t a l k i n g [ b u s i n e s s ] - victorie

[DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY]

Things were starting to get a bit odd at Hogwarts. A couple of students had been attacked, but not like how they were usually attacked when Draco had attended Hogwarts. And it didn’t help that all of the attacks were different so in Draco’s head it had to be a group of people, or a person controlling a group. But apparently it wasn’t quite time to go to Hogwarts and figure out what was going on just yet. He needed to think more, and it didn’t help that he had a whole bunch of other work piling up on top of it. He needed to talk with his Senior Undersecretary about getting all of their work straightened out, it seemed that there was a lot more work than the two of them had perhaps predicted in the coming years as the load was getting heavier faster than usual.

He looked up at the clock on the wall and new that Victorie Weasley would be there soon. Draco had been there early that day, but that was how it had been lately and it frustrated him that he couldn’t spend more time with his family. At least he was able to see his son at the tasks at Hogwarts, but he hadn’t been able to see his wife a whole lot either. And with the tournament as well as a new topic with Hogwarts, it seemed it wasn’t going to get much easier for him. And before he even considered sitting down with the headmaster and heads of house of Hogwarts he wanted to talk it out with Victorie so that the two of them could formulate a plan. Though one thing he had always been surprised about with Victorie was that it was actually easy to get along with her and formulate ideas and plans with her. He thought for sure that with how he stood with most of her aunts and uncles, things would be hard for the two of them. But then again times had changed and so had Draco. Otherwise he probably wouldn’t have been minister.

[VICTOIRE JACQUELYN WEASLEY]

Vic straightened up her desk, filing papers with a flick of her wand. Folders went into her desk drawers, papers either folded up and went into those said folders, or shredded themselves and fell into a wastebasket beside her desk. Once her desk was clear, she leaned back in her chair, sighing. Her bare feet tapped on the woods floors of her office, beating along to a song in her head. Another sigh from the senior undersecretary and she rubbed her eyes. Luckily for her, her makeup had a charm on it so that this rubbing of her eyes wouldn't cause it to smear or rub off. Standing, she slipped her tiny feet into some heals and whispered that spell again that would make her feet not hurt while in them.

Shrugging into her Ministry robes, Vic left her office, heals clicking on the floor. She looked very professional today, same as always. She wore her black pencil skirt and a white blouse, with a shiny silver necklace around her neck. She passed other office secretaries, including her own. "Sarah, please hold all owls for me until I get back. I'll be in a meeting with the Minister for a better part of the day." She waved her hand dismissively, something that she would not normally do. Usually she was a very friendly person. But she found that with Sarah, she had to be cold. She had to really lay down the law, because the woman was trying to constantly out do Victoire. And indeed, when Vic walked away, Sarah narrowed her eyes and huffed, clearly mad that she wasn't in a meeting with the Minister.

Crossing the hall to the Minister's office, she lightly tapped the door with her knuckles before entering. She knew he didn't like his door open, so she quickly closed it behind her. Sitting in a chair across from him, she crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. From what she knew about him, he used to be a Dark Wizard, or at least he tried to be one. She actually approved of him turning on the Death Eaters to join the good guys. "Minister, you requested to see me?" she asked, tilting her head. She loved working for him though. He always gave her interesting things to do, incorporating interesting way to doing them too. Usually she talked to the press for him, so she wouldn't be surprised if he had called her in to talk about that.

[DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY]

He was in the middle of writing an owl to a concerned parent when Victorie had knocked on his door and entered the office, closing the door behind her. Draco looked up at the young red head and smiled at her. He always did like it that she tried to look her best as well as professional at the same time whenever she was at the Minsitry. It was really something he liked to see in the Minsitry workers. Not only acting their best, but looking their best as well. He didn’t want them to come to work looking like complete slobs after all. Though there were few that didn’t have the money to go out and get the fancier clothing, but at least they still tried their best with what they could afford.

“Minister, you requested to see me?” she asked him lightly once she had sat down in the chair opposite of his desk. “Ah Vitorie, how many times do I have to tell you that you can just call me Draco, but it is nice that you are always so formal,

[/color]” he said lightly with a smile upon his face. She always seemed to lift up the mood some whenever she entered the room, perhaps it was because she tended to have a smile upon her face. It was a good feature for her, something that was always best to have especially when things got a bit darker in the world, it was always good to have some sort of happiness around you otherwise you’d get lost in the dark after all. “And it seems we got quite a bit of work for us,[/color]” he said casually as he pointed to the work that kept piling up in his office. “A lot of it has to do with the recent happenings at Hogwarts and with the not only the attacks and the tournament going on, we also have been getting work for the Quidditch World Cup that’s supposed to happen this summer. It really is starting to burry us quite a bit.[/color]” he sighed softly as he sat aside the letter he had been working on and then pulled out a folder from a drawer labeled “Hogwarts”. He opened it up and on the first sheet of parchement a picture of Hugo Weasley was attached. “It seems that your cousin wasn’t the only that has gotten attacked. He is just the first of a couple of attacks that have happened,[/color]” he sighed again as she then pulled out a couple more sheets of paper. One with a picture of Theresa Kelsey and one with a picture of Shailene Wood. “Although with Miss Kelsey it seems we know who it was that attacked her and that student is now serving detention. It may be that Miss Kelsey’s attack isn’t even related to the other two.[/color]” he said once he had looked up from the pictures and then waited for what Victorie had to say about the whole situation so far.
[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[VICTOIRE JACQUELYN WEASLEY]

Vic smiled as he reminded her, yet again, that she should call him Draco. She nodded her head and folded her hands in her lap. He was in the middle of writing a letter, but put it aside and gestured to the piles of folders and paperwork on his desk. He was right, they did have lots to be doing right now. Tucking a loose blonde curl behind her ear, Vic nodded her head. From within her cloak she pulled out a quick quotes quill (a good one) and a pad of paper and started taking notes.

"I understand. For the Quidditch Cup, why don't I get together a team of staff and get them to work on this for you, that way it's off your plate." Her quill scribbled like crazy while she spoke. She saw Draco pull out a file with Hugo's picture in it and her heart sank a little. She hadn't had the time to go see him since the attack, and she didn't know much other than he was doing better now. Another folder followed his, and even though she didn't know the names of the students there, but she did know that one of them was attacked recently. But it seemed that it wasn't connected with Hugo's.

"I can take charge of the Hogwarts attacks if you like as well. I have connections within the school, and can have eyes in there. What if we put Aurors in there? Actually scratch that. We don't want to frighten parents and students. Besides, there have only been two attacks, what if its just students dueling? If things get worse then I suggest you talk to the Auror department and see if they can spare a few people to send to Hogwarts. I know that Bartholomew Shacklebolt would personally spearhead that campaign." Reaching a hand up to scratch her cheek, she thought about it a bit more. She knew that Bart would do anything to help his best friend, especially if he could also help out Hogwarts while doing so. But she kept her mouth shut now, waiting for the Minister, er Draco, to continue and comment on her speech.

[DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY]

“I understand. For the Quidditch Cup, why don't I get together a team of staff and get them to work on this for you, that way it's off your plate.” he heard her say. That would’ve been a splendid idea, but they already had one. “Well we already have a team for that. The head of international wizarding sports is in charge of that. I think he just needs to be supervised more and encouraged to work harder,

[/color]” he said lightly as he tapped his quill on the piece of blank parchment he had to the side. He knew how easily it could be for many to get off task when it came to huge projects such as the Quidditch World Cup.

“I can take charge of the Hogwarts attacks if you like as well. I have connections within the school, and can have eyes in there. What if we put Aurors in there? Actually scratch that. We don't want to frighten parents and students. Besides, there have only been two attacks, what if its just students dueling? If things get worse then I suggest you talk to the Auror department and see if they can spare a few people to send to Hogwarts. I know that Bartholomew Shacklebolt would personally spearhead that campaign.” he smiled at Victoire he always did like how the girl was willing to take charge. He was sure that if she were to ever try and become Minister of Magic one day she would probably gain the position quite easily once Draco retired. “Ah yes, I believe many of the Aurors would be willing to charge right on into Hogwarts and figure out what is going on. After all, many of them have family at school. But we got to be cautious about this. We don’t want to scare the children or their parents just by having aurors present at the school. You know how easily they get scared ever since the Second Wizarding Wart. It’s like they think Lord Voldemort will come back at any moment. But he won’t, well rather he can’t. Mr. Harry Potter had done a fine job of making sure of that twenty four years ago,[/color]” he said lightly thinking back to those days where he happened to be on the wrong side of the playing field during those times. But things were different now, he changed his views on many things and worked hard to get the Malfoy family name back out there.

“Though, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to perhaps coordinate a career day for the students. That way the Auror’s could be there and not only educate the students on the Auror job, but take a look around. Though we’ll need other job there as well, and it shouldn’t just be the ministry jobs. That would be a bit too suspicious if it was just ministry floating around,[/color]” he told her as he looked up at her, wondering what her thoughts were on it. He had a pretty good feeling that she would want to be in charge of organizing the whole situation.
[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[VICTOIRE JACQUELYN WEASLEY]

"Well sir, maybe we should give him the means for hurrying along with that? Someone should supervise him, or maybe reward him for what he's doing, to get him to work harder. Positive reinforcement you know." She scribbled on her pad of paper that someone should talk to him about moving along with the World Cup. Not only did they need to figure out the date, they needed to figure out security, pricing, and biggest of all (at least to her) a venue. It was usually held in the same place every year, but with what's going on at Hogwarts maybe it would be held somewhere else, or at least be considered.

"I agree Minister, a career day would be a great cover. I know that students might actually find it entertaining to see what kinds of careers they could have after they graduate. We could have aurors, maybe some officials from their departments, some nurses from Saint Mungos, and even some people that just run their own business. It would be educational, yet people like the nurses and aurors can be around to take a look and watch things. Maybe the nurses can take a look at my younger cousin Hugo and see if they can help him." She scribbled those ideas down as well. It was better to get all their ideas down on paper before they drifted out of consciousness. That way they could refer back to them in necessary.

"Sir, I'd just like to take a second to talk about security, both within Hogwarts and the Ministry. I believe that whomever attcked Hugo resides in the school. I think that we should have a conference with the Headmaster and see if he's heard any rumors. We should also think about maybe tightening security there. We shouldn't activate the statues, no, that's not necessary. What if we used the portraits? We could place their doubles here within a special office. Students there often forget that portraits can see and hear everything they do. As for security here in the Ministry, I feel that as of late it's becoming very slack. I think we should beef it up a bit, maybe try to post watches here and there. Maybe have the statues and portraits here monitor those going in and out of the Ministry, being on the look out for anything suspicious."