Tides of Fate | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀs ᴇʀᴀ

15 | Life After Hogwarts

-- SUMMER AFTER 7TH YEAR

"Why couldn't we ask the boys to help?" Alice panted as she collapsed on the newly unwrapped couch.

"Because they can't decorate for their lives," Lily emphasized, whacking the dust off the last pillow.

"Thanks for helping me move into my new flat," Carina said gratefully, sinking to the floor as beads of sweat rolled down her neck.

"I'm surprised you found your own place so soon," Lily told her. "We're still preparing for our first day of work, and here you are already on your own two feet!"

"Yeah," Carina laughed lightly, feeling a twinge of guilt that she still hadn't told the girls about her family. She didn't not want them to know- she just didn't want to have that particular conversation. She'd considered numerous times asking the marauders to pass it on to them, but she knew the girls wouldn't take kindly to that. She'd tell them eventually- perhaps on a rainy day when she needed a good cry.

"By the way," Carina turned to Alice, hoping to distract them. "Will you do the charms for my wards?"

"I'm sure you could do the wards yourself," she laughed. "Your runes are much better than mine."

"I've already done those, but could you do the integral cooling and heating charms? Maybe some sound charms as well? If you leave it to me, this place might bake me alive in the summer," Carina admitted sheepishly.

"Of course," Alice rose with a flourish. "You even get my family and friends discount."

Alice had taken an apprenticeship as a charms master immediately after Hogwarts, her talents in the field shining through. Lily, on the other hand, had finally gotten her acceptance to the training program at St. Mungos. Life after Hogwarts was bizarre; they were like baby giraffe finding their footing for the first time.

In a few weeks' time, Dumbledore would be introducing her to the infamous Alastor Moody.

And Carina was terrified.

 ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶«̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ・☽ ༓ ☾・  ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶  ̶̶̶̶

-- 6 MONTHS LATER

"That was atrocious, Lennox!" Moody yelled at her. "You'd think after months of training you'd be able to at least carry one effective duel, but you're like a sitting unicorn out there! You'll die at this rate, mark my words!"

A few months ago, Moody's harsh words would've had her quaking in her shoes.

Now, she merely rolled her eyes. "I told you not to take me, Moody," she repeated for what had to be the thousandth time. "I'm absolute shite at field missions. I thought you learned that by now."

"Never again," Moody muttered.

A pair of laughing voices echoed off each other.

"See, you always say that chief," a tall, striking wizard said with an amused smirk.

An identical man stepped out beside him, a matching grin adorning his face. "But you take her anyway," he finished.

"Shut it, you two- no one asked you," Moody growled at his deputies.

Carina looked between her team members with growing amusement before she burst out laughing. Moody was glowering at her while the Prewett twins sported matching expressions of confidence, ease, and good humor.

She remembered the first time she met them. She'd actually been terrified. Dumbledore brought her to the headquarters for the Order and introduced them all to each other before taking off, leaving her to the team of wolves. Moody had eyed her up and down distastefully before returning to his lecturing about their most recent strategies for surveilling suspected properties being used as hideouts. It was clear he wouldn't even give her two knuts of time until she proved her worth. What reason did he have to coddle the recruit that Dumbledore had all but forced upon them? The dark-haired Prewetts assessed her with passing interest before quickly returning their attention to their supervisor.