DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 1

Harry Potter stood in front of the underground toilet in Whitehall and pocketed the standard gold coin that was required of all Ministry personnel to be able to unlock the stall doors. Today was his first official day as an Auror and so far the only emotion he had been able to sum up was one of mild nausea.

Closing his eyes behind his glasses and clutching his new messenger bag tightly to his chest, he stepped into the clean white porcelain bowl and pressed the 'to flush' lever down with all his might. A magical vortex immediately opened up beneath his feet and he felt an uncomfortable squeezing pressure as he was suddenly sucked into it. Before he could fully register what was happening to him he blinked and found himself standing in the British Ministry of Magic.

Stepping into the impressive Atrium, he suddenly found himself becoming engulfed in a sea of uniform black robed wizards and witches as they all hurried towards their various offices to begin the day's work. Standing in front of the golden Fountain of Magical Brethren Harry waited for the next service elevator to come in when he heard someone calling his name from somewhere behind him.

Turning around he spotted a familiar face waving at him furiously from amongst the crowd of people and was trying to remember his name when the man himself came to stand in front of Harry disheveled and red faced.

"If it isn't Harry Potter!" he said happily, sounding slightly out of breath. "I see you've made the cut too, not that that's very surprising or anything."

"Um…" Harry looked at him feeling a bit cornered, 'I need to say something, or he's going to start thinking that I 'm some kind of moron, but dammit! I can't remember his fucking name!' he thought fiddling with his bag straps.

"I'm Roland, Roland Abberley from training camp, remember? The bloke who was stuck in the infirmary same as you, for a week?"

"Oh right! Not my finest hour then" Harry said with a touch of embarrassment, when it all came crashing back to him. It had been one of those really bad days when nothing was going right and he'd just snapped and attacked three guys for insinuating that he'd been accepted into the Ministry only because of his father.

"What're you talking about mate? Everyone was really impressed when took on those three bastards and trounced their asses so easily."

Harry flushed from the shame of being praised for something he'd tried to forget and instead mumbled "Flint was an idiot" rather guiltily.

"Yeah Marcus Flint and his cronies had it coming to them I guess, after you'd been transferred to the 'Concealment and Disguise' section no one took anymore flak from those nutters again" Roland said looking mighty pleased with himself.

"The um…lift's here" Harry pointed gratefully to it for its timely arrival, deliberately ignoring the man in front of him as he briskly made his escape with his new colleague in hot pursuit.

Swatting away the pesky paper planes that came in with them, Harry pressed the button for the level two 'Department for Magical Law Enforcement' and clutched the wall when the elevator jerked underneath his feet and swung sideways almost throwing him off balance.

"So you ready to meet the squad then?" Roland asked him from his corner of the box looking slightly green from all the moving and shaking.

"Not really" Harry said loosening his tie unconsciously.

On reaching their destination, they quickly made their way over to the end of the corridor after passing several offices in between and stopped in front of a huge door bearing a small insignificant board with the letters 'Auror Department' deeply etched on it.

Swallowing hard, Roland opened the door wide and gestured for Harry to go in "Ladies first" he said with an uneasy smirk, earning a grimace from Harry who 'accidently' stepped on his toes rather brutally when he walked past him.

The room they'd entered was nothing special with several cubicles occupying its space but it was the stuff on the walls that attracted Harry's attention as he stood gaping at wanted posters, maps with spidery lines on its surface and several blackboards on which chalk pieces were magically scrawling notices on their own.

Suddenly one of the Aurors stood up from behind one of the cubicles and let his chair fall to the floor with a bang as he clutched a struggling paper plane in his fist "Fuck!" he said to no one in particular "That dickwad Anderson really has it in for me doesn't he? He's finally gone and issued an appeal to the bloody Wizengamot of all things" he sputtered in rage.

"Pipe down Dawlish, you're scaring the newbies" another man drawled while peering over his cabin wall at Harry and Roland. "And as for Anderson, well you practically annihilated the poor blokes store during your duel with Cauldwell, so the man does make a valid point."

"Bu…but it was either that or him dying!" Dawlish griped not backing down an inch.

"Then that's what you'll have to tell the council members" the other man said tiring of the conversation walking over to the new recruits.

"I'm Oliver Williamson" the self-assured Auror said extending his hand out to them.

"Follow me and I'll take you to the antechamber where the other greens like yourselves are waiting" he said, and lead them to another door behind the cubicles that opened up into a corridor. Walking down the passage they felt properly cowed by distinct aura of power emanating from the walls which were lined by ostentatious red carpeting muting all the noise coming from outside.

Several doors on either side of the corridor bore illustrious names of all the senior personnel, which they repeated to each other in awe, dreaming that one day they would become legends just like them.

"Beyond this door is the conference room" Williamson said stopping in front a nameless door, "I think our chief is in the middle of a meeting with the rest of the senior staff right now, but you guys can wait in the room next to it."

Nodding gratefully, they thanked him and went to room he had pointed out to them and saw three other people waiting inside it looking just as anxious as they did. One of the men had been about to introduce himself when they suddenly heard a growl y voice from behind the conference room door calling them in.

Taking a deep breath, Harry followed the voice and saw an elegant room with dark wooden paneling and a beautiful, glossy oval table taking up presidence in the center. They recognized most of the senior Aurors sitting around it, looking at them in curiosity, from newspaper articles and wondered if they'd ever measure up to their greatness.

Harry spotted his father's and Sirius's excited faces from amongst them and had to actually bite his lip to suppress the urge of smiling at them.

"Welcome to our department" one of the men said and Harry recognized him as the Head Auror. Observing him keenly he noted with surprise that the man actually looked uncannily like a lion what with that giant mane of hair on his head and that stern unforgiving look on his face.

"I am Rufus Scrimgeour, Head Auror and the man who is now responsible for of you. Firstly I would like to congratulate you all for making it this far and I hope from now on you'll have no difficulties with settling in."

The newcomers relaxed at his words and for the first time that day they felt truly happy about their achievement.

"I already know who each one of you are but let's say for formality's sake that I'd like you to introduce yourselves to us anyway" the man said resting his large head on his interlocked hands as he placed his elbows on the table.

A tiny, pretty half Asian woman stepped up first and proudly said "I'm Sakara Akagi, twenty three years of age, from Cambridge shire" she looked around the table as if waiting for some acknowledgment and then stepped back into line when none was forthcoming.

"My name Scott Ancrum" a huge man over six feet tall standing beside Sakara said next, "I'm twenty three years as well and I'm originally a Welshman." Studying him from the corner of his eyes, Harry noted with amusement that the man's almost boyish face was totally incongruous with the rest of his muscle bound body.

About to rejoin his group, Rufus stopped him and pointed at the faint 5o'clock shadow on his face "Tomorrow onwards, I want you clean shaven and presentable since I do not like seeing slobs in my department, this goes for all of you" he warned each one them, pinning their bodies with his heavy eyes.

Scott blushed from embarrassment and looked as if he wanted to disappear from sight; a feat Harry thought would never be possible for so large a man. The next bloke with short cropped hair came forward smartly and in a loud booming voice, startling them all out of their complacency said "Reporting for duty Sir! Daniel Aldermaston, twenty three years of age, from Oxford-shire Sir!"

Rufus covered his mouth in a poor attempt to hide his smile at the man's exuberance and just barely managed a nod wondering if he would be the same at the end of a year or if the workload would have snuffed out all the enthusiasm the man had displayed today.

Harry realizing that he was the next person came forward and said "I'm Harry Potter, twenty two years of age, from London." 'But not anymore' he thought to himself, not ready to reveal that bit of information to them just yet.

Scrimgeour looked at the young, five foot eleven inch man in front of him and recognized the similarities between James and himself easily. The only differences were that Harry had better defined features and his eyes were the same beautiful emerald color of his mother's, a difference he thought that made him look even more handsome than his father.

As the youngest wizard amongst his recruits, Harry he'd learnt had earned quite a reputation for himself during training in fact one of his officers had even gone so far as to say that the boy could well be a genius in this line of work.

Now looking at the intriguing man in front of him, he wondered if those words would prove prophetic one day or if it had just been a matter of circumstances or a fluke that had made him seem so special.

The last man Roland Abberley stepped forward and he greeted all of them in his pleasant voice saying "I'm Roland Abberley, twenty three year old and from London like Mr. Potter himself here."

"Good" the Head Auror said, now that that was over "We're going to now pair you guys off with a senior staff member as we've always done in the past. This is only for a period of one year so that you can learn everything you need to learn about the work from someone with more experience than yourselves."

"Sakara Akagi" he called out "You'll be working with Mr. Frank Longbottom here" he said pointing at a genial looking Auror beside him.

"Next, Scott Ancrum, you'll have Sirius Black and Daniel Aldermaston you'll have James Potter as your Mentors."

"Kingsley" he said smiling at a charismatic looking man beside him, who was also the assistant Head Auror, "You will have Roland Abberley as your apprentice, if that's alright with you?"

Kinsgley nodded and smiled at Roland who gave him a tiny salute in answer.

"I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, that the man that we chose for you is not here with us today as he's taken a few days of well-deserved leave. He will be here tomorrow however, so you will be able meet him in my office at say nine-ish in the morning?"

Harry nodded his head and raked his mind over who would become his Mentor and guide for a yearlong hoping that it was someone whom he could at least learn to tolerate.

"Psst Harry?"

Harry turned his head in search of the owner's voice only to find his dad peeking out of the door that led to his office.

"A word with you Mr. Potter" James said haughtily while straightening up and looking every bit his superior.

Harry let out a huff and rolled his eyes, 'Really' he thought smiling 'the man can be such a drama queen!'

As soon as he entered his father's office, he found himself being pulled into a tight bear hug and had to wriggle out of his grasp when he started to feel a shortage of air supply.

"Dad let go!" he ordered his sappy father "You promised mum and me that there would be no public displays of affection during work!"

"But I was so happy and proud to see you standing with the other Aurors" James pouted like a five year old "Your old man just wanted to congratulate you and you're being so mean to him!"

"I…I'm not being mean!" Harry said in outrage.

"That my son is a matter of opinion" James sniffed, finding the look of anger so cute on him that he gave into his impulse and pinched his cheek, a gesture that he'd been doing since Harry was a child.

"Do you remember our dinner reservations for tonight in celebration your new job?" James asked Harry chuckling when he saw him rub his face frantically.

"Of course I do! I like having my head attached to my body!" Harry retorted, shuddering at what his mother would do to him if he canceled on them.

"Yes, your mum can be quite scary about these family things" James guessed his thoughts with a mock shiver, "Anyway do you want to join me and Sirius for lunch at the cafeteria today?"

"No, not today" Harry said apologetically "I've already promised Hermione that I'd go and collect her blood reports and prescriptions from St Mungo's today. Maybe I'll even go and buy mum some flowers while I'm at the hospital since they have really a nice florist next door."

James nodded and patted his back in approval, giving him a last hug before Harry bolted out of the door muttering a string of curse words.

"So how was work today?" Lily asked her son, looking like some ethereal fire goddess in the candlelight.

"Not bad" Harry mumbled as he stuffed his mouth with sinfully delicious steak "ih…wah kinna boh..in buh wh goh to tah to the o..her mem..hers."

Lily's face contorted with disgust and she wacked her insolent son on his head "Harry! This is decent a family restaurant and you are twenty two years for god sakes, surely you could manage to talk after you've swallowed?"

Harry grinned at her and took a sip of his wine. They had come to a muggle restaurant for dinner that night which was actually a sort tradition for their family. The one muggle constant that his mother liked to keep in her life, not that the other's minded, since the food was so divine.

"Sorry, it was kind of boring but we got to talk to the other members, is what I said."

James kicked him under the table and they shared a silent laugh as Lily started smiling again.

"Now all you have to do is move back to the city and everything will be great" she said quickly looking at her son with shifty eyes.

"Mum, you know that that's not going to happen. I love my house at Watergate. I love that it's so far away from the city and so close to the beach."

"But you're so isolated from the rest of us, what if something happens and we can't help you?"

"Mum please let's not do this again?" Harry sighed when he saw that stubborn glint in her eye.

"Very well, but what about finding a man and settling down at least? Surely now that you're finished with training you can start dating right?"

"Maybe" Harry said evasively throwing down the entire contents of his wine glass down his throat feeling the familiar rise in temper.

"Lily let it go" James said quietly, trying to assuage the situation.

When Harry had told his parents about his preference at the age of sixteen, they had taken the news quite well without much fuss and continued loving him just the same as they always had.

But off late his mother had been feeling insecure about his living alone so far away from them that she'd been constantly nagging him to find someone and Harry just hadn't been interested. Sure he'd snogged other boys and ogled at them but he'd never been in a real relationship. There just hadn't been enough time or motivation for it.

Seeing his mum looking so worried now, Harry felt a pang of guilt and slid his chair next to her putting an arm around her shoulders "I'll find someone when the time is right mum" he said softly "Look at you and dad, you guys hated each other's guts when you'd first met and now you're happily married. These things take time to happen and I'd rather it come naturally than be something that I've forced."

Lily sniffed and said "Well…you are only twenty two."

"Yes" Harry said relieved "Only twenty two with a lifetime ahead of me."

"Okay…but you'll come visit us often?"

"So often you'll want to throw me out."

"That would never happen" Lily said decidedly looking up at him adoringly as Harry laughed and tugged on her red hair playfully.

'Aaand disaster has been averted once again' James thanked the gods and smiled at his family digging into a large portion of melty lemon pie contentedly.