AN: This story takes place in the Trio's Seventh Year of Hogwarts, after Harry defeated Voldemort in the months before. HBP and DH didn't happen.

"What are you sending, Harry," Ron asked, as they approached the owlery.

"I had a group ask me to send in information to support an application."

Ron snatched the letter from Harry's hands and read the address.

"It's going to the same place my letter is," Ron said, smugly. "It's good that you applied for SWAT."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said, slowly.

"We can send them using the same owl," Ron suggested.

"No thanks, Ron," Harry said. "I have to send other letters and Hedwig will take mine. She gets upset if I don't let her."

"Oh, okay," Ron said. "Just don't be surprised if I get in and you don't."

"I won't," Harry said, giving his redheaded friend a smile. "Don't worry, I won't be jealous."

"You'd better not," Ron said, in a menacing voice.

When Ron turned to leave the owlery, Harry frowned and shook his head. He didn't know why Ron was applying to such an organization. Harry knew that Ron would like the prestige of the 'selective' SWAT group. Harry wouldn't apply to that group if it was the last place on earth to get an employment.

They had asked both Harry and Hermione for letters of recommendation for Ron to see if they should employ the redhead, and the teenagers had answered the questions and recommended Ron for the job since only a truly special wizard wouldn't understand what the group really did. After all, they had sent in truth paper so the people would tell the truth about the people they were asked about.


When Harry returned to the common room, Hermione pulled him to the side.

"Did you send them off?"

"Yes I did," Harry said. "Ron was sending in other forms."

"Oh," Hermione said. "Does he realize what SWAT is? He seems to brag about applying for a position there."

"I don't think so," Harry said. "He just saw the words highly-selective and thought to apply since I didn't get an application through the post."

Hermione shook her head before giving her secret fiancé a smile.

"Well, at least he should be happy to have something you don't."

Harry nodded.

Harry and Hermione already knew what they were going to do, though they hadn't told anyone. After all, the Mage Academy was highly selective, and they would receive too much press coverage for their remaining time at Hogwarts. Harry was going to study Combat Magic and Warding, while Hermione was going to study History of Magic and Magical Law. Both hoped to graduate from the Academy and get jobs with the Ministry of Magic by earning them.


Several weeks later, Harry and Hermione were staying at the Burrow for a few days before going on to their next destinations. Ron was crowing about his application to SWAT, as he didn't know many other people who had applied for the position. He was sure he would get it.

The redhead didn't realize that those who heard Ron's bragging thought he really deserved to apply there because he was bragging about the job.

As they ate breakfast, two owls flew into the window. One headed for Ron and the other for Harry and Hermione. The raven-haired youth opened his letter and smiled as he read it. After he got the gist of the details of his required materials for enrollment at the Mage Academy, Harry looked over at Hermione, who was smiling at him. He raised an eyebrow. The bushy-haired witch smiled, shook her head slightly, and then nodded toward Ron. Harry gave a short nod and carefully folded the letter to place in his pocket.

"I got in!" Ron yelled. "I got in!"

"That's great, Ron," Harry said. "What did you get into?"

"I got accepted to SWAT!" Ron exclaimed. "One of the most selective groups in the Wizarding World.

All talking stopped and the Weasleys looked at Ron.

"That's, um, great," Mrs. Weasley said, after a moment. "Harry, what letter did you get?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Harry said, smiling softly.

"You got rejected, didn't you, Harry," Ron gloated. "I got into something where the great Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and Defeater of Voldemort, was refused."

"True," Harry said, giving his friend a smile. The redhead didn't realize that his siblings and parents were looking at him in shock.

After all, Ron was now a member of the Special Wizard Assistance Team, a group who made it their job to assist the 'special' wizards have a meaningful life. SWAT was highly selective, as they only accepted 'special' wizards who had certain qualities that would require a lot of attention to ensure they did a job correctly. Everyone else employed by them worked for another group without the SWAT acronym.

Though the Weasleys celebrated with Ron, most of them had only done so half-heartedly. It was not an honor for them to have a family member in the program, and most people would say congratulations just to be nice to the 'special' wizards employed by the group.

Ron wouldn't realize what he had gotten into until he reported for his first day on the job when he was working with Crabbe and Goyle, the two special wizards from Slytherin. By that time, he already had the stigma of being associated with the group, not to mention the stigma of hanging onto the coattails of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger to get through Hogwarts. He would never get over it, and he would never forgive Harry or Hermione for not stopping him from applying to that job, never mind that he had argued with them until he was blue in the face to get them to see that he was even more special than Harry.

Ron wouldn't speak to them again until their paths crossed at Hogwarts, where Ron served as the Caretaker, the only job he could get with his reputation. Harry and Hermione Potter had returned to Hogwarts to serve as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor and History of Magic Professor respectively. And then, Ron only spoke to them when he was required to after Hermione had been promoted to Headmistress and Harry had accepted the additional positions as Deputy Headmaster and Head of Gryffindor.