Stepping out of the lift, Chris looked around at the crowded atrium of the Ministry of Magic. Working at the Ministry, he had seen this very same scene every day. It always seemed like the Ministry was crowded at this level. Yet, when you hit Level 9 for the Department of Mysteries, it seemed like a completely different building. Every so often, he had those rare instances where he had work to do in other parts of the Ministry. Those were rare are far in between. He mainly stayed where his primary workspace was: the Spell Experimentation and Research Office. So, it felt so weird when he ventured off to different parts of the building, especially after he was finished working for the day.

Of course, the atrium was a natural spot for him to go visit. But, it was never one that he visited for extended long periods of time. It was usually only to go board a lift, or to fully leave the Ministry. Either way, he never really spent too much time in the room. When he had to meet anyone, it was usually within the confines of Level 9. For that matter, he rarely left level 9 when at the Ministry. Even now, Chris wasn't planning on spending a lot of time in the atium. No, he intended to visit another portion of the Ministry. Another portion that he rarely visited.

Turning quickly on the heel of his shoes, Chris walked over to the Ministry Library. He rarely entered this room in the Ministry. Most of the books necessary for his job were kept in the Spell Office, near where he worked. Whenever he did mange to visit the Ministry Library, it was to look at books that typically did not have anything to do with his job. Despite being out of Hogwarts now for over a year, he still acted like a Ravenclaw, his alma mater. He still enjoyed to read ... for pleasure! Who old have thought?

Entering the library, Chris immediately noticed its few occupants. Rather than talk to anyone, he turned down one of the rows of bookcases. He stopped in front of the creatures section. Just as he was trying to pull out one of the books, nearly the whole row sprang from the shelf and fell onto the floor. Due to their nature of being creature books, several of them were already starting the crawl away. Taking out his wand, he was able to stun one and he went to retrieve the first crawling book.

An irritated head of frizzy blonde hair lifted from her folded arms at the familiar sound of books falling, and then escaping. It was a welcome distraction, anything to get her away from what she had been working on. Books weren't normally her favorite way of learning, she was a more of a 'trial and error' kind of gal, but oddly enough people seemed to be reluctant to let her try out random spells to 'see what sticks'. Imagine that. So after several hours of trying to find something that seemed utterly impossible, she was more than ready to stretch her legs.

She turned a corner, and saw one of the books running for freedom. The theme to 'Born Free' played in her head, and she followed it. She bit back a laugh as the thing actually seemed to be peeking around the edge of the bookshelf before picking up speed and making a dash. She quietly put the toe of her high heeled foot on it gently, ignoring the resulting squeak it made. As it's pursuer came into view she smiled and gestured at the floor.

"Looking for this?"

'Blimey! These books are fast,' Chris thought to himself as he caught yet another book. Reaching over, he replaced that book back on the shelf, next to one that he had caught a couple of moments ago. For the most part, he wasn't normally this clumsy at all. He couldn't afford to be, for that matter. Working in the Department of Mysteries, his work mainly centered around testing and researching spells. If he made a mistake, he would have to restart any tests all over again. It would quickly escalate into a complex situation. That wasn't something that he particularly liked.

Turning his head slightly, Chris noticed one of the books running away from him. Flicking over a stun spell wordlessly, he frowned when he noticed the spell missed. It was always harder to cast a spell on a moving object. How the aurors managed to do so, he had no idea. With a short sigh, he went to follow the book with the hope that he could find the book again.

Right before the corner, Chris noticed that the book was caught underneath the toe of a high heeled shoe. Looking up at the owner of the shoe squashing the book, he gave a lopsided grin. "Yes, thank you. These books run way too fast," he added, as he retrieved the book from under her shoe.