I stood in a familiar place, one that brings memories from somewhere long stored in my mind. The pale blue and lavender walls of the room contrasted. Two beds were in the room, one had yellow daisy flowers covers while the other cover had white and blue lilies.
A seven year old Nat was braiding my three year old self's hair, French braid style.
"All done." Nat tied the loose yet beautiful braid with a light blue hair tie, my favourite colour.
I looked at myself, not the three year old self in front of me, but the actual me now. I am in my own dream, well not exactly a dream, a flashback in a dream I guess.
"What are you girls doing?" A knock followed by a familiar gentle voice spoke as the person first peeked her head out of the door. Mum.
"Mum!" Nat and I (my three year old self) greeted.
Mum entered the room, hair in a low ponytail, dressed in a summer dress and loose cardigan. She is as beautiful as I remembered, glowing with a smile on her face.
I did see the resemblance of the both of us. But…I am not like her. I was dull in comparison, a duller version of my mum.
"Who tied your hair, Sam?" Mum hugged both of us and examined my hair.
"Nat!" I said cheerily.
"Aren't you a fast learner? You did a great job sweetie." Mum praised Nat who smiled, feeling accomplished.
"Your father's back with favourite sweet treats. Go on down." Nat and I hurried down the stairs and into the dining room. Mum followed behind, as did I. The actual me walked along with her to the dining table where a barely one year Lexi sat on the baby chair beside my dad, wearing his work robes still as he just came home from work.
"Thanks dad!" Nat said as she carefully open the box with her cupcakes inside.
My three year old self's eyes lit up as dad placed a takeaway banana split in front of her.
"Thanks daddy!" I could see the slight smile formed on his face. Even though my dad was said to be a man who smiled rarely, he always had that hidden smile reserved especially for his three daughters.
Mum greeted Dad with a hug and kiss, to which he responded with enthusiasm as they got a little further from the dining area. Nat and my three year old self were eating away with joy, Lexi was just making baby noises. Even though, I only existed in this flashback as a third party, I couldn't help but blush at my parent's display of affection.
I could hear Mum giggling as she pulled away.
"The girls are here." She warned, though she was still wearing a grin.
"They are busy eating, why did you think I bought their favourites?" He smirked, something Dad does more than smiling.
"Dylan, you sneak." Mum leaned her nose to Dad's, arms still around his neck.
"By the way, is it true, the prophecy made?" Her voice turned slightly serious as she continued.
"We must have the girls leave with my parents by the end of the week. Our jobs are too dangerous, the Death Eaters are going to invade our home anytime now."
"I am aware, you make the necessary arrangements." Dad replied curtly. He gazed down at my mum as he took out the necklace underneath her cotton dress.
"Who is going to have this?" He asked as he glanced back at his three daughters at the table.
Mum fingered the red gem. "The phoenix orb has been in my family for generations, but only the selected generations of warriors are entitled to use its power. The rest are just guardians, like me."
"I don't know, naturally it should be the eldest…" Mum looked up to Dad's gaze. "But there are always exceptions."
I subconsciously fingered the red gem on my necklace, what is the secret behind it? I could feel myself suddenly being pulled away, I am disappearing from this dream soon.
In a matter of seconds from now, I am going to wake up. I took a last look at my parents returning to the dining table. I have longed to see this moment again, my whole family together.
"Sam, you lazy pig! You have to wake up now! Now!"
I grumbled at Lexi's wakeup call under my pillows. Even though a week of holiday passed, it felt only like a few days.
"No…." I whined as I felt my blanket being taken away from me, I shivered at the sudden chill.
"You know Mr Weasley's already downstairs right?" She questioned.
My eyes shot wide open hearing that sentence. No, I am late!
"Ooh-umpfh!" I crashed to the ground as I rolled out of bed.
"I swear watching you wake up is entertaining." She said, drinking on a cup of soymilk.
I made a mad dash to the toilet to shower up and get ready. I wore a plaid button up shirt and stretchable jeans, throwing a witch robe over and slung my grey bag over my shoulders.
I ran down the stairs, skipping a few steps most of the way.
"Here she is our sleeping beauty." Grandpa Lim teased as he sipped on his morning coffee.
"Sorry Mr Weasley!" I apologized.
"It's alright." He let out a short laugh. "We are still able to make it on time." He looked over at his muggle wrist watch.
Today was my first day of Auror training and it was the first reporting day. Mr Weasley offered to bring me to the Auror Office in the Ministry of Magic. Having heard of the Ministry of Magic, the most important place in the Wizarding world several times, it was however my first ever visit to the place.
"Eat your breakfast first, hun." Grandma pushed an egg tart in my hand as I made me way to the shoe rack. I stuffed the tart in my mouth as I put on my dark grey converses.
"Have fun at torture training!" Lexi sarcastically cheered as she reached the kitchens.
"Don't you ever have anything better to say?" Natalie lightly pushed Lexi's head from the back.
"But where's the fun in saying something nice?" Lexi retorted. Natalie gave her a look while Lexi just made a 'pfft' sound.
Natalie came back from Romania for a holiday from work as well, along with Charlie whom returned to the Weasley family. It was nice having my older sister spending time with us, seeing that we do not get to be together often because of her work.
"You know I am kidding, Sis!" She smirked.
"I don't need to tell you to behave yourself." She gave a side look to Lexi. "But be careful, Auror training isn't easy. It's really tough from what I heard." Natalie advised.
"I understand, Nat." I proceed to finish my tart as I stood up.
"I'm ready." I announced.
"Well, let's go. Thanks for the coffee, Sue." Mr Weasley stood up heading for the door.
"No problem." Grandma replied as she wiped her hands on her apron after she washed the dishes from breakfast.
"Sam, dear. Do your best. If it's too tough, we understand." She said worriedly.
"Don't worry Sue, Sam can do it. Believe in her." Grandpa commented.
"Of course I do. But remember how tough it was for Anna too?" Grandma replied worriedly.
"But she still made it through, didn't she? You are getting too paranoid." Grandpa reassured.
"Excuse me for worrying about my granddaughter." Grandma retorted, arms on hips.
"Whoa, calm down Grandma. I will do fine." I reassured her.
"Bye, everyone. I will be back in one piece." I said with a joking tone.
"Meow." Tiger came to say goodbye as he came from the kitchens.
"Bye Tiger." I gave my family a final wave before taking a handful of floo powder and stepping into my fireplace.
"Ministry of Magic!" I shouted before throwing the powder onto the ground as I disappeared in green flames. It felt like forever as I was whizzed into one of the fireplaces at the lobby of the ministry. Thankfully, I was able to recover my footing as I stumbled walking out of the fireplace.
Mr Weasley appeared just moments behind me and we started walking towards the security desk. My mouth opened in awe and I felt I honestly looked like some weird and amazed young kid on a first trip to the museum or something.
The Ministry of Magic did live up to its name of an astounding place. The design of the entire place, peacock blue ceiling and polished dark floors and large fountain was situated halfway down the hallway, with statues that stood on a pool underneath. Everything seemed grand and prestige. However, the rushing of many wizards and witches alike to work adds a sense of bustling life and work in the ministry. I am not kidding at the number of wizards and witches at the ministry; I lost sight of Mr Weasley thrice. Luckily I was still able to spot him in the sea of people, thanks to the fiery Weasley ginger hair.
"Thank you." Mr Weasley took a copy of the Daily Prophet given out at the near entrance.
"So Sam, are you excited for your first day?" Mr Weasley turned to ask me good-heartedly.
"Well, I guess so. But I am nervous right now too." I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans.
"It's common. But you will be fine." Mr Weasley assured with a smile that made me at ease. I guess this is where Fred and George get their smiles from…
"So how's life?" He asked randomly, attempting to strike a conversation.
"Oh? Erm, Mr Weasley, it's just a week after holidays started." I answered back. He let out a short laugh.
"Silly me."
"No it isn't." I immediately regretted my answer as I tried to continue the conversation.
"But if you ask, I have been good, sleeping in and having a great time relaxing before training starts."
"Ah, yes. Fred and George always say you are a deep sleeper. Even if Hogwarts was on fire, you wouldn't realize and slept all the way through. "
I awkwardly smiled, silently cursing Fred and George for embarrassing me in front of their dad. But who am I kidding; Fred and George were probably born to tease.
We finally walked to the desk with a golden plated sign saying Security.
"Who's this?" A bald wizard in the same peacock blue colour robes like the ceiling said boredly.
"Samantha James. She's reporting for the Early Auror Training." The wizard looked down at a clipboard at his desk before looking up again.
"Wand." He said in the same bored tone.
"Oh." I immediately opened my bag and tried to feel for my wand amongst the stuff in my bag.
"Here" I placed my wand on the desk. The wizard took out a strange brass scale of sorts on the desk and placed my wand on it, the instrument vibrated before a slip of parchment came out from the base of the scale.
"Ten inches, phoenix feather, oak. Am I right?" He asked.
I glanced at Mr Weasley who gave me a reassuring nod. "Yeah."
"Alright, you can go." He said with a little more life in his voice than before.
"Thank you."
I turned a hundred and eighty degrees and walked towards one of the many lifts in the lobby. Mr Weasley resumed our conversation from before.
"They can't wait for you to come over. Fred and George."
"Really?" I asked knowingly.
"Didn't want to admit it, say it tarnishes their mischievous prankster image." I can't help to let out a short laugh.
"Typical of Fred and George." I smiled.
"Sam, I never had time to say thank you." Mr Weasley said as the golden grilles in front of the lift moved to a side.
"For what, Sir?" I entered in the empty lift confused.
"For being there for them." He answered shortly.
"Fred and George might get along with the rest of the family but we know they always had to depend on each other. Molly and I were either too focused on Bill or Charlie, or either Ron and Ginny. We don't need to worry too much about Percy; he always did well on his own. I guessed it might be the middle child syndrome."
"Though Fred and George has always been the liveliest, they always depend and cared for each other a lot, a lot more than anyone else in the family." Mr Weasley said with a serious tone.
"But ever since you became friends with them, they had someone to care for and someone to depend on, and not just each other. They accepted you into their circle which only consisted of the two of them."
"Just so you know you are a very important friend to them. They might be popular in school as I heard from Ron, but I know you are the rare few who understand them as individuals and that is something they truly appreciate." Mr Weasley said smiling.
I never knew Mr Weasley to be a deep person; my usual impression of him is being such a jolly man, having high curiosity about Muggles asking me about electricity and telephones as I came to visit at the burrow. He always care for his family, and was a loving and carefree father which allowed Mrs Weasley to take over as the one keeping their children in check.
"I am glad to have known them too, sir. They brought tons of fun and laughter to my life and I appreciate them for that." I looked up to the bright blue eyes of Mr Weasley. Bill, Ron and Ginny have those eyes.
Many wizards and witches came in and out of the lift as we went down the floors, with flying ministry memos flying in and out as well.
"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services." The voice from the lift spoke.
"Here's our stop." Mr Weasley spoke up as we began filing out of the lift with other wizards.
Mr Weasley led me through a pair of oak doors, and the sight of the Auror office unfolded right in front of me. Cubicles were cluttered together with many posters on the walls of the cubicles and noticeboards. They were the posters of wanted wizards and one caught my eye: Sirius Black.
The corner of my lips moved up as I knew the truth of the wanted mass murderer from last year.
There was lot of chattering in the Auror office, and Mr Weasley, who was in front of me, stopped in front a relatively larger sized cubicle. The name tag that was placed on the cubicle wall read: Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Kingsley. I have your trainee for you, for the E.A.T." Mr Weasley placed his hand on my shoulder as a friendly gesture.
"Thanks, Arthur." A bald, dark-skinned and tall wizard rose from his seat. He was wearing purple long and draping wizard robes, an uncommon colour a wizard usually chooses to wear, however it seemed fitting on him. I noticed he had a gold ear ring pierced onto his left earlobe as well.
"You must be Samantha James?" He asked as he looked down once at a clipboard that had my profile attached on it.
"Yes, sir." I answered.
"Nice to meet you. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Senior Auror. I will be one of your mentors for the training program." He gave off a calm demeanour as he gave a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr…Shacklebolt." I replied. He gave a chuckle as he spoke.
"Call me Kingsley; Mr Shacklebolt is a little formal."
"Alright, Mr Sha- I mean Kingsley." I corrected myself.
"I think I can leave you in good hands with Kingsley. I will be off to my office, going to run late. I will fetch you home when you end your training." Mr Weasley said before he gave me one last smile.
"Bye Mr Weasley, thank you!" I said as he walked off towards his own office and gave me a final wave. I felt more nervous without Mr Weasley beside me in this 'foreign' place, I wonder how training is going to be like later. My thoughts were caught off when Kingsley spoke.
"We better get going to the training room, wouldn't want to be at the hearing end of Alastor."
"Alastor?"
"Alastor Moody. Mad-eye as some calls him. Our top Auror, half of Azkaban was filled up because of him. Retired but recently we asked him to come back to be the head mentor. He's a little demanding, but he is one of the best Auror in many years." Kingsley gave a short introduction before placing his wand onto a slot on a wall.
"Kinsley Shacklebolt. Access granted." A voice spoke as the door beside the slot moved to a side. The room behind the door was relatively big with several benches by the sides and a water dispenser. Dummies were lined at the front of the room and there was a specifically marked floor in the center of the room.
A slightly grey and balding wizard stood in the center of the room, along with a young witch who seemed older than me no doubt but seemed to be the youngest trainee in the room. There were a couple more witches and wizards in the room as well.
"Alastor, I got the last one here." Kingsley spoke.
Alastor Moody turned his back as I got a full view of the highly talked about Auror. Alastor Moody was in sandy brown wizard robes, holding a walking stick in his hand. His leg is prosthetic, probably lost it in the line of duty, and a replaced eyeball for the eye he could also have lost while being an Auror.
I honestly started to worry; will I possibly lose an eye or leg while being an Auror? I made a glance at Kingsley, and set aside my worry since Kingsley did not seem to lose any bodily parts.
Alastor Moody was the opposite of Kingsley. Instead of a calm demeanor, Alastor Moody was intimidating, with a fierce glare even with one eye. My attention on my possible Spartan mentor was short as I was tapped on the shoulder.
I turned back to see someone I haven't seen in a week.
"Aiden?" I spoke excitedly.
"Hi." His familiar deep bass voice spoke.
"Hi." I returned the greeting. Unconsciously, I was smiling way too much than needed.
"Good, you two know each other. You two will be training with each other throughout the program." Alastor Moody broke the exchange.
"That is, if you can make it through." He spoke shortly.
"Alastor Moody, Head mentor. You can call me Mad-Eye or Alastor, whatever you want." He introduced himself. I honestly was scared to call him by the first name, worst still Mad- Eye sounds rude! I think I will just stick to Sir, I thought in mind.
"Nymphodora Tonks. Your senior, she just passed her Auror trainings but has yet to been qualified." A girl who had a quirky and punkish fashion sense and eccentric yet cool purple hair came into my sight. She looked to be around the same age as Natalie.
"Don't call me Nymphodora!" She glared at Sir as her hair turned an impressive shade of red, even more fiery red than the Weasleys. Cool.
"Now, now Tonks. They are here." Kingsley gave her a look as she turned to Aiden and I.
"Wotcha newcomers, call me Tonks." Her hair turned back purple as she shook both of our hands.
"Hi, I am Sam." I was the only one who greeted her back, I looked to Aiden who only gave an affirming nod. "And he's Aiden."
"Hey, you look like that lady in the photo." She suddenly had a moment of realization. My face read confusion
"I think you meant Sam's mother, Anna. She used to be an Auror, her father too." Kingsley explained Tonks made an 'o' as Sir quickly took over. "No way, You father is Dylan James?!"
"Enough chit chat, we are going to go over the training soon." He spoke as he looked intently at me for a few seconds with his artificial eye.
Alastor Moody went over the layout of the early training program, as the only two admitted into the Early Auror Training, Aiden and I will be given more focus and attention. However, we aren't doing anything special, we are going to go through a slower version of a typical first year professional Auror trainee's training program.
The E.A.T gives the privileges to start Auror Training before we even graduate, we can become professionals before age twenty and is sort of a fast track program. There are many different aspects to learn, Kingsley will cover most theoretical lessons which include Stealth and Tracking and assists in dueling which will be led by none other the great Sir himself.
Tonks is going to in charge of our training segment on Concealment and which was no wonder, when she revealed she was a metamorphmagus. How wicked is that?!
Nothing too physically demanding was going to happen on the first day as we familiarize ourselves with the entire Auror office.
As Tonks was bringing us to the pantry, we walked past a wall, specifically a wall of photos.
I looked at the gold plates underneath each photo.
Alice and Frank Longbottom. First Wizarding War Heroes.
Neville's parents? I never knew his parents were Aurors too. I went closer to the wall. As I set my eyes to the next photo.
Dylan and Anna James. First Wizarding War Heroes.
Mum was smiling radiantly, her arms around Dad's waist while Dad had his arm around Mum's shoulder protectively, smiling discreetly.
"Hey no kidding, you really look like your mother! You could have been twins!" Tonks commented. "Your dad was pretty awesome. Alastor told me he fought off ten death eaters at once."
"He was kind too. He helped the muggle-borns though he was thought to be all Slytherin and be associated with Death Eaters" I added.
"I really want to be like them. They help save so many people lives and sacrificed their own so that we could live in a world free of evil." I stepped back to look at all the other photos.
"And all these other Aurors too. I hope I could do the same too."
"Well if you want to, you should at least think about surviving this training program first." I jumped at the raspy voice. Alastor Moody came into the scene.
"Tonks, bring them to the training room after you are finished with the tour." He instructed before looking at me in the eye and then walked off.
"Alright." Tonks replied.
"So you two know each other?" She looked back and forth at me and Aiden.
"Yeah, we are friends." I answered.
"Boyfriend, girlfriend?" She smirked. Aiden and I both widened our eyes. I looked at him and swore he had the slightest shade of red on his face.
"No! We're not! We're just friends!" I protested.
"Hahaha! Relax, just messing with you!" She smirked at our reactions, probably pleased to embarrass us.
"Although you two look good together. You know you kinda look like your parents in the photo, standing together." Tonks rubbed her chin, as she studied the photo and then us.
"Tonks!" I whined.
She laughed harder. Aiden was not speaking at all, just looking down at the ground, probably in embarrassment.
"Well the office tour is almost done, we can head to the training room. Ready?" She smiled.
We both nodded and walked back to the training room. My heart was racing in excitement and nervousness all at the same time. As we stepped in the room, I could see the equipment being set up and my mentors were already prepared standing by a chalk board. The atmosphere was serious.
This is it, I thought to myself, the very first step of my Auror training is about to begin.