Hey People! I promised you the chapter on Sunday and its still Saturday and I have updated so three cheers for me!!

By the way, I changed Michael Corner with Neville. He was just not sitting in the character! i have made the change in the previous chapter as well and you can go and check it out!

Thank you HoneY DiP PriNceSsVMLoVeR87Friendorfoesnape, bruddy101 for adding me to your alert list.

Thank you HoneY DiP PriNceSs, Friendorfoesnape and Shriya for your reviews! Friendorfoesnape, here's some d/hr fighting for you coz it's a little too early for flirting!

And now, on with the story!

Chapter two: The Training Starts!

Why, emerging from behind Smith were Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger!


Life is an interesting thing. No, not a thing, it acts more like a human being! Yeah, a living creature with a stupid sense of humor. It likes to throw surprises or shocks in your face when you least want or expect them. This results in the person, to whom it belongs, acting how he/she had never expected they would. An open mouth, a shocked stupid look on the face and a growing feeling of annoyance…

"Close your mouth Draco, before it starts catching flies!" Draco hardly heard Blaise's amused jibe as he saw an ecstatic Harry Potter standing up and hugging his best friend and grinning like mad at his other friend over her shoulder…

No this could not be happening! And to think that Draco had been excited about that mission…

But wait, of course, this was not happening! Yeah, it was another one of those dream curses his mother had put on him. He was still sleeping and dreaming. That was all! And, he would get up any minute! He wanted to get up any minute and see his mothers laughing face as soon as he opened his eyes…

Why, even the sight of that blasted sun was welcome! Yes! This was a dream only. It was strange of his mother to use that technique to wake him up again but he was not complaining. How they both would laugh when Draco would wake up and tell his mother about his dream. It would be fun…

Draco leaned back lightly on his chair and closed his eyes, but, opened them as soon as he heard the gruff voice of his boss…

"Malfoy, open your eyes boy! This not your bedroom!"

Looking into the eyes of his superior, he saw amusement as if he had understood what had been going through Draco's head…

Oh no!

Seeing Smith's amusement, Granger who was now talking animatedly with Potter, her hands in his and Longbottom, who was smiling at Boot, only one thought came to his mind…

It was all real!

Shit!

Neville Longbottom! William Smith had selected Neville Longbottom for their mission. The boy who Draco and his friends had teased and laughed at mercilessly at Hogwarts. The boy who could not keep a cauldron upright for more than five minutes and was unable to perform even the simplest spells! He had passed the entrance exam! How? Draco smelled something fishy… He had probably cheated!

And Hermione Granger! Sure she had the brains to become one but that was all she had… Yeah, she had fought in the war and had proved herself to be made of sterner stuff but so had a lot of other people. And you didn't see them becoming aurors…

These things aside… The girl was enough to irritate the hell out of Draco! What with her obnoxiousness and headstrong ideas and stupid beliefs. And he was expected to be one of the aurors to train her in 

combat. And not only her, Longbottom as well. She would probably learn everything and not eat his head but Longbottom!

OK, maybe they were not exactly dunderheads but they topped the two most annoying people list of Draco's…

But no, Potter could keep them! Yeah, Draco wouldn't have to get near them! And they wouldn't want to be chummy with him either… What with the bad blood between them… He would be fine and with the six other people working on this mission, he would not have to be in their company for long…

With that comforting thought in his mind, Draco relaxed a bit and allowed Smith to introduce them to all the aurors present…

"People, this is Neville Longbottom and this lovely girl is Hermione Granger. These two are going to be working with us and have to be trained by all of you." Said Smith pointing towards the new recruits who were standing on his either side.

And he went on introducing them to all present…

"Yes, this is Harry Potter! I hope you know him!"

"Of course sir!"

"And this is Terry Boot…"

Both of them shook his hand, one after the other and Terry winked at them….

"This here is Sara Matthews…"

"I remember you Sara! Weren't you a year below us!" Granger exclaimed excitedly…

"Oh yes! You remember me! Of course so do I!" Squealed Sara, equally excited…

"Meet Arun Raoul. He is not from around here but is one of the best…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Said Arun as he stood up and shook hands with them as well…

"This is Blaise Zabini."

Blaise got up and took Granger's hand in his and lightly kissed it, and then, shook hands with Longbottom…

"My pleasure!" He said looking at them, amused…

Eew!

"And finally, Draco Malfoy! He would be heading the team along with Potter…"

Draco merely stood up and smirked at both of them as a sign of acknowledgment and then sat back down…

He looked at the brunette and saw that she had been expecting this and she scowled at him lightly before seating herself happily at Potter's side. Longbottom went on and sat by Raoul and as soon as they were settled, Smith started talking…



"Now people, you all will be working on this mission. Granger, Longbottom, I have already briefed you as to what you would be expected to do so let's get on with the real stuff before the weekly meeting starts…"

"We have collected clues on the various sites of the attacks and they can be found in the file room. You all will take a look at them and will work together to find a pattern among them. I trust you all to use common sense as well as a bit of that thing residing upstairs…" he said pointing at their heads.

Smith went on enumerating the people who had been under those attacks and Draco got a sudden strong sense of déjà-vu of his Hogwarts days that he expected Smith to any moment, dock points off his house for not paying enough attention.

Draco looked around and in every face; he saw intense concentration as if they all were under constipation…

Forcing a loud laugh at his thoughts, Draco looked at Hermione Granger. She was listening to Smith with rapt attention and he knew she was itching for a piece of parchment and quill to take down notes. Honestly! Some things never changed!

Blaise was listening to Smith too, his dark eyes fixed on the wizard's lined face, with a carelessly lazy expression on his handsome countenance. He caught Draco's eye and smirked at him, showing that he too was too bored to listen anymore…

"So, I expect something done before you go back home today otherwise we all are gonna have a nice night session right here with me breathing down your necks like a bloodhound until you find something. So, go on and make yourselves useful before I fire all of you…"

This line was William Smith's dismissing line. Though everyone knew that it was an empty threat but they never knew what might happen if they did not obey the command preceding that line. So, no one took any chances. They deemed their jobs precious enough to not let their stupidity give their slightly eccentric boss a guinea pig to show that he was serious whenever he said that…


So, they all shuffled out of the meeting room, excited about their new mission and the two new people among them, eager to prove themselves…

"Hermione! Why did you not tell me earlier that you were joining us? It was such a big surprise for me today! Really! And you too Neville. Oh god, I dunno what to say…"

"Then do us a favor and don't say anything Potter…" Draco cut in as he walked behind the others beside a chuckling Blaise towards the directed file room…

"Why don't you do that Malfoy? It would be an even bigger favor to us!" Granger shot back resulting in a frowning Draco and a general laughter…

"I know Harry and I really wanted to surprise you." She continued, "It was actually Madam Hopkirk who helped me make this decision. As the bill on house elf enslavery has already been passed, she told me to go on and join the aurors…"

Draco's frown became deeper. Thanks to her stupid bill, they had to pay their house elves five galleon per month. Not that it was too much and they were too rich to consider this as any loss to themselves, it was just weird and the house elves had become much bolder. His mother found it amusing but he and his father had found it a bit annoying.

"And congratulations Neville on passing the entrance exam. I am sure your grandmother had a talk with Madam Marchbanks before the result huh!"

Well, that did explain his presence here…

"No Harry, I had shut her in her room to prevent her from doing something like that as I knew she would. Anyways, thanks for having so much faith in me!"

She didn't!

"C'mon Neville! You know I was pulling your leg. By the way, well done mate!"

"Thanks!"

"So, you are the Hermione Granger! The brightest witch of her age huh? I had wanted to meet you when I heard about you… But, why have you joined us so late? Not that it is but—"

"I understand Mr. Raoul—"

"Arun please…"

"Yeah Raoul," Draco muttered under his breath, "Suck up to her."

"Draco, these things are known as common courtesies! And, as much as it amuses me to hear what you mutter under your breath, I must say that keep it down right now…"

"C'mon Blaise. At least I am not faking it. What with you kissing her hand and shaking his."

"Draco, I do not have a problem with them. And if you could see past your prejudices, you would see the blubbering boy has grown past his stupidity and she is quite easy on the eye!"

"Are you kidding me?"



And as Draco said that, he looked at her as she chattered on, talking with Matthews, Raoul and Boot about God knows what, that she did look pretty good, what with a 5'7"stature, soft but defined features and her hair, grown out of their frizziness into waves and curls reaching her lower back and a pleasant figure. Hell! Blaise was right!

"You see that?"

"OK, fine, she looks good but she is irritating and annoying with her beliefs and the way she behaves when her mind is made up…"

"Draco, you are just being immature…"

"So, you all knew each other at Hogwarts?" Arun was now talking to the three Gryffindors in their group. Needless to say, Sara was a Ravenclaw, so was Boot…

"Yes Arun," replied Potter," Me and Hermione were best friends along with Ronald Weasely. Yeah, the star keeper of Chudely Cannons. And Neville was one of my very good friends…"

"And Draco here…" Arun prompted…

"Malfoy and us never got on well. Though I don't have a problem with him now but back then, he was a little—"

"A lot Harry!" Yeah, Granger had to correct him!

"OK, a lot infuriating and bothersome. We were enemies, much of bad blood between us. He was a pointy faced little bully, what with his cronies walking behind him every hour of the day threatening anyone who dared cross his path and hidden under his father's shadow. I used to hate him then. But now we are alright! Aren't we Malfoy?!"

"Totally peachy Potter…" Draco replied, his teeth clenched…

"Yeah I remember seeing you both fighting!" Sara added. "Used to end up in detention! Didn't you?"

"Sure Sara…"

"Potter, enough with nostalgia! Let's get on to work otherwise Smith'll have our heads. You don't want you and your girlfriend and all your other friends' heads on a silver platter hung behind Smith's chair do you?"

"If you mean Hermione, Malfoy, she is not my girlfriend! And Smith is not a power crazy old fool. Sure he may be stern but remember, I've seen worse!" Harry replied, pointing at his scar…

"Funny, Harry, his particular words make me think of Number 12 Grimmauld Place! What with the severed heads and all…"

"My thoughts exactly Hermione!"

"Whatever, now move fast, enough of all this lovely chatter already…" Draco replied, moving ahead of everyone to partly get a move on his case and partly to avoid the stupidity and the cheesiness ensued by the new comers in all his team mates.


The file room was only a short distance from the meeting room and the group did not meet anyone one the way. They all gathered around the door as Potter went over to the person sitting outside the room to retrieve the keys… he came back soon enough and they entered the file room. The four aurors Blaise Zabini, Arun Raoul, Sara Matthews and Terry Boot set to work immediately as they knew exactly what to do. Draco and Harry went back to the door to put up wards on them. It was a rule of the file room as it held many classified dossiers and top secret files. Anyone entering the room had to put up eleven wards on it to avoid any attack from the outside, put up by two separate people.

"Malfoy, we have to teach Hermione and Neville how to look through the files for information required as we are the team heads. I'll teach Hermione and you take Neville…"

"No Potter, I refuse to teach that baboon! Half the things I'll say will go over his head. I come here to work, not to get empty headed…"

"Ok, then you teach Hermione and I'll teach Neville!" Harry replied frustratedly…

"No ways, I absolutely refuse! That girl is going to ask me so many questions that I'll go crazy. She's too inquisitive for her own good! I come here to work, not get my head eaten up by vicious females!"

Harry stared at Draco dumbfounded. Then shook his head and finished putting the wards on the door.

"Has anyone told you that you're totally crazy Malfoy!"

"Potter don't change the topic!"

"Listen to me you idiot. I'll teach Neville and you teach Hermione. She'll learn soon enough to leave you alone as soon as possible. Now go ahead before I tell Smith…"

"Potter, your threats don't frighten me! But OK, I'll go, only because you're begging me too…"

"Did no one tell you the difference between begging and requesting Malfoy?!"



"Same difference Potter!" Draco smirked at him and walked forward quickly towards Hermione Granger in order to stop her from opening a drawer which always exploded when anyone opened it…

Then again, maybe he won't!


OK, so she hadn't opened the blasting drawer. Stopping at the last minute to look behind her as she heard footsteps…

"What do you want Malfoy?"

"Granger, I, being the team head, am going to teach you how to look for stuff in this file room…"

"Why isn't Harry teaching me that?" Her scowl deepened…

"Because I refused point blank to teach that dunderhead." Draco pointed over his shoulder to where Harry was talking patiently with Neville, explaining to him how the records in the room were not kept alphabetically…

"Do you know properly yourself?"

"Of course I do, what do you take me for? I have been working in this place for three years now Granger!" Draco shot at her indignantly…

"OK, OK, relax, I was just kidding!"

"If you want to fool around, I advise you to go join the Experimental Charms Department. Many funny looking creatures and people you're gonna find there."

"Malfoy, why can't you even take a joke? OK, I am sorry, now can we move on?"

Fuming, Draco realized that it was not the best time to let out all his irritation towards her and that he'd better start telling her everything now otherwise; they would be stuck in that place till midnight…


"So Malfoy, tell me again, the records have been kept according to the dates and not alphabetically and that the classified stuff is set alphabetically but according to the places where they've occurred and the top secret records have been set according to the number of people involved…"

"Yes Granger! What we're trying to find are old records about the people who've been attacked recently—"

"To find out a relation and a pattern in the attacks…" She completed his sentence.

"Err, yes. Smith worked out a pattern on the dates of the attacks which you can see in those files kept there on that table…" Draco said pointing towards a huge highly polished mahogany desk in the center of the file room which had as many chairs around it as the people in the room. Right now, Sara and Boot were sitting, reading the files with concentration, foreheads held in their hands. Blaise was standing behind Sara and taking out papers from a drawer and discarding them as soon as he skimmed over them and realized that they were of no use. Raoul was looking over the classified records for some matching style of the attackers and Potter was still teaching Longbottom what had to be done…

"Ok Malfoy. So, I should take some stuff and study it before doing something else. I have understood the pattern of the records. Thank you…"

"Yeah go ahead Granger and make yourself a bit useful…"



She looked at him patronizingly and whipped her head, turning towards the shelves behind her. Her hair swished behind her, almost hitting Malfoy in the face. Though he did like that feeling and the way they smelled, if he didn't say something rude, he wouldn't be a Malfoy…

"And keep that pile of hay away from me before I severe it with my defty little fingers and a big scissors…"

She smiled sweetly at him…

"Malfoy, if you so much as come near my hair, I would severe much more of you than you'd ever expect if you understand what I mean and I hope you remember that I am not one to give out empty threats…"

Yeah, Draco remembered very well… when she had decided to get the house elf bill passed, an old pureblooded wizard had opposed her vehemently and she had promised him that if he didn't get out of the way, she would make sure that he would go bankrupt and she would make sure of that… when he didn't heed her, she got one of her lawyer friends and sued him for every single knut he possessed. She had a very sharp brain and the lawyer was too talented. Needless to say, no one got in her way again…

Another time, a few witches working as secretaries had spread rumors about her and her boss. It would be an understatement to say that she was infuriated. Though she didn't say anything and smiled sweetly on the exterior, she set them up in scandals in such a clever way that no one knew that she had been behind it all and they all had no other option except to resign in order to retain their remainder of dignity.

Draco knew what she was capable of very well. He also realized another thing… He'd better stay away from her hair if he didn't want himself murdered in his sleep!


I'll try to update by Monday again coz it's a holiday at school but you guys will get a new chappy by Wednesday, that's a promise! And review if you feel like but it'll be appreciated!

Feel fre to point out any grammatical or spelling mistake. i did not have time to look over for them coz it was too late and I had to sleep otherwise I would've missed the school bus...