The Problem with Heads

It was common sense that every department in the Ministry had it's good and bad days. And today happened to be, well, it wasn't a good day. A large chunk of the office had called in sick this morning, meaning that there would be a large backlog of work for days to come. Then, about an hour previously, there'd been a minor problem in the Creature Containment area, and handful of unhappy XXX creatures had escaped. That was sorted now, but Rivah hadn't been pleased.

So now, the Department Head found herself sitting in her office and doing non-head work. Due to the lack of staffing, the woman was back on the floor, helping taking some of the workload off her employees. After all, it wasn't too long ago since she'd been one of them really.

Today was the dreary day that Nick would have to go to the Ministry. Well to be exact, the department for regulation and control of magical creatures. He had to go there to fill out the required forms for his pygmy puff. The reason Nick never filled out the required papers was simple. The man just hated paperwork. But when the Ministry went to his house and told him to fill out the forms, he had no choice.

Nick swiftly and quickly walked into the department of magical creatures. As he was trying to find his way he bumped into a woman just a little older than him. "I'm very sorry. I was not watching where I was going" he said apologetically.

"It's fine," Rivah replied hastily. The way everyone in her department had been bustling around all day, people were constantly running into each other. Taking a step back and realizing that she didn't recognize the voice or face, she schooled her features into a professional mask.

"Hello, I'm Department Head Rivah Trenton, what can we be doing for you today?" the woman said swiftly. If this was yet another assistant from a different department informing her that there was some sort of creature problem that needed to be handled, the witch would scream. Rivah already had a pounding headache, and it wasn't even noon yet.

"I'm here to fill out paperwork. I have an appointment scheduled" he explained. This woman seemed on edge for some reason. As he looked around the room he noticed the lack of staff. If this Rivah lady was the head then she must be really understaffed. "You seem busy. I could come back" he offered. Nick didn't want to have to come back. He didn't want to be here in the first place. Nick just offered out of politeness.

"I'm Nick Potter by the way. It's very nice to meet you" he said, putting emphasis on the word 'very'.

"Of course, right," Rivah said, holding back a sigh. This man would've had an appointment with Maya, one of her employees who'd called in sick. The witch knew for a fact that she didn't have anyone to spare to take care of the wizard, but was far too prideful to allow him to leave when he'd been scheduled.

"Nice to meet you as well Mr. Potter," she replied, tactfully ignoring the way the young man had tried to come onto her, "we can take care of your paperwork in my office, follow me." Rivah spun around and began to lead them back into her office, her cave. It was slightly messier than usual, but still within the realm of what most would consider neat.

Nick followed Rivah into her office. As he walked he had to avoid multiple puddles of animal 'droppings'. It appeared like something crazy had happened not to long before he arrived. "You guys look understaffed. It looks like you guys had an outbreak or something too" he attempted small talk trying to pass time. It was a feeble attempt but better than none. He walked into the slightly warm and cluttered room. "Your office seems..... nice" he commented, again trying for small talk to get to know this woman better.

Rivah lifted her eyebrows in confusion, before spotting the mess on the floor and drawing her wand to cast a quick cleaning charm. How no one had noticed that was beyond her.

"Hm, yes, it has been rather hectic around here today," the witch admitted as she sat down. "Thank you," she added after a moment, gesturing towards one of the two chairs sitting in front of her desk. "Now what exactly to you need to register, and do you already have the creature, or are you intending to get one?" Rivah asked the man, needing to know exactly what they'd filing.

"Well I have a pygmy puff. I was told to make an appointment and I did. I don't know anything except that I have to fill out paperwork" he explained as he sat down. The chair was comfortable and soft. Nick was a pretty social person and liked to get to know people and be friends with everybody. "So Rivah. Tell me about your self. You seem like a pretty interesting person" he said softly as he wondered if that was the appropriate time to ask. Sure Nick was just being friendly but he sometimes forgets there is a right time to ask everything.

"Alright then," she said with a small smile, leaning over to grab some papers from the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet. "An illegal pygmy puff," Rivah joked as she set the papers on her desk, "that's not something we see very often."

Since this man was the owner of un un-registered creature, the work involved would be slightly more so than if he'd gotten the paperwork done prior to ownership. Being a ranked X creature, at least the man wouldn't be fined.

When Nick asked about her, the woman was tempted to say something about his presumptuousness. However, he did seem both young and kind, leading her to think that he was just attempting to be nice. It was a rare trait, something the witch didn't stumble upon too often. "Thank you, but I'm not all that interesting. Young female Department Head, you know how it goes," Rivah replied, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm going to have to ask you a few things before giving you a form or two to fill out, any questions?" the blonde asked sweetly.

Nick smiled at her illegal pygmy puff remark. It was probably very silly, after all. It was a pygmy puff. "Oh please. A nice looking, young blonde is the head of a Ministry department. There has to be and interesting story behind that" he said as he slightly leaned forward with a smile. "Anyway shoot your questions" Nick said nicely. Nick was trying to turn on whatever charm he had. Rivah might have been like six or something years older than him but he didn't care about age. Well that, and Nick was just naturally friendly.