Summer Kids

1977: Auror Trainee Camp

Alice's legs wobbled from the exertion of the day's training as she made her way to the dressing rooms within the Ministry of Magic's Auror wing. She knew she was lucky to have been evaluated highly enough by her professors at Hogwarts to be taken on for summer training in the Auror program before she even graduated. She knew she was lucky to be working under one of the Ministry's best. She knew she was lucky to have a cohort of fellow trainees who pushed her to be better.

But Merlin, at the moment she felt too sore to be all that lucky.

As Alice passed through the showers, she waved tentatively at some of the other young women she had met so far in the summer training session. At sixteen, she was by far the baby of the lot. Most of her companions were all either recent Hogwarts graduates or somewhere in the middle of their formal Auror examinations, ranging in age from seventeen to their early twenties. She didn't know any of them very well, but thankfully some faces were slightly familiar. As Alice reached the cubbies and dressing room section of the preparatory rooms, a bit of her energy came back at the sight of Dorcas Meadowes patting the wall of an open dressing stall in welcome. "Oi, Blishwick! C'mere, before Marley steals your spot!"

Grinning gratefully, Alice scooped up her clean robes and slid into the stall next to the older girl. At Hogwarts, Dorcas had been a Ravenclaw two years ahead of her, and now she and her girlfriend Marlene McKinnon were well into their Auror studies. Even so, the two Hogwarts alums had taken Alice under their wing since day one. As Alice now yanked off her sweaty training robes and switched them out for a fresh pair of summer shorts and an airy blouse, she could hear Dorcas and Marley chattering to each other from the two stalls bordering hers. The cozy feeling of being part of their conversation without really talking made Alice smile. 

From the right, Dorcas called, "Marley! Remind me to watch that kid Longbottom next time we spar. I've got bruises all down my --"

"What?!" Marley's pleasantly shrill voice laughed from the stall next to Alice. "Dorcas, you can't be serious -- a sixth year is kicking your arse already?"

As Alice stepped out of her stall and headed for the nearby mirrors to fluff up her mussed pixie cut, she kept her ears pricked for Dorcas' answer. She hadn't known that any other sixth-years from Hogwarts had been invited for early training. But she knew who Frank Longbottom was. He was even a Gryffindor, too, like her. Alice had seen Frank in classes and sat with him at the same table for six years, albeit with dozens of people between them. She knew his silky brown hair, longer on top than the sides, his kind brown eyes, and his slightly-large ears. Alice had, in fact, been quietly crushing on Frank Longbottom since fourth year. She didn't know he wanted to be an Auror, too.

Dorcas' reply to Marley made it all too clear that the Longbottom in the training program was, in fact, Frank: "Yeah, the kid's Stunning hex was off the wall. I can see why Moody brought him on." Alice remembered the day in Defense Against the Dark Arts class when everyone had practiced their Stunning spells. Frank's had blown off three stairs from the steps up to the professor's office.

Unexpectedly, Marley called, "Hey, Blishwick! You know this Frank?"

Alice froze with her fingers in her hair, and watched her cheeks quickly burn bright pink in the mirror. Rubbing them frantically in an attempt to make the color blend in with the rest of her face, she choked, "Uh...I mean...I've...seen him...yeah?"

Dorcas and Marley burst out of their dressing stalls at the same instant and pounced on Alice, rocking her shoulders gently and laughing as they passed knowing looks over her head. "Merlin's shorts, you totally know him --

"You totally like him!"

Alice, who could see everything in the mirror, pressed her lips tightly together and screwed the cold water faucet open to splash some water on her cheeks to see if that would help at all. It didn't. Giving up a quiet groan, Alice flopped her towel over her face and mumbled, "I don't know Frank that well."