Henry Ashworth, the Minister of Magic, made his way across the busy streets of London. It was his lunch hour, and although he could have apparated to his destination, he preferred to stretch his legs. When you spend all day at a desk, you take what opportunities you can get to move about. Before long he found the Red Rose, a lovely restaurant with impeccable food and a great selection of wines. After handing his coat to a worker for her to hang, he walked up to the woman in charge of seating. "Ashworth, table for two." he announced in his firm voice. The woman apologized for not noticing him and hurried to show him to his seat, saying a waiter would be right with him.

Once seated, he perused the wine and appetizer selection. Within two minutes of being seated his waiter appeared, and Henry ordered a glass of water, their best red wine, and the crisps with a spinach and artichoke dip. Checking his watch, he saw that he was still five minutes ahead of the scheduled time for his meeting with the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Teagan Finn. Hogwarts was in good hands, but with the tensions rising between purebloods and the rest he was taking no chances with the molding of young minds. After all, they were the people likely to stir up trouble in the coming years, current students of Hogwarts. "It is best to head off problems before they arrive." Henry said quietly to himself.

Heels clicking softly on the cobblestones, Teagan walked briskly towards the restaurant. She'd been trying to busy herself all morning with non-important errands, trying to take her mind off the impending lunch. But there was no amount of books or sweets that could settle her nerves. Who wouldn't be nervous, being invited to have lunch with the Minister.

She'd met him, of course, being the Deputy Headmistress, but this was different. Those other times had always been at school, where she felt more at home. Dorian had always been there, to be the focal point of his brother's attention. And in comparison to the younger Ashworth, having a good working relationship with the heir helped her feel more comfortable. This would be the first time she was alone with Henry for more than a few minutes.

Settle down, Finn. It's just lunch. She'd been struggling, since she'd moved to England years ago, to settle into pureblood society. After her first few years amidst her peers at Hogwarts, she resigned herself to the fact that she just really didn't fit in with anyone. For the most part, that was fine with her.

Walking into the restaurant, the cool air and soft music greeting her, she told the host who she was meeting. The man practically tripped over himself guiding her to an area near the back that had a perfect view of the park across the way. As her chair was hastily pulled out for her, Teagan took a seat, smoothing her sleek pencil skirt free of any wrinkles. The black offset the emerald green of her blouse, throwing a great contrast to her dark tresses. When meeting with such a prestigious man, she knew she had to look her best.

"Minister Ashworth," she greeted, "Thank you for having me."

Upon seeing a man rushing to seat Professor Finn, Henry allowed the corners of his mouth to turn upwards slightly. It was clear that he was still new to this job, because most of the workers here had seen himself associating with others more than once. Almost funny how his position made people so, well, different around him. Having been born with the last name Ashworth, his days at Hogwarts had been similar with a lot of the students. Those proud few who had enough backbone to treat him as an equal, soon learned that it wasn't only his name that made him better.

"Minister Ashworth," "Thank you for having me."

Professor Finn was dressed professionally, and her choice of colors looked lovely on her. He'd dressed in a black slacks with a white dress shirt and solid red tie. His black dress coat had been checked at the door. Giving her a slight smile, he outstretched a hand. "Pleased to have you, Professor Finn." he answered, completing tedious but necessary greeting ritual. For some reason, he'd always wondered how these things had gotten started; however, he respected the tradition and always followed it to the letter.

Reaching out and grabbing a crisp, he sliced it into the lovely spinach and artichoke dip before removing it and popping it into his mouth. The sounds of the crisp being eaten was all that was heard at the table for a moment. Little things like this was what had helped Henry take charge in conversation and his life, actions that most people never thought about could make an impression. "Feel free to help yourself, this dip is a favorite of mine. Spinach and Artichoke. I took the liberty of ordering you a water as well. Our waiter will be along in five to take our meal orders, so as to give you time to decide." Henry explained.