The Auror Department

During the next three weeks, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter spent their time exploring Godric's Hollow, whether playing out in James' yard, walking down to the local park, or stopping at Oldeman's Candy Store. During their last two years at Hogwarts, most of their free time had been eaten up by homework, and James was grateful for their lack of responsibilities during the final, dwindling days of summer. His parents had taken to Remus and Peter immediately, and they treated them just like they would their own son, making jokes with them at home and treating them to sweets while in town. Similarly, Remus and Peter appeared to be enjoying their time at Potter Cottage, which, like most wizarding homes, was much larger on the inside than the front façade suggested. Several times throughout their visit, the two of them would stop and marvel about different details of the house; Winthrop in particular sparked a great deal of interest, seeing as how neither the Lupins or Pettigrews had ever owned house-elves.

"Does he mind it?" Remus asked at one point, watching as Winthrop exited the room with a load of dirty dishes in his arms.

"Mind what?" James questioned.

"Cleaning up after you," Remus clarified. "Do you pay him?"

"Of course not!" James answered, and Sirius gave a bark-like laugh.

"Why on earth would you do a thing like that?" Sirius questioned, grinning at the absurdity of the suggestion.

Now it was Remus' turn to be startled. "But why does he stay, then? Can't he leave?"

"Not unless we free him or tell him to," James replied.

"You mean he's a slave?" Remus gasped, his mouth falling open.

"He's a house-elf," Sirius corrected. "Haven't you ever heard of them before?"

"Well, yes," Remus defended, "but I never realized that they couldn't leave the house."

"I knew that," Peter piped up. "I don't think they mind, though. I mean, they're not used to anything else, are they?"

"But don't you think that they want to live on their own?" Remus asked, glancing towards where Winthrop had disappeared. "How would they earn their freedom, anyway?"

"By receiving a piece of clothing," Sirius answered.

Turning to stare at him, Remus blinked. "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard."

"Kind of melodramatic, isn't it?" James agreed, laughing, but he shook his head. "It's all right, Remus: Winthrop doesn't mind. House-elves like to serve. The same one will live for hundreds of years in the same family and never leave them. It's in their blood."

Although he did not answer, Remus grew thoughtful whenever Winthrop walked into the room after their conversation, giving him a smile and treating him with just a bit more kindness than before. Three days later at the dinner table, Remus had tried and failed to pour his own tea in Winthrop's stead just before James' father made a throaty grunt while overlooking The Daily Prophet.

"What is it, Fleamont?" James' mother questioned, reading her husband's signs of displeasure.

"Oh, Eugenia Jenkins is at it again," James' father answered with a sigh, bringing up the Minister of Magic. "She's made an appeal to take away the administrative powers of the Aurors."

"The what?" Peter asked, tilting his head as he paused mid-chew.

"The Aurors," James' father replied, rustling the newspaper as he turned the page. "A group of wizards and witches that track down users of the Dark Arts. Jenkins is trying to make them answerable solely to the Wizengamot."

"Isn't it already?" James asked. He knew that the Wizengamot, Great Britain's highest wizarding court of law, controlled nearly every aspect of the Ministry of Magic.

"Not entirely," his father told him. "It has a self-governing body of its own, which can make decisions on a smaller scale. What Jenkins wants to do is make the Auror Department fully answerable to the Wizengamot, rendering it helpless to act swiftly in the case of an emergency."

"Why would she want to do that?" Sirius inquired.

"It gives her a feeling of control. Even though she isn't on the Wizengamot herself, Jenkins still has the power to influence the court—too much, if you ask me. But we can't risk hurting the Auror Department, not at a time like this."

Nodding knowingly, James thought about the recent rise of the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort and his band of fanatical followers, the Death Eaters.

"Won't the Wizengamot vote with her?" Remus asked. "Don't they want to be in control of the Aurors as well?"

"Not if they know what's best for the country," James' mother answered, and her husband nodded.

"It'll never go through, not while Albus Dumbledore is the Wizengamot's Chief Warlock. He'll convince the members otherwise."

"That's right," James' mother agreed. "Jenkins isn't the first Minister who's tried to lessen the Aurors' power, and Dumbledore has stopped them every time."

"He has far too much sway in the court, seeing all that he's done for the Ministry in the past, and he understands the dangers of a weak response unit," James' father said. "Jenkins doesn't realize she's just wasting her time."

"Was Dumbledore ever an Auror?" James asked, fully expecting the answer to be in the affirmative. After all, it was Dumbledore who put the Dark wizard Gellert Grindewald behind bars in 1945, outperforming him in a duel and earning the prestigious Order of Merlin, First Class.

"No, he never was," his father answered. "It's rather surprising, isn't it? And yet I say that he probably knows more combative magic and Preservation Charms than any Auror in the history of the Department. He's even been offered the title of Minister several times, but he's always refused, saying that he prefers his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"You mean he turned down becoming Minister to work at Hogwarts?" Sirius demanded.

"Yes, and don't you take him for granted," James' father instructed, shaking his finger at the boys. "He's done you all a great service with his sacrifice. I can't imagine anyone more equipped for the job as Headmaster than our own Dumbledore."

After the meal, the boys excused themselves from the table and ran up to James' bedroom, where Sirius gestured for the others to listen while he closed the door. "I nearly forgot to tell you, but talking about the Auror Department reminded me: Malfoy is still visiting my cousin Narcissa."

"What?" all three of the others exclaimed at once.

"But I thought everyone would know that he was a Death Eater after he ran from the Forbidden Forest last year!" Remus protested. "How come he hasn't been arrested?"

"Narcissa's family is like my parents: they think that Lord Voldemort has the right idea with ruling over the Muggles and all that," Sirius explained. "There's no way that they're going to call the Aurors and turn Malfoy in. I only found out about him when Narcissa visited with my aunt and mentioned him. She wouldn't tell me anything else when I started asking her about him, but I could tell that they had seen each other recently. I bet her family is thrilled about it: all they want is for her to marry a pureblood like her sister Bellatrix did."

"What did they do when Andromeda ran off with that Muggle-born, then?" James inquired.

"You mean Ted Tonks?" Sirius asked. "They were furious, of course. They did the same thing my mother did: disowned Andromeda and blasted her name off of our family tapestry. No one's allowed to see her again."

"Have you heard from her?" Peter asked.

"A couple of times," Sirius admitted, and he grinned. "She's pregnant now."

"Really?" Remus asked.

"It's great, isn't it?" Sirius said. "Andromeda's been sending me owls every few months, and I've been telling my parents that they were from Uncle Alphard to keep them from confiscating the letters. Apparently, she and Ted bought a house in some small Muggle town, so her family will have a hard time finding them if they ever cared to try. It's about the safest place they can be right now," he added, and the others nodded, their thoughts returning to the dinnertime conversation.

Eventually, as the week continued, Remus' parents stopped by Potter Cottage to pick up their son, signaling both the advance of the full moon and the start of term. The other boys bid him a heartfelt farewell, but they quickly turned to other matters as soon as he had left. They began to read through Lycanthropy: The Complete Guide whenever James' parents were not in the room, going as quickly as the book's complex language would allow. By studying each new chapter under their covers at night, they managed to finish half of the book by the time the start of term arrived, but they had failed to find anything about a possible cure. At this point, James knew that his friends were both thinking what none of them wanted to say out loud: What if we don't find anything?

On the way to King's Cross Station, James reviewed what they had learned from Hophias Dingle's book in his head, bringing to mind a few of the passages while his parents, Sirius, and Peter talked about the coming year:

Werewolves cannot and should not be tamed, reasoned with, or approached during the duration of the full moon . . . Although they retain faint memories of their transformations after returning to their human forms, they cannot control themselves during their mutations . . . There has been no record of a werewolf harming any other living thing besides a human during the full moon, but they pose an immediate threat to any wizard, witch, or Muggle standing nearby. Most non-magical folk die upon receiving werewolf bites, and although wizards and witches having a better chance of survival, many have begged for death instead . . .

Feeling a slight tingle ripple across his spine, James watched his friends with unseeing eyes and recalled Dingle's recurring admonition to the reader: If you ever have the misfortune to meet a werewolf at the full moon, do not engage. Your best chance is to keep hidden until it is safe to find experienced reinforcements, after which you can bring the creature down with a few well-placed Stunning Spells.

"James?" Sirius suddenly spoke up, causing his friend to jump. "Are you all right there, mate?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," James answered him. "Sorry, did you ask me something?"

"No, it just looks like you saw the Grim or something, that's all," he replied, and the others stared at James with questioning eyes.

"Sorry. I'm just tired, I guess," James told them, brushing his hand through his hair.

"You haven't caught whatever your friend had, have you?" his mother inquired as her brow creased.

"What?"

"Remus seemed a bit peaky before he left," she explained. "He might have passed it on to one of you if you weren't careful."

"What? No, I'm fine, Mum!" James stammered as Sirius and Peter shared a look. "None of us are ill!"

Pressing her lips together, James' mother gave him a sidelong look while the Muggle train drew to a stop; springing to life, the boys vaulted for the exit, and James' parents called out for them to slow down as they hurried after them. Soon enough, the small group had walked down to King's Cross Station together, where they passed through the metal wall leading to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Once they arrived, they waited for Remus and his family in front of the Hogwarts Express, where no passing Muggle could question their strange attire or the presence of Hardwin, James' screech owl. After a few minutes, however, it was the appearance of the Blacks that caught their attention, the dark-eyed family having just entered the bustling platform from behind them.

"Orion!" James' father greeted with a wave, and Sirius crossed his arms and looked away as his family approached them. "How was the journey? Not too tiresome, I hope?"

"Just as dreary as always," Mr. Black told him with a near-sigh.

"Is that so? We took the Underground ourselves, which I always find a refreshing change from the usual speed and discomfort of traveling," James' father replied, and the Blacks recoiled as quickly as Mussmug had when first meeting Remus.

"Well, I'll be!" Mrs. Black gasped loudly, and Mr. Black grabbed Regulus' shoulder and pulled him away.

"This way, son," he beckoned, and Regulus gave Sirius a dark glance before disappearing in the crowd with his parents. Blinking, James' parents looked at each other and then at the boys.

"Did I say something wrong?" James' father asked Sirius, who was still refusing to watch his family's rapid retreat.

Before James' parents could press him again, they were cut off by the greetings of Mr. and Mrs. Lupin from the farther down the platform. Following his parents, Remus held out Mussmug's cage at arm's length while he lugged his suitcase behind him.

"Sorry we're late," Remus exhaled, sounding as if he had just been holding his breath, and he set the cage on top of his suitcase gingerly before stepping back. Inside, Mussmug stared at him with her wide, yellow eyes, her fur standing on end. Rubbing his hands together as he glanced at his pet and gulped, Remus asked the others, "Should we go, then?"

Having already forgotten about his family, Sirius looked as if he might start laughing, but James' mother spoke up before anyone could answer. "We don't want to keep you waiting," she told the boys, and she tried to hug James only to correct herself and give him a quick pat on his shoulder when he shied away. "Have a good year, James!"

"We'll see you and Sirius at Christmastime!" his father added before addressing both the Lupins and Peter. "We'd love to have all of you, if you can make it! Let's see if we can work it out before the holidays."

Giving him an understanding nod, Mrs. Lupin bent down to hug Remus. "We'll write often," she promised.

"Study well, son," Mr. Lupin interjected, rubbing him on the head. After Remus broke away, he carefully lifted Mussmug's cage again and walked with James and the other boys through the crowded platform.

Hopping into a car near the front of the scarlet train, James searched for his roommates' usual compartment and opened the sliding door. To his surprise, he found it already occupied by a wizard in a bright yellow tie conversing agitatedly with his pocket-watch. Glancing up briefly as the boys entered and took their seats, the wizard tugged at his tie and continued talking animatedly into the glass face of his watch, ignoring the hissing and hooting of Mussmug and Hardwin as their owners hoisted their cages onto the racks overhead.

"No, I fink I made meself quite clear two monfs ago, and I 'asn't changed me mind," the man nearly yelled into the minute-hand before pausing and putting his ear to the watch as if listening for a response. After a moment, he shook his long-hanging hair out of his eyes and addressed the watch again. "Don't start tha' again—you've 'ad enough time to fink abou' it. . . . If it weren't for me trade contract? If it weren't for your bloomin' arguin', we would 'ave 'ad dis sor'ed weeks ago!"

Again he paused, and James shared a glance with the others as the man continued to talk in short bursts. "Late, me bot'le, you 'asn't made one solid promise during dis 'ole exchange! . . . . More porkies is all it is. . . . Listen, chap, I won't 'ave it! If you skive off the dosh once more, I'm closin' our deal. Let me give you a lump of ice: if you really wan' to buy a shop, find anover bloke that'll let you 'ave it yet!"

Snapping the watch shut as a sort of ultimatum, he stuffed it into his pocket and turned to face the boys sitting on the opposite side of the compartment. "'Ello," he greeted, all trace of irritation gone. They all nodded back at him silently, James having the distinct feeling that the yellow-tied wizard had ruined all chances of a normal conversation.

Unconcerned by their silence, the man pulled out a small, leather-bound book from his pocket and began reading, holding it away from his body and squinting to see the words. After exchanging glances, James and the others sat quietly back in their seats and stared out of the window while the scenery rushed by. Nearly an hour passed in uninterrupted stillness, broken only by the occasional rustling of a page made by the reading wizard, but a rapid buzzing eventually interrupted the silence. Lunging for his pocket, the wizard retrieved his pocket-watch and put his ear to its shining face.

"Wha'?" he exclaimed, bouncing on his seat. "Yes, I did, bu' I didn't fink 'e'd actually back out!" Cursing under his breath, he pulled his face away from the pocket-watch and studied the time. "Jus' forget abou' it: it's probably bet'er dis way. I'll jus' 'ave to find anover buyer—dis time one 'oo pays."

Standing up abruptly, he whisked out of the compartment and left the boys listening to the steady chugging of the train's wheels. Once satisfied that the man had gone, James moved to the other side of the cabin, allowing himself enough room to stretch his limbs. Letting out a relieved sigh, Sirius moved to join him as Peter studied the door.

"I don't think I've ever seen him before," Peter commented. "Do you think that he's a professor?"

"He certainly isn't dressed like one," Sirius pointed out, snorting.

"I don't think he's a professor," Remus disagreed. "He seemed more like a businessman to me, although he was a little rough. Maybe he's taking the train to Hogsmeade; he was trying to sell a shop, remember?"

Uninterested, James settled down for the long trip to Hogwarts while Sirius crossed his arms and joined Mussmug for a nap. Before long, Remus and Peter had fallen asleep as well, and James was left to gaze out the window by himself, listening to the gentle snores of the others. After a while, his eyes began to droop with the monotony of the journey, and he finally succumbed to the darkness of sleep before jolting awake several hours later with a crick in his neck. The train had begun to slow, and he glanced out of the window just in time to spot the distant silhouette of the Hogwarts castle before it disappeared behind a line of trees. Another bump nearly catapulted Peter from his seat, and the others stirred until they were all pressed against the window to examine the castle's barely-visible spires.

"I swear that it gets bigger every year," Sirius voiced before they all began to gather their items. When he reached for Mussmug's carrier, Remus jumped slightly as the kitten awoke and snarled at him through the bars, but he braved the threatening hisses long enough to exit the Hogwarts Express behind the others.

The boys all boarded the same horseless carriage, which, after a rough ride over a dirt path, brought them to the entrance of the Hogwarts castle, where they deposited their belongings. Entering through the double doors, they followed the flood of returning students to the Great Hall, which featured an expansive ceiling that magically reflected the starry sky outside. On the far end of the room, the High Table seated the school's many professors as well as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who gazed around the room behind his half-moon spectacles.

Approaching the Gryffindor table, James waved at fourth-year students Frank Longbottom and Dill Stewart before sitting next to them. Just across from their seats sat Lily, Alice, and Hillary, three of the Gryffindor girls in James' year, but they all seemed too caught up in their joint conversation to notice the new arrivals.

"Morgan talked to me already," Frank told James, leaning closer as he mentioned the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. "Apparently, she has big plans for Quidditch this year. You're still playing, right?"

"Of course! You need a third Chaser, don't you?" James assured him. "What would you and King do without me?"

"Maybe we'd actually win," Frank joked, and James laughed before waving at Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor House ghost.

After a few minutes, the busyness of the Great Hall had lessened, and the Transfiguration professor and Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, entered the room with a queue of wide-eyed first-years behind her. As the seated students watched their progress down the hall, a few last stragglers ran back to their tables; among those rushing to their seats, James spotted with annoyance his Slytherin rival, Severus Snape, who ran up behind Lily and tapped her shoulder.

"I found out!" he told her, and Lily brightened. Looking less than thrilled at Snape's appearance, the other Gryffindor girls shared pointed looks and faced the other direction.

"Well?" Lily asked her Slytherin friend expectantly.

"She's an Auror," he answered, "but no one's supposed to know—"

"Severus!" a Slytherin prefect hissed, and Snape glanced furtively over his shoulder before turning back.

"I'll tell you later," he promised, and he quickly sidled off to join his Housemates.

"Hey, what's with Snivellus?" James demanded once he had left, drawing Lily's attention. "I thought that you weren't speaking to him after what he pulled last year in the Forbidden Forest."

To his satisfaction, the other girls turned to Lily as well, waiting for her answer. Noticing her roommates' narrowed eyes, Lily put on a look of forced patience. "Well," she addressed James, "it really isn't any of your business, but we made up over the summer. He explained what had happened, and—"

"Wait, you and Sniv live next door?" James interrogated.

"It's Severus, and we're neighbors," Lily corrected, struggling to keep her voice composed. "We sometimes meet up to talk or read our textbooks. Anyway, I didn't want to see him at first, but he finally made it past my sister and explained himself. Apparently, he didn't know what the meetings in the forest were about at first, and he didn't find out about the full extent of the 'school' until the end of the year."

"And you believed him?" Sirius asked, scoffing. "Of course he told you that!"

"Do you even know what they were learning?" James added. "It seemed pretty deep in the Dark Arts to me."

"He said that it wasn't all bad at first," Lily replied, but Alice pursed her lips.

"Are you sure you aren't just defending him because he's your friend?" she asked, her round face creased with suspicion.

"She's right," Hillary agreed. "He shouldn't have gone to the Forbidden Forest in the first place!"

"Of course what he did was wrong," Lily answered, "but he tried to make amends, didn't he? I believe that he was sincere, and I chose to forgive him."

Although they did not argue, the other girls frowned at each other while James spoke up again. "What was he trying to tell you just now?" he asked, motioning towards where Snape had taken his seat.

"Who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is," Lily answered. "I was curious, so he said that he'd find out."

"An Auror, did he say?" Alice piped up, suddenly interested. "She must be really good. I wonder what her name is."

"I guess we'll find out soon," Hillary said, pointing at the High Table. During their talk, the Sorting Ceremony had started, and the last first-year had just trotted to her table, signaling the beginning of the start-of-term feast. Right on cue, hundreds of platters and goblets materialized on the tables, and the journey-weary students began to eat voraciously.

After an hour or so of re-familiarizing themselves with the Hogwarts cuisine, everyone grew quiet as Headmaster Dumbledore stood from the High Table and approached the podium overlooking the Great Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, both new students and old," he announced, his beard and purple robes glinting in the mock starlight. "I expect that you are tired from the journey, so bear with me as I discuss the year ahead. A new addition has been made to the staff, filling the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but the candidate could not make it to the feast tonight." Sitting up straighter, Sirius watched the Headmaster carefully. "Classes will, however, proceed regularly in the morning."

Slumping back down in his seat, Sirius pouted while Dumbledore began to describe several of the school rules, and Hillary stuck out her lower lip as she looked at the others. "He didn't even say her name."

Nodding, the others listened to the rest of the speech distractedly until the students were excused to their dormitories. As he stood to leave, James heard a familiar voice call out his name from behind, and he turned around to see Morgan McGonagall hurrying towards him. Observing without surprise the altered prefect badge on her chest, he noted that she had become Head Girl just before she shoved a bundle of loose papers into his arms, all covered with sketches of a Quidditch pitch.

"Practice starts in a week, but I want you to start reading these diagrams that I drew up before then. Have them finished before our first meeting, and make sure to bring notes. We'll start putting our heads together then."

Waving goodbye, she ignored his attempted objections and waved at a group of dawdling first-years. "Over here! Gryffindor Tower is this way!" she called, walking purposefully out of the Great Hall's double doors with her charges and leaving James behind.

Leaning over James' shoulder, Sirius peered at Morgan's complicated sketches. "How does she have time for all of this?"

Shaking his head as he fought a groan, James hoisted the diagrams and followed his roommates out of the Great Hall with a sinking feeling in his chest, trying not to drop any of the papers on the way to their dormitory.