Auror Academy

Tuesday- Pure-bloods and Muggle-borns

"When you're on a mission, you don't always have time to think - if you have plans then they'll most likely be disregarded. You need to learn how to think on your feet because your enemy can," Harry said quietly, still with that mysterious power of keeping a class silent without the need to raise his voice. "A great auror I knew, Mad-eye, he would always say 'constant vigilance', and even that wasn't enough. He was strong, tough, focused and a brilliant auror in his day, but he was still brutally murdered like many others during the war. Nothing you do will ever be-"
Harry fired off a curse, blue light streaked towards the students. A couple near the front dodged, leaving the middle exposed and seemingly without thinking a girl with long brown hair jumped, shouting "PROTEGO!"
Potter gave an appreciative nod in her direction before spinning to fire off another stunning spell. Maisie froze as a boy behind her dropped out of nowhere and she glanced towards Auror Potter, assuming he was the source despite the lack of logic. He was facing another student in the opposite direction. Oh. It finally clicked that there were others, real Aurors probably, she just had to find... She ducked as a red spell went whizzing over her head, spinning her wand around to face an Auror in navy robes with gold trim. Before he shot off another Disarming spell there was a high pitched scream.
A boy in bright magenta robes and rather large oval glasses was running, no, falling flat on his face, legs kicking in all directions. She started giggling, as did many of the other students.
Auror Potter walked over, looking perplexed. He cast the counter curse.
"What happened?" Potter asked, a baffled look on his face.
"He cursed me!" the strange student cried.
"Er... yes. As an Auror, you'll need to be able to duel... what's your name?"
"Ignatius Twilfitt. My Grandma and Grandma are Twilfitt and Tattings of Diagon Alley."
Well, that explained the magenta robes.
"Twilfitt, if you want to be an Auror I'd suggest private duelling classes to bring you up to the advanced level we need here," Potter advised, "For now, stick by a partner and learn from watching them."
Auror Potter walked away, glancing around the room.
"Are you from Hogwarts?" he asked the young brown haired girl who'd cast the first Shield Charm.
Startled, she answered, "Yes sir, I'm a fifth year."
He nodded approvingly. "I recognized you. What's your name?"
More than half of the students in the room stared jealously towards her - how did she get the luck of being talented, and pretty and have Harry Potter remember her?
"D'you think he'd remember you too?" Maisie whispered to Hannah O'Leary, the Hogwarts girl beside her.
"No way," she breathed back, "I'm not very noticeable in a crowd. I think her name's Martens or something, she won a Charms award at the end of the year."
"Ariana Martens, sir," the brown haired girl told Auror Potter.
"I'll make sure to pass on a good word to McGonagall for you. And there's no need to call me 'sir'," he added, a slight twinkle in his eye.

-

Charles Alderwood stepped into the small classroom, typically, Auror Potter was assigned the large hall. To say he was a little resentful was an understatement.
He himself had been running this scheme for 23 years, alongside being a prominent member in the Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. The Ministry of Magic Work Experience Scheme for Young Wizards, Witches and Squibs had a distinct lack of advertising given and had therefore flown under the radar for a long time before Potter came along and converted it to the "prestigious" Auror Academy. The whole point of the MMWESYWWS was to give every student the opportunity to succeed, not just the high-flyers and purebloods with filthy rich families. The war was meant to be about bringing Muggleborns to the forefront of Wizarding life, but guess who rose to power? Pure-blood Minister Shacklebolt and Half-blood Head Auror Harry Potter, who was barely overage when he was hired as an Auror, and of course comes from a long line of rich successful pure-blood wizards. Success was only given to those who were born with it. Oh, Potter was such a revolutionary change with his two Muggle grandparents, Merlin, even You-know-who brought more new wizarding blood into the world.
Pure-bloods were carbon copies of those who had come before them, there was no way that Potter and his wife weren't third or fourth cousins - or worse. Biologically and mentally, those with Muggle parentage, who had one foot in both worlds, that was the way to go.
Charles watched as half of the class of Potter's Auror Academy filed in. He attempted to figure out who he should be looking for, who could revolutionize the Wizarding population. Once the class settled down, he began.
"I will be teaching you about the Ministry as a whole. In the past," he emphasized, "this would have been an opportunity for all to discover a career in the Ministry, from our future Ministers, to our future cleaners. Then our brave Auror Potter had a bright idea for a place to train Aurors similar to his precious Dumbledore's Army, and budget cuts to my Department, and budget increases to his, found the Ministry combining the two schemes."
The students sat there, looking quite stunned. Charles took their silence to mean they sided with him.
"I know, right? The Ministry doesn't know how to value those who come from Muggle parentage. Maybe some day we'll come along and rise up against pure-bloods like Shacklebolt," he joked.
No one laughed.
-
It was lunchtime and the two halves of the Auror Academy class reunited in the hall.
"Potter's class was incredible," Maisie told her table, "That was amazing, Ariana, the way you hit that Shield."
"Yeah," Hannah added, "did you see Potter's face? You're definitely his favorite, Ari, he loves you. He's going to tell Professor McGonagall how well she did," Hannah told the others who were in the other class.
"That sounds so much better than our lesson," a tall girl with dark blonde hair named Amaris Cana said, glancing at Clara, another girl from that half of the class. "We had this old guy called Charles Alderwood who wants to start a war on Auror Potter and Minister Shacklebolt. I'm so sorry," she added, "I'm not usually this rude about people."
"He said what? Is he trying to be the next You-know-who?" Maisie asked.
"Don't let Potter hear you say that," Ariana warned her.
"Say what?"
"Calling him you-know-who," Hannah explained, "At Hogwarts Potter would tell anyone off if he heard them use that. 'Call him Voldemort, there's no reason to show him any respect'."
"It's kind of scary hearing Potter talk. Like he's seen it all and you can see that in his face," Ariana shivered.
Maisie thought of her parents running from the Ministry after her mum's muggle-born hearing. Auror Potter had only just turned seventeen when that happened, and for him that was just one day in a lifetime of being hunted. Even though she hoped to be an Auror, she could almost guarantee that after a lifetime of work she'd have seen much less than he did.
"It's sad, I always saw the papers and thought he was some old strong hero, but he was our age," Maisie realized.
"Our Herbology teacher," Ari said, glancing at Hannah who went to the same school. "He's the one who killed Voldemort's snake. Chopped his head off, and he also blew up a bridge with a ton of Death Eaters on it. He was also the last one standing, apart from Potter, at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He won't tell us what's down there but sometimes if we're not doing much in class, he'll answer our questions about the Battles. He was in Potter's dorm at Hogwarts and they stayed friends. Apparently Potter is a nice guy but he's very quiet if he doesn't know you."
A girl in a light purple hijab and dark eyes appeared beside their table. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"Of course not," Amaris replied, "Everyone, this is Adara Shafiq, she was in our half of the class. Adara, meet Ariana, Maisie, Hannah, and you've seen Clara."
"Hi," Ariana said.
"Hey. I'm very nice if you don't get too close," Adara joked, "So what's everyone's signature spell?"
"Sponge-knees curse," Clara grinned, "though I'm also pretty good at the Babbling curse and the leg locker."
"Anything that involves controlling the elements. Incendio is one of my favorites, I just love the power behind it, using the resources we already have to create something bigger and better," Ariana told them, waving her wand to create a small flame that extinguished itself as the wand lowered.
"I'm more into the healing spells," Amaris admitted. "Episkey is my speciality."
"I guess Aurors need both types. There has to be someone there to save us when we get injured. There's a reason they have a section of training devoted to emergency healing spells," Maisie pointed out.
"I wonder what Twilfitt's favorite spell is?" Hannah laughed.
"Must be whatever the opposite of a concealment spell is," said Maisie.
Adara, Amaris and Clara looked around curiously as the others dissolved into laughter.
"Oh yeah, wait until you hear..."