InsaneJournal

Friday Night
Who: Ministry employees and their plus ones (you need tickets!)
What: Party for the ministry to celebrate things going right
Where: Quidditch Trillenium Stadium
When: Friday August 28th (portkeys start at 6)
Status: IC/OOC

Each department has been given a time slot for when to arrive at the atrium for portkeys, starting at 6pm. There's a separate line if you missed your time slot that moves a little slower. Tickets are checked for authenticity before people are sent off, group by group, to the Quidditch Trillenium Stadium. The tickets are purposefully rather non descript, with the ministry of magic seal hidden on the other side until the ticket is checked (then it stays visible). Font colours vary by department and guest and employee tickets look the same except guest ones simply say 'admit' rather than 'admit one'.

(The Magical Games department was involved in the set up and thus the first there. They've decided to call in plenty of favours and pull out all the stops to pull this off at relatively short notice.)




The stadium is entirely decorated and in party mode, the lights are all on with plenty of new colourful ones put in, including the roaming spotlights. There are certainly a lot of ireland and senegal coloured decorations about, but while the organizers have embraced the abundance of green especially, the additional colours are put in so it isn't entirely quidditch themed. Harmless small magical fireworks (you can fly through them) and balloons seem to constantly be around and people will notice plenty of snitches flitting about the stadium casually (if you happen to catch one there's a prize to collect, with each snitch giving a different one).

As everyone arrives, they're filtered to the pitch where mingling and light food/drink is available. When all the department timeslots are through (though there's someone still letting stragglers come in late), Diggory is given the opportunity to address the crowd and give a little speech. MG will follow, a quick thank you for all the hard work this world cup and explanation of how things work tonight (about the box levels, some guests coming in, and that they'll amp things up at around 10) including that the snitches are prize tickets, before he officially opens up the boxes and entry to them for the fun to start.



The boxes have been divied up based on the level they're at with department themes every level. People are free to check out and visit any of the open levels and move between them. The first level from the Minister's box (which is still closed/exclusive to the Minister and any of his office plus heads who'd like to pop in) is Magical Games and Sports, who have really decked out their level of boxes. They've even filled one of the boxes with brooms and quaffles (charmed not to hit the ground, but float about 2m off it so they hit none of the people on the pitch) for people to borrow and take for a fly around the stadium. There's even a row of the newest line of brooms for interested people to try out for a bit, and one of the DMGaS employees runs the box (don't want anyone too drunk on a broom). Of course there are stacks and stacks of quidditch posters around which people are free to help themselves to (they're trying to get rid of a lot of these).

Other levels of boxes up from that continue with the department themes in order (though there's a level or two between themed departments closed off to give some space). DMLE, DMAC, Magical Creatures, etc. Each level tries to fit the departmental theme (each level also has its own drink and food station) including games and decor to match. The DMLE floor does have a set up with coffee from each of the other departments laid out, a joke about their sludge but also an opportunity to try actual coffee.

The top few box levels are reserved for quieter sitting/rest and completely outfitted with comfortable furniture so if people want a break from the madness they can enjoy the view and food and talk in comfort.



Partway into the night there's an announcement of special guests, that joining them all tonight for the festivities will be a few guests who are quite familiar with this stadium now. Flying into view, each being announced in turn, are the national scottish, welsh and english quidditch teams. And of course, world cup champions twice in a row....IRELAND.




The main area is the pitch itself, which starts the night with light music and mingling, with bars set up on all sides and tables of food. Later into the night though (at about 10pm with the hopes that if you came for mingling and an early night, you've had your fill by now or can move up to the top floors) , the lights go down, the music amps up and the whole thing becomes a dance floor.


(Note: Anti-apparation charms are still in effect on the stadium, as are ones to prevent the snitches and people from flying out from the stadium. There are healers/mediwitches on stand-by if they're needed and designated portkey out points for the night that will transport people back to the atrium when they want to leave. From there, they'll be encouraged to use floo or some of the designated sober apparators if they don't have one of their own. There's no strict end time for the whole thing except that MG has left instructions that the place needs to be emptied out by 5am latest, make sure the stragglers make it home alright and all.)