Auror Academy

The First Day

Maisie watched as the final seats filled. As far as she could tell from asking around, no one knew what time this was supposed to start, or who was starting it, but it must be soon. A hushed silence quickly overtook the room, and she strained to see what was causing it.
"Harry Potter," she heard a girl in the next row whispering.
It couldn't be, it was their first day, surely Harry Potter was not here.
A few nearer the front began to stand, claps broke out and soon every chair was vacated, a standing ovation given to the figure in front. As some began to sit, Maisie caught a glimpse of him. It was him. The man was instantly recognizable with his iconic round glasses and violent scar stretching across his forehead. He was very slim, shorter than she would have expected, and was dressed very casually.
A small bearded man in Ministry robes hurried out, carrying a comfortable looking chair and looking rather flustered. He insisted on offering the chair to Harry Potter, who seemed reluctant, but limped over - had he been hurt on a mission? The bearded worker conjured a side table with a jug of water and a glass, and rushed off leaving Harry thoroughly embarrassed. He regained his composure as he began to speak.
"Welcome to the Auror Academy. My name is Harry Potter and I am the current Head Auror, I was appointed last year. I want to congratulate you on making it here, I know how much passion each and every one of you has for this job, and how hard you have worked to get here."
The hall seemed frozen, every student in rapt silence.
"This scheme was established recently with the department interested in recruiting students right from their final year at Hogwarts, but that was scrapped when we realized how much potential lies outside of that school, from home taught students, to those of other Wizarding institutions wanting to work at our Ministry. The department is constantly making changes to better ourselves, so this experience will help you to learn our ways and us yours. You are the future of the Auror Department."
Potter spoke quietly, with a kind of intensity and earnest that made everyone stop and listen.
"Getting a job in the Auror department is competitive and extremely difficult. Just by being here you've improved your chances of getting a place on the three year training scheme by fifty percent. Quite a few recruits drop in the first year, some in the second and third, and even then not everyone will pass."
Maisie looked around and wondered how many of these people would make it, and who.
"The reason the system is set up this way is that if we hire the wrong people, anyone who is corrupt, not strong enough, not skilled enough, not passionate enough, not driven enough, or in it for the wrong reasons, then the lives' of the Wizarding and Muggle populations are in danger."
This sentence caused a chill to run down her spine. Looking around, many of the others displayed similar reactions.
"If this job is for you, you will know. I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else, I can't settle down and be satisfied knowing that there are Dark wizards out there. I need to be protecting my family, I will do anything and everything to make sure that my kids do not grow up in the same world that I did, they will be safe. I will not rest until I die or suffer an injury so devastating that it renders me incapable of doing this job."
He said this matter of factly, as if it was perfectly normal to think this way. Looking around, there was not one person who wasn't completely shocked by the revelation.
"I'm not saying that my mindset is what an Auror should have, I will do whatever it takes to protect my team, and do everything in my power to make sure they don't get hurt. My wife thinks I spend too much time protecting them and not enough time watching my own back," he added with a slight laugh.
Maisie could well believe that. She remembered the story her mum used to tell about Harry Potter saving her from going to Azkaban. He put himself in massive danger just to protect her and the others on trial, despite him being the most wanted man in the country. She admired his courage immensely and often thought whether she would do the same for a stranger, promising herself that yes, she would, because without his act eleven years ago, her family would probably be dead or a lot worse off.
"Here, you will learn what Auror training is like, but a lot safer, and probably more fun, than the real thing. Your instructors and I will teach you as much as we can in the next fourteen days."
A slight smile appeared on his face, "First lesson, a simple duelling practice. Would anyone care to help me demonstrate?"
The room exploded with students waving their hands in the air, punctuated with yelling. Everyone wanted to duel Harry Potter.
He picked out two of the students, a boy sitting at the front, and a girl around halfway back. Many of the others looked on enviously, some sighing in disappointment.
After introductions were made, Jeremy Jefferson and Amaris Cana began to look very nervous, the very first thing they were doing was dueling with the savior of the wizarding world, the guy who had beaten Voldemort. Jefferson appeared to be significantly taller and heavier built than Potter, but the seventeen or eighteen year old seemed to be second guessing his chances of success.
Maisie had heard the stories, there was no way that Auror Harry Potter would be beaten by teenagers, even if it was two against one. The room went silent as they began to duel, all eyes were fixated on Potter. He was good. His reflexes were the most astonishing thing, spells blocked or returned before her mind even registered it there. After a couple of minutes, a spell flew over her head, she turned around just in time to see someone jumping to the left to block the spell. Auror Potter smiled encouragingly at the boy who retaliated with a spell of his own.
More students began to join in until Potter was dueling five at once, at this point blocking most rather than firing back. Spells were flying everywhere, a table exploded loudly behind them, most of the other students were standing in a semicircle around the duellers to better see what was going on. The fourth or fifth student to join in, a girl, fired off some sort of simple offensive spell when Potter's back was turned, causing him to fall, landing on his already injured leg. The others froze, panicked.
"I'm so sorry sir, I shot too low, I'm so sorry," she sputtered.
"It's fine," Potter gasped, "Well done. Shoot for the enemy's weakest point, that's what they'll do to you."
He waved his wand, doing what she assumed were some sort of healing spells, and a counter curse for whatever he'd been hit with. A couple of students rushed forward to help him as he limped back to the now broken chair. Casting a Repairing Charm, he sat back down.
"Thank you to all of you who participated in that demonstration. If everyone could please find a partner to duel with."
Maisie turned to Hannah, the Hogwarts girl sitting beside her, who grinned back.
-
Harry apparated onto his front doorstep, casting the pattern of unlocking charms to open his door. Ginny had presumably heard since she came to the hallway to greet him.
"Merlin's beard Harry," she groaned exasperatedly, catching sight of him limping more than at the beginning of the day, "What did you do?"
"Dueling practice."
"A sixteen year old defeated you in a duel? That's even better," she mocked, cracking up.
"It's not that funny," Harry replied, glancing at his wife convulsing with laughter.
"Yes it is, remember yesterday when you were so sure that you could go a whole week without getting hurt at work? This was day one."
"DADDY!" James sprinted along the hallway, realizing who was back.
Ginny put her arm out to stop him crashing straight into Harry.
"Let your idiot dad sit down first and then you can climb all over him, Jamie, and tell him everything you did today with Kreacher."
Harry made his way towards the sofa as four year old James began to babble on.
"So today me and Kreacher played with Exploding Snap but I wanted real explosions like you do so Kreacher made me a potion and then I threw it and the grass got smoky and then Kreacher fixed it but when I did it it made a big BANG noise and Kreacher says I can do it again tomorrow," he told his father proudly.
"That's... er... great Jamie. You're going to be a great potioneer," he replied, ruffling James's hair.
Kreacher entered, carrying a large tray with two bowls of soup, slices of baguette arranged elegantly in a circular pattern on a plate, and a jug of icy water with glasses. "Kreacher would like to give Master Harry and Mistress Ginny a nice evening alone together. Kreacher has the young masters' and young mistress's dinner prepared in the kitchen."
"Thanks Kreacher but we can sit at the table-"
Ginny elbowed her husband lightly. "Thanks Kreacher, that would be lovely." She turned to Harry. "He wants to do it, we all know you can sit at the table, that's not the point. Just enjoy the peaceful romantic dinner."
She stood up, tapping her wand against the radio until she found a song that she was satisfied with. Harry vaguely recognized it, sounded like something from a few years back. Harry had never really got into music much, it was merely background noise, but this background noise was a lot sweeter seeing Ginny light up, her hair swishing as she danced along in her seat. Harry flicked his wand towards the fireplace, his favorite moments happened when the reflection of the flames danced across her bright red hair, giving it an added glow he wouldn't have thought possible. Harry was captivated with every slight shake of the head.
He moved himself so that he was laying his head on her shoulder, her hair was even more beautiful from this angle.
"So what did you do today?"
"Introduced myself to the kids, told them about my experiences as an Auror and to figure out if it was the right career for them," Harry shrugged.
"You talked about yourself?" said Ginny, she raised her eyebrows, impressed.
"Thought they should know why I joined. It's not for everyone and I want them to know everything they can before they sign up."
Their conversation drifted from the Auror Academy, to the kids' day with Ginny and Kreacher, to the Puddlemere V Bats match at the weekend. Harry leaned against his wife, completely at ease and relaxed, realizing how lucky he was to be able to come home to this.