidgeted a little after she finished introducing herself. Hopefully, everyone would buy her story, but she couldn't believe it herself. Sure it was true she had gone to Hogwarts until fifth year, but she could hardly call training to kill and spy home-schooling. God, she hated being around all this half-breeds, mud-bloods, and good-doers. It made her skin crawl.

Elle looked around, and then stood up, deciding that now was her chance. She smiled lightly and held her hands at her side.
"My name's Elle Finnigan," She said, "I was in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts and I specialize in transfiguration. I work as a criminal investigator in both the wizarding and muggle world. If you know me, great. If you don't, you will." She said, keeping it short and sweet. If anyone wanted the details of her entire life story, she decided, they had issues. She sat back down, moving a strand of hair out of her eye.

Elle glanced around the room, seeing if she could tell who would stand next. She was glad to have gotten it over with, not wanting tp be the last one or the first one. She never liked to be in the spotlight, part of keeping a low profile as a detective, she assumed. Either way, she was relieved to be done talking without saying anything particularly damaging to what small reputation she had had. She looked around the table again, waiting for the next person to speak.