The Shadow Division

by weasleyswizardwishes

FOUNDERS REINCARNATION, post battle of Hogwarts (one to two years). Heather Howell works at the ministry and enjoys her job, and never thought change would be needed. But with a dark wizard recently defeated by the few, maybe it was time she took a stand. Joining the ominous 'Shadow Division' seemed like a long-shot, but it's like she was destined to be there... (review for more x)

There was a special division of the Ministry of Magic that had been around for almost as long as it had, that until fifty years ago, had consisted of a tiny group of witches and wizards. It was specifically designed to find and eliminate dark wizards. The rest of the Ministry knew them as the ominous Shadow Division; they also knew that few people got in and that the tests were so numerous and difficult that if you failed you would have the tests erased from your mind as if it never happened.

Harry Potter, from the age of 18, was offered to take the tests. He declined.

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were offered the same, both declined.

Many teens were offered, many teens who suffered through the Battle of Hogwarts. Most refused, but with the sudden influx of over ten applicants (as there were never more than five people when applications were opened), members of the division themselves had to test new recruits to save time and quickly eliminate those unworthy.

Heather Howell was being interviewed with only one other person from the Ministry, and the other nine were young adults from Hogwarts. They all waited in the round, bare room, the nine ex-students all sat next to each other. She watched them from across the room, her friend sat beside her. He was deathly silent and when he spoke up, it was still quiet.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he admitted softly.

"You're the one who convinced me to do this," she whispered back.

"I know, not us... them. They're kids," he replied, narrowing his eyes in annoyance.
"They survived something awful," she said earnestly, "and maybe they have what it takes. But..." She looked across the room at them. "I think some of them need to be told they don't have to do this scary stuff anymore. Being an Auror is just as sought out job, with many more perks."

One of the teens looked up, glaring at the pair. They both quickly looked away and Heather bit her lip.

"What?" the boy snapped, standing. "You don't think we can do it, do you? You think you're better than us for-"

Heather would not stand for rudeness, especially when it was unfounded. She stood just as suddenly and laid her eyes on the boy. "Silent."

He was silent.

She hesitated and sat down quickly. "I am not demeaning you. You obviously weren't listening closely enough to our conversation," she said warmly. "Please, sit. You don't need to be confrontational."

The boy glared and slowly sat.

"You were a Gryffindor, weren't you?" Heather asked careful, not making eye contact with the boy.

"Aye."

"Well..." Heather said slowly, giving a small grin. "That explains THAT..."

Some of the other students giggled, but the boy glared at her.

"What do you mean by that?"
"I just mean that you Gryffindors always attack first and question later," she told him with a small but well meaning smirk. She was teasing him, trying to take away the tension heavy in the air. The non-Gryffindor students were definitely more relaxed.

"Oh, and what were you?" The boy asked with annoyance.

Heather rose her chin proudly. "Hufflepuff."
A couple of students laughed outright.

"There's nothing hilarious about being a Hufflepuff-" Heather tried but the boy snorted.

"Oh yeah? The not smart, not brave, not cunning ones? What have you got for you?" he asked, leaning his elbows on his knees. Heather was silent a moment then looked at the other students.

"Which ones of you are Hufflepuffs?" she asked. Half the students raised their hands. Heather smirked and looked at the boy. She wasn't one to smirk, to let pride get to her, but when it came to Hogwarts houses... you HAD to be proud of your house. Always.

"It seems what Hufflepuffs do WELL is remaining good, to the bitter end," she told the boy, who was now looking... well, he looked impressed.

"Alright, you got me on that one," he agreed, giving Heather a grin. Heather returned it before hesitating. She looked at her friend and gave him a grin.

"John is the most likely out of all of us to get in," she told the teens, looking at John in the eye. He smiled proudly.

"Why is that?" he asked with a knowing smirk, eyeing her hopefully. She looked in his eyes for a moment before looking away.

"He's a Slytherin," she said quietly. The boy glared at him from across the room.

"Slytherin's are-"

"Exactly what the Shadow Division wants," Heather interrupted. She looked at the teens. "You should know that Slytherins who attempt to apply, have a 90% pass rate."

She watched their faces carefully and saw a girl sat away from the others smile widely.

"Really?" she asked. Someone else glared at the girl, as if she was evil for speaking.

"At least," Heather said firmly. "Then Ravenclaws have 75%."

Two boys fist bumped.

"Then Gryffindors have 30%," she added suddenly, looking at the confrontational Irish boy. He narrowed his eyes.

"And Hufflepuffs?"
"... 15% roughly."

Half the group turned their eyes down, leaning their elbows on the table and the arms of chairs, their demeanour turning sour. The silence hung again and John was looking at Heather with an odd expression.

"You knew?" he whispered eventually.

"Of course," she muttered back. "I still want to try," she added, a little louder. "Because there's no shame in trying and not succeeding. People succeed in lots of things, and 15% is a pretty big number when you think about it."

"No it isn't!" one of the students said with a laugh, nudging the person next to them. The person looked at them and then laughed with them. They were both teens who had identified themselves as Hufflepuffs, giggling and laughing now. A girl watched them incredulously then nudged the irish boy.

"Why are they laughing?" she asked quietly.

"Why not?" he asked with a shrug, relaxing in his chair.

Heather gave John a warm grin, nudging him gently. He rolled his eyes, not meeting her gaze.

"I thought we got to leave our houses behind when we left Hogwarts," he told her, raising an eyebrow. She gave a mock gasp of indignation.

"You never leave your house behind. We are LOYAL for a reason," she replied curtly with a teasing smile. He laughed and relaxed a little, resting a hand on her shoulder which she subtly shifted away from.

On one side of the room, the outline of a door slowly seeped into the wall and then the section swung out to reveal a smiling young woman.

"If you would like to follow me," she said sweetly.

The occupants of the room stood and the boy approached Heather as the others began to file out. He held his hand out and looked her straight in the eyes (which was easy as she was shorter than he was). She didn't hesitate to take his hand, smiling warmly at him.

"I'm Heather Howell," she greeted.

"Seamus. Seamus Finnegan," he said with a tilt of his head.

"Good luck, Seamus Finnegan," Heather informed him, releasing his hand and gesturing for him to go first. He left and she followed, feeling Johns stare on her back. She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a smile, but he looked a little annoyed.

"What?"
"I didn't know you had a thing for younger guys," he hissed softly.

"Uh-" she looked quite disgusted at his suggestion, but mostly frightened. "No, John, please keep your dirty mind to yourself." She turned away and sniffed haughtily.

They walked in silence down a corridor, around a corner, down another identical corridor... Heather knew this was a tactic to confuse them, she could already see imperfections in the glamour they cast on the corridor.

The group stopped outside a set of double doors, the woman who lead them giving her wide and hollow smile. They were there a full thirty seconds before some of the students began to whisper whether or not they should open the door. Another thirty seconds and some students sounded annoyed and waved their hand in front of the woman's face. It was John who sighed and slipped past, raising his hand to the handle.

"Wait-!" Heather said, immediately regretting her decision as the group looked at her.

"... What?" John asked sceptically.

"Oh I just... wouldn't it be polite to knock?" she asked carefully, folding her hands in front of her and pushing her skirt tightly down.

John rolled his eyes and turned away, but did as he was asked, knocking simply on the door.

"See? Now are you ha-"

The doors swung open, revealing a large square room with blank walls, one reasonably uncomfortable looking plastic chair, and a man. He was tall and slim and a little imposing looking, his messy dark hair pulled back from his face and cold green eyes on the group like a serpent watching its prey. Heather shifted to see past the students taller than her and paused when she saw the man; he had facial hair but it was in just the way she liked it and that annoyed her because she knew she would now be instantly biased to him.

"Well," he said slowly. "Congratulations, you figured out how to open the door." His voice was cold and bored. "Use it."

John walked in, crossing the room to stand ready and to attention. The students followed nervously after, most of them wearing fake bravado. Heather followed at the end and did her best to avoid looking at the man. He wore all black with silver clasps on his jacket, his hands folded behind his back in a military fashion. He looked over the group that naturally formed to stand in a line in front of him.

"Only one Ministry member? Only one of you have previous training?" he asked, looking over John then at the others, sounding undoubtedly annoyed. Heather cursed inwardly and raised her hand.

"Um, I am-"
"Don't raise your hand, this isn't a classroom," he told her coldly, not looking at her. She blushed slightly, fighting the urge to do so at all and clenched her jaw a moment.

"I am a ministry worker too, sir. Charms and Hexes division," she told him firmly. He finally looked at her, locking eyes for the longest moment.

Finally, he sneered. "I see. They're obviously TRYING to irritate me now," he said with an eye roll. Her heart fell from her chest and rolled towards the man's feet, which he stepped on as he began to casually pace the room.

"I will not tell you my name, because my identity is a secret to you all. Those who do not complete the first test will leave with their memories of erased, and you won't remember who you took the test WITH. We've been told that the survivors of the Battle are worth loosening our strings a little," he said conversationally, his Irish accent peaking through his well spoken vocabulary. He turned to them all, tilting his head back slightly to look down his nose at them. "It is not. You will succeed if you are worth it. If not, you can still be Aurors. And I do not say that with scorn, without Aurors we would not be able to do our job, they are essential, and have saved countless lives. Reassure yourselves that failure is not the end of the world."

Heather clenched her jaw. He was trying to get into their heads, make them less frightened of failure so they wouldn't try as hard to succeed. Whatever the first test had, she would give it all she had.

"Does anyone here," the man said, his tone growing serious again, "know what Occlumency is?"

There was silence. It was like being back in class; even if someone knew the answer they didn't want to speak because they were intimidated by the teacher. The man sighed with disinterest.

"It is the protection of your mind against invaders. This is important to the Shadow Division, for many reasons, but all we need to know is that you can be taught it. So this is a test to see how well and easily you can protect your mind from those trying to see simple recent memories," the man continued, eyes on the group as a spark of enthusiasm appeared in his eyes. Everyone there was growing more and more nervous by the second.

The man pointed at John. Their eyes turned to him and he tried to hide his fear and shock but found himself unable.

"John Frederic Mason, 29, living alone with a cat. How nice," the man sneered. "Sit."

John hesitated, glancing at Heather. She looked at him with no expression for a moment before giving him a warm and nervous smile. He relaxed slightly and returned the smile, walking forward and sitting in the chair. He took a moment to shift and get comfortable, then looked up at the man.

He stepped right up to John, looking down at him and casting a shadow over his face. Slowly the man withdrew his wand and pointed at John's face, but that's not what John was looking at. Their eyes were locked, their bodies still. The group could see Johns back and had a perfect view of the man's shadowed face.

"I am going to enter your mind, search through the memories of today. You have five minutes to remove me. Short term memories are easy to protect, they're easier to access," he told him slowly, quietly. John made no noise, just stared. "Legilimens," the man whispered, almost casually.

John didn't give any indication of change. Neither did the man, They both remained locked in their stare, the breathing of the others waiting seeming to be the only sound. Time passed slow, inhumanly so, and for five minutes Heather wondered how long it must have been passed five minutes.

The man looked up (causing everyone to jump at the first movement in some time) and shook his head. "Fail. Leave the room."

John blinked several times then stared at the man. The man didn't even look at him so he turned to look over his shoulder at Heather, as if she had the answer.

"She cannot help you now, leave," the man snapped. John looked back at the man, nodded and slowly stood. He hesitated then turned his eyes to the floor as he left quickly. The doors made no noise as they opened and shut quickly with him. Heather watched John go for a moment then turned back to looking at the man, not letting his failure dampen her spirits.

"Does anyone want to give up and leave?" the man asked suddenly. He waited twenty seconds and no one moved, to which he gave a small smirk. "I see." His hand flew out and he pointed at a random student.

"You. Name."
The girl was silent for the longest moment before she raised her chin. "Pansy Parkinson. I am eighteen so you needn't invade my mind." She walked forward and sat down on the chair delicately.

The man looked at her then at the other students, all who glared at her.

"... I really hope you pass, I want to know why they all hate you so much," he noted, looking at her with what might have been admiration.

"I suggested that Harry Potter be given to Voldemort, that's what," she replied simply. "Now, are you going to test me or will I sit here ALL day."

"Ligilimens."

Heather could tell the others were hoping she would fail, but about two minutes later, the man raised his head. "Pass. Stand back in line," he informed her with no emotion. She, however, grinned ear to ear and flounced back to her place in line. Seamus hissed at her as she stepped in beside him and the man sneered.

"You, boy, name."
Seamus looked up and glared. "Seamus Finnegan, I'm-"
"I don't care, sit down," the man replied with a bored sigh, gesturing to the chair.

Seamus sat down heavily, glaring into the other man's eyes rather than staring. Time passed and just as Heather began to worry for the boy, the man broke his stare.

"Lucky. Join the line."
"Ugh," Pansy, groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Suck it up, Parkinson," Seamus hissed, stepping up beside her.

"Silence, both of you," the man instructed, gesturing to another person.

He tested everyone, and with every student that left (which was most of them), Heather grew more and more nervous. Was he waiting to humiliate her? No, she couldn't think that way, that meant failure. Though it took a long time, the man got through the rest of the students easily. The only ones left were Seamus and Pansy joined by Michael Corner and Katie Bell.

Katie was in fact the penultimate person to be tested, and the man watched her return to stand next to Seamus (avoiding standing next to Pansy), to which the man looked judgingly over the four.

"I cannot believe both Gryffindors passed," he muttered, sounding vaguely annoyed, making both Seamus and Katie grin proudly and nudge each other.

The man turned his eyes on Heather and she froze a little inside.

"Your turn, Heather."

She didn't even question how he knew her name, he had seen into everyone else's minds, he would have heard it eventually. She walked forward and sat gently on the chair, adjusting her skirt and keeping her eyes on her lap as she did so to avoid looking up into his eyes.

"You're going to fail, you know," came a quiet voice. She looked up at the man, his eyes cold. "Hufflepuff's always fail."
She was silent for a moment before she relaxed slightly, leaning against the back of the chair and keeping his gaze. He waited for her to come up with a reply but when he realised he wouldn't get one, he pointed his wand at her face.

He didn't even utter a word.

Heather saw the sunshine through her window in the morning, streams of gold illuminating the window and causing the whole kitchen to glow like field of buttercups. She was all warm and cosy in her pyjamas and dressing gown, her hair a mess but that was fine because she was alone in her little world. Her mug was warm in her hands and as she stared into the creamy foam on her drink, she thought about the day. She was to go to an interview today.

Turning suddenly, she saw the man in the doorframe between the kitchen and living room. He was a dark smudge in her bright and warm morning. She had to get him out of her mind, she was supposed to remove him. He watched her with sudden surprise as she threw her coffee at him, a scream coming from her mouth as she used more force than intended. Her arm flung and the moment the mug left contact with her skin, time slowed. It could have been several seconds or many minutes but the moment dragged and then she was looking into his green eyes and the room was cold and she wasn't in her slippers anymore.

She blinked a few times, but he didn't raise his head. His eyes just narrowed slowly.

"Again," he instructed.

"But I-" she tried to argue but felt a sudden and painful tug in her mind.

Heather walked down the street with a bounce in her step. There had been no sun that morning, only dark clouds, but Heather had been so warm in her coat, and so positive about the day, that she just pictured warm sunshine everywhere. She walked leisurely down the street, humming a song she had heard on the radio but couldn't quite remember the lyrics to. As she neared a vendor, she slowed down. He sold warm donuts and it was usually her treat to buy them in the morning, so she was rather expectant to reach him. This time, he stared at her. His expression was frightened, wide eyed and out of place in the warmth of her happiness.

"Um... sir?" she asked carefully as she approached him. He turned his stare on her, his body shaking slightly.

"Someone is not suppose to be here."

The test. Someone was in her head.

She turned again, seeing the man stood just behind her. The sun was gone and the world was grey and harsh. She took a deep breath, gathering her hands into fists.

"I said OUT!" she screamed, giving him a sudden shove. As he pitched down, so did the world, twisting to have his head meet the ground as fast as possible. The world slowed until the back of his head met the pavement and his panicked and annoyed expression twisted to see what fate would befall him felt cold concrete.

Heather was met again with his green eyes, shining with excitement and fear and rage.

"Not again, thank you!" she exclaimed, standing and covering her eyes with her hands, shuffling sideways awkwardly to get out of the space between the man and the chair. She took a step back when she felt nothing obstructing her way, then peeked at the man from between her fingers.

His expression was calmer, but just as intense, watching her every move.

"Did you do it wrong?" Seamus asked.

Heather turned to narrow her eyes. "Now see here young man-"
"No," the man interrupted. "Join the others, Heather Howell," he continued evenly. Heather glanced back at the man but he didn't meet her eyes, so she stepped next to Pansy, holding her hands respectfully in front of her. She passed.

Her cheeks warmed slightly with pride.

The man looked over the five that were left with a frown.

"There are more than I expected," he admitted. "Now that's more work for ME." He sighed.

"I'll be teaching you Occlumency while others in my group teach you other necessary skills," he informed them, returning to a business attitude. "The students will also receive official Ministry training, and you'll have temporary jobs here."

The students groaned and rolled there eyes, although Pansy looked a little pleased.

"Quiet," the man instructed, and they were. He watched them all for a long moment. "I am Sebastian Sheehy, and as possible members of the team, you may call me Sebastian. I do not accept any nicknames, do not even attempt it." Sebastian looked over all of them then nodded and waved his wand. A circular piece of parchment appeared in front of each person, each getting a different colour.

Heather blinked and gently took her piece from the air. Whereas the others had blood red and forest green and other such vibrant and magical colours, Heathers was black, the writing on it silver.

"These indicate who you will be assigned to. They will judge your learning process as well as organise you."

Sebastian Sheehy, was what was very distinctly written on Heathers paper.

"You will see them nine am every morning, before you go to you assigned jobs. Including weekends, enjoy that."

Sebastian Sheehy in ornate and beautiful writing. Right there. In writing.

Seamus groaned. "Weekends?"
"Yes. Do you need a hearing test? I do not like repeating myself, though thankfully you are not my problem. Just on Saturdays," Sebastian replied dryly.

Underneath was a blank space and as she twisted the paper she saw the faint trace of enchantment in the fibres of the parchment. It would probably have notes to her should there need be.

"Now," Sebastian said with a nod. "Leave."

There was a pause.

"And congratulations. You get to keep your memories."

The young adults paused before making their way to the door, Pansy hanging back while the others made conversation. Heather appraised her paper for another few moments before started off to follow Pansy, stopping when a hand gently at first gripped her shoulder. She turned and looked up into Sebastian's face.

"Not you."

She looked away again, looking hopefully to the doors as they closed behind the others, all who got to escape this place. Heather hesitantly looked back at Sebastian, his eyes on her. There was an awkward silence before he spoke finally.

"Ten seconds."

She was more than a little confused. "I... pardon?"
"That's how long I was able to infiltrate your mind the first time," he informed her. She stared at him.

"Surely you're mistaken."
"Not even a little," he replied. The next was more like 20 seconds, I wasn't checking so rigorously the second."

"No," she agreed. "No, I know, you were in stronger that time."

"You could tell?" he asked.

"Oh, absolutely. The first time you stuck out like a sore thumb but that time it was more like... a shadow, you were very impressive and frightening," she assured him, giving a little shiver. He watched her a moment before pulling away and walking to the chair slowly.

"I thought I might have made a mistake," he admitted casually. She watched him a moment before narrowing her eyes.

"Liar."
He turned to her quickly.

"Oh?"

"If you had thought you had done it wrong, you would have been exactly the same the second memory you entered, but you weren't. You tried HARDER. It HURT." Her eyes were narrowed accusingly at him, her hands held just behind her back so he couldn't see they weren't fists. She wanted to maintain an angry outward appearance to show more confidence than her shaking fingers had.

He tilted his head and shut his eyes, his face adopting a relaxed smirk. "You got me." He chuckled and sat casually on the chair. She stared at him.

"You think that's funny?"
"I'll admit, I was hoping you would fail from the moment I saw you," he told her casually, inspecting the dark wood grain of his wand. She stared at him, unsure of what to say.

"What- why?!" she asked indignantly, walking towards him.

He looked up and waited until she was stood right over him, her chubby little arms cross in front of her chest. He smirked and looked back at his wand.

"You don't look like Shadow Division material," he said casually. He stood, and she gave a little start because he was considerably taller than her and suddenly blocked out the light. "However, you're skilled at Occlumency, which means you might be good at Legilimency," he said casually, slowly beginning to walk around her. She held her hands on her skirt, pressing tightly against her lap as she lowered her head into her shoulders to try and hide. She felt his stare like a hand running over her body. "And you know... because you don't LOOK like you should be from the Shadow Division, you would make a perfect member..." he added carefully.

"That... doesn't make sense," she said carefully, turning suddenly to look him in the eye. He tilted his head, looking very amused for a moment, before he hid it and looked at her calmly and coldly.

"Not to you. Not yet. You're not an official member, so you don't get to understand everything," he said simply.

"You mean... know, right?" she asked carefully, a little confused. "I don't get to know everything..."

"Oh," Sebastian said with a smirk. "Not at all. You could know everything and it wouldn't help you." He turned and headed towards the door. "Coming?"

The sudden change of topic and pace made Heather hesitate, but she managed to rush to his side before he shut the door, slipping through just in time.

The hallway hadn't been the same she entered, she recognised this hall. Deep red carpets and purple painted walls, star charts leading the way down the corridor. She KNEW it had been an illusion, and gave herself a moment of satisfaction before turning to Sebastian, who had his cold eyes on her. No, they weren't cold... it was that intensity again, like there was a fire in his mind that his eyes were trying to hide. She was quite caught up in the emerald flames when she remembered he could speak, as that's what he did.

"Nine am sharp," he instructed her. "The room address should be on your paper," he added, when she looked mildly confused. She looked down as she pulled the parchment from her pocket showing what he said to be true. She looked up to thank him but he was already half way down the corridor, and it was the opposite way to where she needed to go.

Heather watched him disappear around the corner and waited a few moments to be sure before turning around, intending to check whether the room was the same after they left it. However when she turned and went to grip the handle her hand passed through empty space, the doors having completely disappeared. She stared in shock for a moment before her cheeks flushed and she grinned widely. Magic would always be amazing to Heather, always.