Lights, Camera, Action...

Liara entered the ballroom taking note of all the people coming, she had seen Berlynn at the enterence, which was no surprise concidring the amount of security the place required. She almost sighed at the up rowr that was likely to happen later, after Reaper made his move... knowledge of this plot made this whole ordeal far less enjoyable, she wasn't what she could do to counter it.. other then talk with the russian Minister later privately.

She then spotted Gage, she didn't want the pesky Report bothering him though so tried to keep there attention with there questions.. but however on stupid one from England spotted him and rushed over. Liara sincerly wish she could jinx his legs together and leave the annocence on the ground alass she couldn't.

"Mr. Hall, your feeling on attending this nights conference with your Ex leading?" the report nosily asked.

Liara could have sent the little reporters quill a blaze with the Burning glare she sent at the back of his head, "Give the little pest the Bloody finger for all I care at the moment Gage" she thought to herself. Hoping her love told the little bugger off.

She almost sighed when Edward muttered to her about the show about to begin, "Must you?" she asked quietly shaking her head, though she made her way over to Giordano Prideux and his family as she had yet to meet them.

"Minister Prideux, Pleasure to meet you again, Glad you could make it" she greeted him firendly. She then turned to his family and nodded her head. "Pleasure to meet you as well Headmistress Prideux, your husband has spoken highly of you, I am honored you could make it, I know you must be busy." she said switching to French and smiling going to shake Amelie's hand. She also sent Annabelle and Dimitry a nod and smile aswell. "I thank you both for coming as well, I am sure you'd rather do many other things then attend a conference such as this.. I thank you for coming" she said reaching over to shake both of there hands as well.

She quirked an eyebrow to know Vinzents daughter was here she had not known that. She made a note to introduce her self later and perhaps get a feel for where Vinzents daughter stood in to thick of the politcal mess.

"Miss Lightle, my Mother was fond of the same political ideals as your own. So, to honor her memory tonight, I am going to give you 50 thousand for your upcoming campaign. Now then, if you'll excuse me some of my Father's buisness accoticates would like to se me. Have a fun night." With these slured words Edward made his stumbling way to the elevators. He entered and resting against the side wall he pushed for the roof and closed the doors. Winking at Liara ad they closed and he regained his composure.

As the elevator accended, he readied himself. The ussual black flame rose and his clothes were replaced by a Black Cloak and White Mask. He pulled out his glock, turned the saftey off, he would need to make sure that what he was about to do went like clockwork. Although hidden by the mask, Edward smirked, "This is going to be fun."

Leading the way into the ballroom, Calixta realised the reason she couldn't spot the Minister was because she was completely obscured by a wall of reporters.

"Absurd," she muttered so only Bastian could hear. "Like monkeys in a zoo. Poor Lightle; I'm glad Gringott's is backing her. All of this insanity over her ex fiancé, it's shameful. She must really love this country, to be so selfless. And he must really love her, to let her go like that." She shook her head slightly, and positioned herself near where Liara was standing, waiting for an opportunity to present herself.

"I'll tell you, that Zol -- Zoiner -- whatever his name is, seems like a real cad, too. If he wins the election I just might move to France to avoid the fallout. Have you heard the rumours of people disappearing? It's just like the stories my mum and dad used to tell me when I was growing up, of the war." She watched as a reporter detached himself from the group and went to go wave his mircophone in Gage Hall's face. "Disgusting..."

Gage paused in his trek towards Liara when a reporter from England approached him. ’Here we go again...’ he mused silently, doing all he could to suppress a roll of his eyes. Caramel eyebrows knitted in concentration on the reporter and what they were saying amidst the din of other voices mingling to create a rather interesting orchestra indeed. “How I feel about her has nothing to do with how I feel about being here. That’s why she’s my ex-fiancé,” Gage lied. “I’m all for magical cooperation, however I’m also a fan of privacy and people that mind their own business so if you’ll excuse me...” he added sharply, making sure to ‘discreetly’ ensure that his cane plus most if not all of his weight on said instrument met the reporter’s foot.

”Monsieur Hall, it is rumored that-“ a French reporter began, but was cut off by Gage.

”Everybody lies. So, instead of joining the bandwagon, let’s have a little contest: First one to even mention myself and Minister Lightle in the same breath, or to even talk to each other at all, loses. Ready? Aaand – go!” he replied, then pressed his lips shut in firm refusal to say anything more. Hoping he wouldn’t have to contend with any more press he continued to walk onward toward Liara and the other Ministers. Admittedly the atmosphere was thick with the nosy quill-toting buggers, asking just about every question except their preference of undergarments it seemed. If worse came to worse he could disguise himself...

With as little obvious mobility impediment as possible, Gage strode up to a witch in red dress robes, and the wizard beside her dressed in what he could’ve sworn was a standard muggle tuxedo if it weren’t for the hood. “Evening,” he nodded to the pair.

Calixta watched in amusement as Gage made a short reply to the reporter before grinding his cane into the bothersome man's foot, and hoped dearly that it wasn't as accidental as he made it appear. She watched as he boldly made his way across the room in the general direction of the Minister -- Nosy reporters be damned, good for you sir, she thought -- and unexpectedly stopped near herself and Bastian instead.

"Good evening," she returned with a friendly smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you -- Professor, is it now? I'm Calixta Harper, here representing Gringotts Wizarding Bank. We're officially endorsing Minister Lightle's reelection, I'm sure you've already seen in the papers, but erm..." she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper before continuing, "I personally also support you and the Minister. I think it's a disgrace, what they've done to you. Just terrible. I hope I'm not overstepping myself in saying so, but I just thought you ought to know that there are people out there on your side, since the other side seems so much more...vocal."

Liara had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the press as the hummed and wrote notes in the notebook to Edwards "Generous mother".

"His mother is a very generous woman, though perhaps my stance is unknown, I am nuetral in this arguement. Peace must be maintained" she said to the press, giving them there front page.

"Now go peck at someone else.." she thought to herself warily.

Then she wittnessed Gage tell the reporters off and she had to hide a laugh behind a behind a cough, how she wished she could do that.

Ignoring other reporters questions she made a motion to a nearby Auror that question time was over for the moment, and soon the reporters were shooed away for a moment of peace.

She blinked as she over heard the woman declare her support of her and Gage, now that was a new one.

"If only there were people like you in the Wizenagmot Miss. Harper" she said calmly still in "minister mode" but since the press left she was more relaxed and was smiling slightly.

She nodded to Gage, "Gage.. lovely come back to the press by the way, I envy you" she said with a slight smirk. The press could gossip all they want after seeing the talking, she wasn't going to have a mock fight with Gage just to make them think they hated each other or something craxy like that. She was at least allowed to have firendly conversation with him in public at least.

"And Mister Kaizer, pleasure to see you could make it" she greeted having presided over a few of the courts he practiced in.

"Thanks ya Minister" he said bowing slightly. "I agree the wizenagmot needs more people like the rest of you' he said in agreement. Though he was shamed to say he had represented a number of less pleasent people.

Bathilde nervously fingered her elbow length glove as she entered the hotel. She was wearing a simple black gown, trusting that Muncel had done his job correctly, since the exasperating mirror had picked it out. Her hair was carefully curled and set into a french crown. Muncel had insisted on her leaving her glasses behind, but she'd donned them anyway. It helped that their darkening lenses hid when her eyes failed to focus.
Crystal wand-cane in hand, she stiffened as someone approached.
"Ah, Headmistress Mochrie." a male voice purred. "So lovely to see you. I'm trusting you enjoyed your trip."
"Quite." she nodded. There was a click of a camera and the reporter continued on. Apparently there were better stories out there, something she was very thankful for.

Gage smirked and nodded at Calixta's question as to his current profession, and kept quiet to listen as she spoke. An expression of surprise crossed his face at the whisper of support for him and Liara. "Professor of potions, to be exact. About this far from Master," he answered, holding up a hand mostly closed save for the index finger and thumb, which were less than a quarter of an inch apart. "I'm Gage Hall; pleasure to meet you," the wizard added and reached forward with his free hand to shake theirs.

Upon stepping closer to the witch on the premise of a handshake, and in a similar hushed tone, Gage had something more to say: "Don't worry about it. Good to know there are some people in the world that aren't morons. Thank you. Maybe once things cool down a bit..." A knowing wink and a glance in the Minister's direction punctuated his sentence instead.

"Gage.. lovely come back to the press by the way, I envy you" he heard Liara say from his side.

"Dad always did say I was never able to keep my mouth shut," he remarked, a playful grin of thanks nearly splitting his face in two. "Hope I'm not in too much trouble," Gage added, pulling a face like that was half-mock-cringe and half evil smirk, sounding far from sincere.

The wizard's smirk drifted over to Bastian next when Liara spoke to him. From what he knew the German was decent... It was merely his clients that were the problem. "I tried to suggest Liara budget enough galleons aside to put rocket-powered seats and a skylight-hatch in the courtrooms, particularly for that 'Zol-bugger' guy. Probably the easiest way to get 'em out..." Gage laughed lightly.

Calixta looked surprised at the Minister overhearing her remarks, but was pleased she didn't seem offended.

"Lovely to meet you, Minister Lightle," she told her, grinning. "I might look into that, now you mention it," she added, stealing a sly look over at Bastian. "Once I retire from my curse-breaking career I might want to look for something a little closer to home, where I can fight the good fight, eh? And I wonder if you'd know my sister, Professor Hall," she continued, turning towards Gage.

"She'll be going into her seventh year -- a girl by the name of Melania Harper?"

Liara laughed slightly, keeping his mouth shut indeed, "Merlin, in trouble? I don't think so, your my hero" she muttered so no nosie quick quoat demons could through it out of context.

Liara's showed interest at Calixta's statment, "I look forward to the day to see you there Miss Harper, if I am luck to get another term in office" she said with a nod of her head.

She rolled her eyes in amusement at Gages next statment, "If only things were that direct" she chuckled.. "And 'Zol-bugger'? that is a good one have to remember that one next time I have to say his name in a hurry." she said with a smirk to match Gages. It was no wonder they had almost been married.

Then she spotted another person she wanted to shake hads with before the night was to far involved. "If you will all excuse me, I have more people to meet and welcome, I hope you all enjoy the conferece" she said departing ways from them as she headed over to the Headmistress of Hogwarts. She was a kind woman, and she never stepped on the Headmistress's toes very often like some of her predessors had in the past. She let the Head do her job and they got along fine. Hogwarts was still one of the finest schools in the UK for magical learning, and she was content with that.

"Headmistress Mochrie, Glad you could make it to the conference" she greeted holding her hand out.

__

Bastian chuckled at Gages jokes about the politics and realized hadn't said a word to the professor yet.. perhaps it was because of there history.. but he wouldn't get into it here.

"It is a pleasure to meet ya again Professor" he said holding his hand out to shake. "Thankfully under better circumstnaces" he said.

Bastian sent a small smile to Calixta at her hinting of finding a job closer to home later, "The courts would lucky ta have ya Lass" he said with a wink.

It would have been a lie to say Bathilde wasn't relieved to hear a familiar voice amid the general cadence of laughter and chatter about her. Relief spread across her face as she gently shook the Minister's hand.
"Thank you. It is a pleasure to see you again, Minister Lightle." Her death grip on her cane loosened slightly as she allowed herself a moment to breath normally. "I hope you have been well?"
She hoped that it wouldn't bother the Minister that her sensory spells were creating a faint musical hum around her. With all the movement and noise; they were more than slightly overwhelmed as too much information was sorted too quickly. Despite the slow and unsteady flow of information, Bathilde was close to cancelling them.

Gage's eyebrows pulled together in thought. Melania Harper? "The name sounds familiar... I only just started working at Hogwarts, so I'm not quite as familiar with names and faces as I'd like to be," he replied honestly.

"Good to know," he chuckled at Liara's returned remark. However, on the ball to make sure their private life didn't reach the press and their Cyrano de Bergerac-length noses he kept the statement quiet and contained to the group at hand. Just to make absolutely certain, he glanced around for any visible press.

"Well... they could be that direct," the wizard laughed. "Just get me in there. Sadly, I'm not one for politics. And I'm choosy about the politicians I actually do like... 'Biased' should be my middle name." A grin lit up the professor's face.

Gage had to resist the urge to playfully yet childishly react when Liara excused herself. For one thing, that mode of behavior was mostly reserved for their secret moments together and was when he could truly relax. Instead he contented himself with a simple, "Of course," and glanced to see just whom she had spotted. Seeing the Hogwarts Headmistress, his most recent employer, Gage smirked.

"It is a pleasure to meet ya again Professor. Thankfully under better circumstances"

"Likewise, Mr. Kaiser," Gage replied, taking the other man's hand in greeting. "I hope things are going well for you both?" he inquired, glancing to both Bastian and Calixta in turns. Of course, considering Gage had found the two together he naturally assumed either the woman was Bastian's wife or a new girlfriend. Either way, they definitely seemed 'together' to him. Then again... it certainly wouldn't be the first time the wizard had been wrong.

a song began to fill the ball room. It was nothen out of place for the unaware but Adrian knew otherwise. He followed in to the crowed that was foorming in the Ball Room. He looked around to find that his nephew wasn't there. He put his right hand in his pocket to act relaxed but his left hand was hovering over his wand. "Alright, monstr, I'm ready for you." He tought to himself antisipating the storm that was to follow.

The elevator decended. The dial above the doors came down to the ball room floor. When it reached it, a bell was heard. Adrian looked over and saw a Black streak racing toward him. The Reaper garbed Adrian by the throat and tossed him across the room. As Adrian slid across the floor, the Reaper reached behind his back and drew what appeared to be a metal wand.

As Adrian hit the wall the Reaper pulled a trigger on the wand and a loud noise filled the room. Adrian's lefft shoulder started to bleed and he cried out in pain. He clenched his shoulder and stared at the Man clad in Black approching him.

"Do not worry, Minister. MY client doesn't want you dead. Just to inflict pain." With these words he stepped on the wound of the Minister and started to twist his foot. All the while a boice was whispering into the ear of Adrian Royale. "You are a murderer, not a god. You will bring nothen but pain to this world, not a paradise. You will fail."

The Reaper took his foot off the Minsiter. "Good-bye, Minister Royale." He turned to leave. Aurors were surroudnign him now, "Please stand down, I don't want to hurt anyone else." As, he passed the dazed Liara Lightle he said simply this "Sorry for the interuption. I didn't want it to be like this." With these words the Reaper ran off with Aurors hot on his tail.

Calixta smiled at Gage's assumption. She supposed he wasn't really wrong, exactly -- they had decided to arrive together, after all -- and she was figuring out how to respond when someone in black whizzed by her. Almost before she even knew where to look, there was a loud bang that sounded weirdly like a gunshot, and the Russian Minister was on the floor.

"Was that a gun?" she asked aloud, both horrified and extremely confused. This was a Muggle establishment after all, but what would a Muggle know about the Russian Minister of Magic? And why would that be a wizard's weapon of choice? She didn't know enough Russian to distinguish much besides "death" and "pain," neither of which sounded very good to Calixta. She was frankly astonished at the words she could understand, and the manner in which the Aurors behaved.

"Who was that? Is the Minister okay? I've been trained in the basics of healing, I can patch him up a bit so we can transport him to the hospital," she offered, if there wasn't a more experience Healer present.

Liara winced when the chaos broke out, why now? they could have at least have waited until after the conference was nearly over. Merlin why make these things so difficult.

"I am sorry Headmistress I must attend to this" she said hurriedly.

But she had to admit she wasn;t sure what she could do..

"Someone get a hospital contacted" she instructed trying to push her way through the croud what a mess this was.. she didn't even want to think about it..

The minister did this to ruin the confrence.. and ruin it he did, it was dead and baried.. she knew this would be a mark against her in the next coming election... Damn the Royales...

Being in a family centering its expertise in the justice system, Gage recognized a gun when he saw it but had never wielded one. Seeing chaos about to break loose the wizard stepped between the cloaked figure and Liara. Surely if they were going to attack one Minister they'd try to pick off the other two?

Strangely, and thankfully, he was wrong. Caramel eyebrows furrowed in confusion at this, and the resulting conversation in Russian. Aside from the words for pain, murder, and death, Gage's skill in the Russian language was crude at best. As soon as the threat passed he realized Liara had pushed passed him as well as several others in the crowd.

"You do that, and I'll contact the hospital," he replied to Calixta. His specialty was in poisons and emergency response in regards to them. "If you need potions I have a few on me until they get here." From his pocket Gage produced a small box full of orderly, labeled phials and left it for her on a nearby table. It didn't matter too much to him if the thing was stolen for its contents were basically the magical equivalent of a first aid kit (with a few obvious differences) and of no extreme value. He could always make more potions if need be. Without looking back Gage left room in as swift a limp as he could manage to the nearest floo.