Auror Academy

Sunday - Jokes and Tragedies

hi cara thanks :)
hi emily you're welcome

"Hasn't changed much, has it?" Ron commented as Harry found him a visitor's badge, leading him into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"What's it been, seven years now?" Harry replied absent-mindedly.
"Somewhere around that. Definitely before you got your shiny new office," he pointed out as they reached the familiar door with Harry Potter - Head Auror in gold lettering.
"Auror Potter," his assistant appeared, "mail has been checked for curses and delivered, there was an odd one from a Ministry staff member... I didn't open the letter, of course, but the package..." he laughed, "...well, you'll see."
Harry entered his office, leaving the door open since he was only dumping his stuff. That was until he noticed the package Nigel mentioned.
"Nigel, is it?" Ron asked.
"Nigel Wolpert. Good afternoon, Mr Weasley, Harry mentioned you'd be coming in to help him. Do you need anything?"
"No, thanks, Harry found me the badge."
"Ron?" Harry called. "Come and see this."

Dear Auror Potter,
I handmade this for your son's birthday, I hope you like it. The Ministry is happy to hear he is five.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Fernsby.

Harry was baffled. Ron was in hysterics.
"Why would he think I would want... what is it? A stripeless tiger? Some sort of bear monster?"
Ron picked the thing up. "Mate, this is a rabbit." He turned it around in his hands. "See, floppy ears and little round tail. You can't give this to James, he's going to think that Roar Roar had a few bites of its face. Has he seen The Curse of the Were Rabbit?"
"The what?" Harry questioned.
"It's a Muggle kids' film. There's an old man and a dog that doesn't talk; they have some sort of giant monster rabbit. Rosie likes the dog."
Harry privately thought that it sounded more like a horror film, but he hadn't grown up with much Muggle entertainment when he lived with the Dursleys, unlike Hermione.
"James would cry if we gave this thing to him. You keep it, consider it a gift for talking to the kids."
"You have it," Ron insisted.
"I don't want it," Harry objected.
"Neither do I."
"Fine, shove it in the cupboard over there, no one is allowed in here anyway," Harry sighed, silently thinking that he'd mail the cursed monster rabbit to Hermione at the first opportunity.
"Are you coming to watch?" Ron asked.
"Sorry, no, I have to check on how Savage is getting on back in the Auror Office," Harry said half-truthfully. He also thought it would be easier for the students to talk and ask everything they wanted if he wasn't watching. As much as he detested admitting it, the Wizarding population acted strangely in front of him- some of the students hadn't yet spoken in his presence. Ron was a more accessible wizard, Harry knew he himself was very private, whereas Ron spent his time interacting with customers at the joke shop with George, and therefore the public was used to him. Harry had attempted to help out at the joke shop at weekends after the war, but only unpacking boxes in the back room. It was virtually impossible to have him on the shop floor without attracting wizards who had no intention of buying Weasleys' products.

-

"MAISIE!" Hannah yelled from across the corridor. "Have you heard the rumors? Apparently there's a special guest speaking."
"Really? Where were you all morning?" she asked curiously; Maisie had woken at 12 in the afternoon, since they had the whole morning off because it was Sunday. She had only left to find some food before the 1pm session.
"Me and Ari had a study session in the cafeteria. We would've woken you, but you looked so comfortable," Hannah apologized.
"No, it's fine, honestly I enjoyed the sleep."
A study session? On their one morning off? Was this what all Hogwarts students were like? "So, do you know who the guest speaker is?"
"Nope, apparently Potter's announcing it at five to."
The following hour seemed to flash by, with everyone debating enthusiastically about who they thought the guest speaker was going to be, until it was finally time to go to the main hall and find out.
"Er... I'd like to introduce my best friend, Ron Weasley. He is an incredibly skilled wizard who, at age 11, battled a twelve foot mountain troll and beat it, and then at age 12, single-handedly defeated a powerful, larger than life, chess set designed to keep Voldemort out. He's been by my side since then- he and his wife, Hermione, played a major part in the defeat of Voldemort."
A redheaded figure stepped out of the shadows and embraced Auror Potter in a dramatic hug. Potter grinned and patted him on the back awkwardly, before slipping out of the side door. Maisie got the impression that he didn't want to hang around. Not that she was complaining, she did like Auror Potter, but having a teacher observe the class was never fun.
"This is mental, I never imagined being back in the Auror Office to teach," Ron Weasley said, glancing around. "I don't know where this room came from, definitely wasn't there in my day. Fuck, I sound old."
Some students giggled awkwardly.
"I don't know whether I'm allowed to swear, but you'll hear lots more if you join the Department," he shrugged. "You lot haven't met old Savage yet? Swears like a Curse-Breaker, that one."
Maisie assumed Savage was an Auror who didn't teach the Academy.
"Anyway, Harry told me that he and the other teachers had the actual teaching covered, so I'm just here to let you lot ask me whatever. Oh, and I heard that someone's been using an Extendable Ear- good choice."
Amaris blushed and shrunk slightly in her seat; Maisie could tell that she was feeling guilty for eavesdropping. Clara smiled contentedly- she did not.
"So, who wants to ask first?" Weasley asked.
No one answered. "What am I here for, then? I might as well cut this short if no one-"
A girl that Maisie thought might be called Amber put her hand up. "What's it like being friends with Harry Potter?" she asked nervously.
"Well... to tell you the truth, it's bloody annoying sometimes. When I was a kid I used to get jealous 'cause, well, he got all the attention. As we got older, I realized that the attention wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and honestly? He didn't crack it up to be much. He's a great mate and all, but never tells me anything," Weasley admitted with a laugh. "Right, next question."
"Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you wouldn't make it?" a girl called Aurora asked.
"Me personally? During the war, we broke into Gringotts. Everything went wrong, and I was positive we weren't getting out of there, until Harry made us jump on the back of a dragon to escape. In the Battle of Hogwarts, we all knew it could be us next, curses flying everywhere, bloody hell, just about everyone only narrowly missed getting hit that night. Strangely, I never really thought about me being the one to snuff it. Harry was the one that me and 'Mione- we'd just gotten together at that stage- worried about, and rightly so. Most times when you're in that situation, you don't think. You just act. It's only when it's over that all the 'what ifs' start."
The students were silent. She'd heard Defense teachers at Beauxbatons say that kind of thing before, that in deadly situations you think differently and whatever, but it was different hearing it from someone who's actually been through it, survived a war.
"What's the pay like as an Auror?" asked someone who Maisie couldn't see from her position.
The students laughed at the change in mood.
"I think Harry pays more than old Head Auror Robards did- so I won't tell you an exact amount. It also depends on circumstances, rank, experience, all that nonsense- but let's just say that without that salary the first few years, it would've taken me and my wife a lot longer to buy our house," Ron laughed, "but don't start counting on it yet- training is rough."
Clara stuck her hand up from beside Maisie. "Have you ever had to kill anyone?" she asked curiously.
Maisie elbowed her, "You can't ask that," she hissed quietly.
"I just did," Clara whispered back.
"No," Ron answered with a tone that plainly said he wasn't going to elaborate.
"Told you you shouldn't ask that," Maisie muttered.
"I got my answer, didn't I?"
"He doesn't look very happy."