Title: Auror Training
Rating: T
Pairings: J/L eventually, S/OC, R/OC, P/OC, F/A and lots more!
Disclaimer: I own nothing...it's all JKR's...luck girl, she is!
Chapter 1: Odd Relationships
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
A voice broke the quiet morning in London outside of an older closed broken down building. People looked around, wondering who had yelled, but after a moment it passed from their minds and they went on with their days.
But through the peeling doors of the building, a small lobby with an exceptionally chipper blonde woman sat behind a desk, talking to what appeared to be the fire in a simple fire place. Past the desk there were a set of heavy wooden doors. Past those doors there lay about twenty offices, ten on each side with a narrow hallway in between, another pair of wooden doors at the end of the hall. Through those doors there stood about thirty cubicles and three exquisite offices. Men and Women bustled to and fro from one cubical to the next, pausing to talk to each other before hurrying on. Another set of heavy doors were at the end of the room. It was past these door there could hear shouting. A group of seventeen young men and women stood, six months out of school, in what appeared to be a small gymnasium. Two older men and one woman stood in front of the group. One of the men and the woman looked only about five or so years older than the group of young adults in front of them. Another man stood, the one doing the yelling, with grizzled brown hair and a scowl on his face. He seemed more like twice their age. The man continued yelling incoherently, though the group of seventeen could make out some of the words.
"NO DAMN RESPECT-SOULDA KNOWN-CONSTANT VIGILANCE-NEXT AURORS! GOD HELP US ALL!"
The group of young adults, made up of six women and eleven men, exchanged confused glances and then looked back at their instructors. The woman standing up in front stepped forward, brushing her long blonde hair up into a pony tail, and gave the man a look. He rolled his eyes and stepped back, sarcastically bowing to her.
"Cut the crap, Moody" The woman said, flashing her brown eyes towards him. He smiled at her.
"Okay, you try getting through their thick heads, Melinda!" He said, motioning to the young adults.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the group. "What Moody is trying to say is that we will not tolerate any childish behavior while you are in training. You should already know this, it has been five months. Three laps! Go!"
Sixteen of the seventeen started running around the gymnasium. A girl with sleek shiny auburn hair and brilliant green eyes stepped up to her trainers.
"Moody, Melinda, Taylor, St. Mungo's just paged. They have an opening and asked me to fill till the Healer gets back. May I please be excused?" The girl asked, talking almost directly to Melinda Sharbock. Melinda smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, Lily. Be sure to get here early tomorrow so I can cover what you missed. We're mostly going to be running and dodging today but I would like to show you a few techniques tomorrow that will be helpful." The girl, Lily, nodded, thanked them and hurried out of the room.
"It'll be good to have a Healer Auror back on the team when she finishes Auror Training." The man, Taylor, said, motioning to the closed doors that Lily had just exited through. Melinda nodded.
"It will and Lily's the perfect witch for it. She has the determination and brains for it and Healing is no easy feet, neither is Auror training for that matter." Said Melinda.
"Think they have what it takes?" Taylor asked, watching the sixteen teenagers run around the gym. Moody limped forward.
"They ruddy well better! I'm not wasting a whole year on them to find out that they don't!" He growled. Taylor and Melinda ignored him.
"Yeah, I think so. Especially Potter, Black, Longbottem and Greene. They seem to be determined to prove themselves. Logan is a spitfire too. She'll pass for sure." Melinda said, watching a girl with short spiked black hair and sparkling midnight blue eyes.
As her students stopped in front of them, Melinda walked forward with Taylor. Moody, still glowering, limped out of the room, muttering about a hot cup of coffee.
"We're running drills today. Get into three groups of three and two of four. Move!" She shouted, before turning back to Taylor. "It's going to be a long day!" Se muttered before her and Taylor started throwing curses and jinxes at their trainees.
"I'm wiped!" James Potter complained as he and his friend, Sirius Black left Auror Training and passed through Auror headquarters. Frank Longbottem hurried up to talk with them.
"Did Lils already go back to St. Mungo's?" Frank asked but a girl behind him answered.
"Yeah, she'll be back soon though." Paige Logan told Frank. It was the same girl that Melinda had pointed out. Frank nodded and stopped to wait for another trainee.
Alice Greene quickly said good bye to everyone and hurried after Paige. "Ready to go?" She asked, glancing around Headquarters before pushing the door open and walking out into the bright sunlight. The December air chilled her though, and she pulled on her coat. Paige and the guys had walked out after her and were now discussing where they should go for lunch.
"How about that new café, Damien's' Hideaway?" Paige suggested and after everyone agreed to meet there after a quick shower, James and Sirius departed for their flat and Alice and Paige left for theirs.
"Paige! We have to go!" Alice shouted, checking her watch. "It's been a half hour since we said we'd been there."
"I'm coming!" Paige shouted, exasperatedly for the third time. Finally, she walked out of her bedroom and grabbed her purse and wand.
"Ready?" She asked brightly. Alice rolled her eyes.
"I was ready fifteen minutes ago!"
"Hey, it takes time to get ready and the guys know that! Besides I bet you that Sirius took longer!" Paige defended, opening the front door and walking down the steps. Alice rolled her eyes and hurried after her.
"You know, I still can't believe that James and Lily broke up. You could cut the tension between them with a knife today at training." Paige said as Alice caught her up. They started walking down the street together.
"Paige, it's been three months. Can you find any new gossip?" Alice asked as they turned a corner and waved to the newspaper stand guy, Phil.
"It's still juicy!" Paige said, looking at Alice as though she had sprouted two arms. Alice shook her head. "I'm serious!"
"No, you're not!" Alice and Paige rolled their eyes and turned. A boy with black hair, sparkling grey eyes and a brilliant smile walked up to them. "I am."
"Over used pun, Sirius!" Alice said, shaking her head at him. He shrugged and they continued walking.
"So, were you late too?" Paige asked innocently.
Sirius shook his head. "I'm sorry but I like long showers. God kill me now!" Paige stuck her tongue out at Alice who smiled.
"I never disagreed with you sweetie." Alice told her and opened the door to Damien's Café. James was already seated with a sandy blonde haired man next to him. Paige shrugged and walked past her to James's table.
"Remus!" She exclaimed and he stood to engulf her in a hug. "It's been…" Paige looked down at her watch. "twenty seven hours since I last saw you!" Remus chuckled.
"It's good to see you too, Lo." Remus said, kissing her cheek and drawing out her chair. She plopped into it and smiled up at him, innocently. Alice smiled at Remus before hugging him and sat in a chair next to James, who nodded and smiled at her. Remus sat down next to Alice and turned to Sirius who was still standing, pouting.
"What, I don't get a hug or a chair pulled out for me?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Sorry Padfoot. No can do." Remus said motioning to the chair next to Paige. Sirius grinned and sat down in his chair.
"So, when's Lily getting off?" Remus asked Paige and Alice, but yet still noticed how James's hand clenched on the table top. Sirius looked down at his menu, ignoring the conversation and then ordered a plate of pork chops.
Alice checked her watch. "In a few minutes." She looked back up at them. "I left her a note to where we are. She said she would stop by and eat with us but then she had to get home and finish off a few reports."
Remus sighed. "Will you two please just drag her out of the house and go have fun for once?" They grinned at him.
"We tried that once, remember Alice?" Paige said with a sly grin in Alice's direction. She got the point.
"Course! How could I forget?"
"We dragged her out of the house." Paige said looking back at Remus. "Chains, handcuffs, whips and all!" Remus immediately grinned.
"Sorry ladies, but it's not working on me. You know that?" He said, smiling at them.
They pouted. "Oh Remmy are you saying you feel no physical attraction to a woman?"
He just grinned and shook his head before changing the subject.
"Lily! Thank God you could get here! Betty didn't show up today and there's a code blue on floor two. Everyone is taken and Anna Rolling needs to fill out about ten forms about her pregnancy." Alison Andrews said, hurrying up to her and leading her towards the third floor. She handed her a green coat and Lily threw it on before opening a door and walking in to meet with a patient.
"Hello, Mrs. Rolling. I'm Healer Evans. Healer Mitchell should be here momentarily. Should we get started filling out these sheets?" Lily said, offering her hand to the woman and then sat down in a chair by the bed.
"Okay, so how far along are you?" Lily asked, glancing at her pregnant belly.
"About eight months." Anna answered, smiling happily and patting her stomach.
"Okay," Lily said, jotting something down on the form then she looked back up. "Any sicknesses or anything unusual lately?"
And on it went until Betty suddenly showed up about fifteen minutes later. She stood gasping in the doorway.
"I'm so sorry Lily! My son escaped from the house and I had to chase him down before leaving!" Betty said. "I can take it from here. Thanks for filling in for me!" Lily smiled and nodded before exiting the room, throwing off the green robe and marching down the stairs.
"I hate healing!" Lily muttered, shaking her head.
"You okay Lily?" A voice asked, startling her. Lily smiled up at a man standing a few stairs above her. "I thought you loved Healing! You certainly liked it at Hogwarts."
"Yeah, I'm great, Cole. I do love healing people just don't like doing it in a hospital. This is just a temporary job until I graduate Auror Training." Lily told him and they continued walking down the stairs.
"Cole! Get you ass back up here! It's a code blue and if it gets any more severe we're going into lock down! Get back here, NOW!" A screeching voice yelled, startling both of them. Cole grinned sheepishly at her.
"I guess I'm not even allowed a bathroom break. Gotta run, Lily!" Cole told her than dashed back up the stairs. Lily grumped and then walked out into the lobby. With a quiet pop! She disappeared back to her flat that she shared with Alice and Paige.
"So Remus, how's the job going for you? And any new lovely lads in your life?" Alice asked and added, "A strawberry field salad." to the waiter. The waiter waved his hand over the table and it appeared in front of her. She dug in greedily.
"It's going good, everyone's nice and the kids are wonderful!" Remus answered, he worked with a group of teenagers that suffered from lycanthropy. Alice nodded, her mouth full of strawberries.
"And the guys?" She pressed, a glint in her caramel eyes.
"Not telling, you and Paige would probably steal them from me!" Remus said teasingly.
"I'm honored," Paige said, butting in to their conversation. "That you think I could get even a gay guy to date me!"
"I wouldn't put it past you two!"
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late!" Lily said, draping her coat over the back of the chair and sat down beside Sirius.
"Hey Lils!" Remus greeted happily.
"Lily Billy!" Paige and Alice said in unison.
"Hi…" James said quietly, her eyes not quite meeting his.
"'Lo Lily" said Sirius, smiling warmly at her. She smiled back before turning to Remus, who asked how the healing job had gone.
Sirius chanced a quick look at James and found him staring avidly at Lily. She hadn't noticed yet but it was hard not to. He kicked his friend in the shins under the table. He jumped and looked around at Sirius.
"What was that for?" He hissed, his hazel eyes narrowing.
"What was what for?" Sirius asked, playing dumb. James just shook his head and went back to staring at Lily like he used to at Hogwarts. After about five minutes Sirius, who was still the only one who had noticed, thought he should talk to James about his obsession problem.
"James?" James snapped out of his gaze when Sirius stood up. "Will you come with me to the lo?" James cocked his head to the side for a moment.
"What, Padfoot?" Sirius realized to late that this was probably way to girly of a proposition to get James to come, but he had to try anyways.
"Please? There's a really hairy lady over that that's scaring me and I have to piss really bad!" James snorted and stood up, shaking his head.
"You've lost your mind." He told Sirius matter-of-factly before leading the way to the men's room.
"James, I need to talk to you about Lily!" Sirius said urgently once inside the bathroom. James turned to him with a puzzled face. "Your staring obsession!" James ooooohed and faced the mirror.
"Padfoot, what am I going to do?" James asked despratly, remembering the events that led up to their break up.
"James, I'm home!" Lily called, throwing her purse on the table and sinking into the couch. It had been a long day at the hospital.
"Lily?" James called from the bedroom. She got up and walked to the bedroom door, smiling slightly, and pushed it open.
James was sitting cross legged on the bed, a picture in his hands, smiling up at Lily.
"Hey beautiful, how was work?" James asked her, giving her a hug and pulling her down onto the bed.
"Horrible!" Lily pouted and looked at the picture. It was of all of their friends on the last day of school. A majority of them wore maroon robes and gold sashes and tassles, the rest wearing yellow and blue. Everyone was waving at the picture and Sirius and Remus kept periodically kissing her cheek.
"That's cute!" She said before dropping her head onto a pillow.
"Lily," Lily grunted to show she was listening. "You wanted to tell me something this morning, right? I'm sorry but I was late getting to Sirius's. Want to tell me now?"
"S'okay!" Lily murmered, she sat up and looked at James. "Okay, well I've been thinking lately and I-I think maybe…"
"Spit it out!"
"Well with Auror Training and Healer Duties and Jobs, I just think that maybe I need to be focusing on my career for a few months you know? And well- James I love you, you know that but life is getting more difficult and I don't want to drag you down with me! I'm sorry, I really am."
James froze, not believing that was what she wanted to tell him. It couldn't be! She was breaking up with him, they weren't going to be together!
"I really am sorry, James! But I never see you any more, never! I don't think it's fair to you!" Lily said shrilly, her eyes filling up with tears even though she was the one breaking up with him. James just stared at the picture, at him and Lily. "I'm sorry James!" Lily whispered one last time before kissing him on the cheek and walked out of the bedroom.
"Prongs?" Sirius whispered softly, staring at his friend's shaking form.
"I lost her, Sirius!" James said, his voice breaking with emotion. "I told her I would always be there for her and that I would never walk out! But I let her go, and that's just as bad!"
"There was nothing you could do, Prongs." Sirius said softly.
"I let her go, I didn't go after her! I could have stopped her, Padfoot! I could have been there for her instead of just staring at a stupid fuckin' picture!" James said, smashing his fist against the wall.
"You were in shock!"
"I love her and she loves me back! I know she does! Why is she running?" James asked, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor.
"Come on," Sirius said, pulling his best mate up by the arms and pushing him to the door. "You need to get home!"
"Remus," Sirius said quickly. "I'm taking him home, he needs to forget about a few things okay?" Remus got the point and nodded.
"I'll see you guys later then."
"Oh my god, James! What's wrong?" Paige asked, catching sight of his face.
Lily looked up quickly, her eyes widening. "Are you okay? Do you need healing? I can heal you! What's wrong?" She said quickly and shot up out of her seat to stand in front of them.
"No, he just needs to go home, okay Lily?" Sirius said quietly, pushing James past Lily and out of the café. "There's only one thing that can fix this!" Lily frowned slightly but sat back down obediently when Remus pulled on her arm.
"I leeeet her goo! I lost her and I didn't do anything about it!" James said dramatically, he was sitting at a table in LT, a nice bar in London located close to where he and Sirius lived. Around him sat three beautiful girls, all listening intently to him about his Lily.
"Oh, sweetie! Lily will come back to you!" The first girl said, Andrea Turning said. Her long blonde hair was very curly and her make up accentuated her features amazingly. She and the others had graduated two years ago from Beauxbatons, as he had found out earlier in the evening.
"I miss her so much it's like a constant stomach ache!" James told them, drinking from his fifth fire whisky.
"It'll get better, honey." Felicity Peosta said sweetly, patting his hand. She had chestnut hair pulled up into a messy bun and her make up was very subtle.
James nodded sullenly. "I don't want it to get better though! I want her!" He all but yelled. The three girls looked sympathetically at him.
"We know but you have to believe it will get better. Maybe she will come to her senses!" Kari Rowing said lightly, her black hair bone straight flowing gracefully around her shoulders.
"I know but it just hurts so much!" James said, "I love her!"
All three girls 'awwwwed' and started saying words of encouragement to him. Across the bar, Sirius was watching him with a disbelieving look on his face.
"I can't believe it! I take him to a bar to help him forget his worries and he hooks three girls by moaning about it!" Sirius complained. Mundungus Fletcher, who had come to the bar with them last second, nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, I know. But girls are suckers for romancers and guys who admit they have loved before." Dung said, watching one of the girls. "Well, I had better get back home soon, I'm meeting Bobby Orthwart tonight yet about some Dragon scales. He recons they are worth more than my house. Off his rocker, he is!"
"Kay, bye Dung." Sirius answered and walked over to James to stop him from bursting into tears.
"Jamie poo, we have to go soon okay?" Sirius said, nodding to the girls. They all smiled tightly at him and turned back to James. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"James, if you ever need help with anything, don't hesitate to call us!" Andrea said, scribbling her phone number on a napkin and handing it to him.
"Thank you, girls!" James said, pocketing it and smiling sadly at him. "See you later!" He hugged each of them in turn before turning to Sirius. Sirius just shook his head and smiled.
"Let's go, Lover Boy…"