Chapter four

Arthur and Harry were not the only two invited to the meeting with the minister for magic, Aberforth Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were also there, but there was another man that Kingsley introduced as Gawain Robards the man he appointed head auror. They sat and talked for three hours, all giving their opinions on a range of topics, all topics that were put forth was in the hope that it would better their world. When the meeting came to an end, the minister asked Harry to stay behind that he had something he wished to discuss.

'While I was here I was going to tell you that I've changed my mind about being an auror. I realised I didn't want a life full of fighting dark witches and wizards, after the last few years it showed me what my life would be like if I was an auror.'

'Do you know that I expected you would tell me that. My belief is that you thought training as an auror would help in your fight with Voldemort, am I right?'

'Exactly right minister, I never thought he'd be gone, but if I was an auror at least those skills would have helped.'

'They would have. But now I have a job I think would suit you, a job that is new, something I came up with and was lucky to have passed. There is no fighting involved, no nine to five sitting at a desk even if you will have a desk and an office, you do not have a boss, you will follow the guidelines set out and those guidelines are something that I helped create. This job would not suit everyone, I would say most would not be able to do this job, you on the other hand would handle it very well.'

'So not having my N.E.W.T.s won't come into this?'

'No, it does not require high scores, just the right attitude. Would you have a problem following those guidelines once the decision is made?'

'No, not if it's part of the job. But it all sounds good so far apart from knowing what the job is.'

'We'll get to that. Now this job will also need a confidentiality contract, magically signed contract, meaning you cannot talk about what you do, who you see, where you go, nothing about the actual job is to be discussed. The head of the wizengamot, Michael Tassy, you and I will be the only three that can discuss anything involved with this job. Does that worry you at all?'

'No, I'm used to keeping things to myself, Dumbledore had me keep a lot of secrets, he allowed me to tell Hermione and Ron some things, but not all things, so even today they do not know everything.'

'That's good to know, now I know you taught the DA, I don't know what you taught apart from advanced fighting skills. Can you fight off the imperius curse?'

'Yeah, Mad-eye taught me, you know, Crouch when he was posing as Mad-eye.'

'Yes, in your fourth year, very good Harry. That is not an easy curse to beat even for fully trained wizards, aurors are taught to beat it.'

'I remember Tonks telling me a few things, that was one and what gave me the idea to teach the DA, only three ended up learning to fight it.'

'Hermione being one of the three?'

'Actually, no, she couldn't do it. Neville was the first, then Ginny and Luna.'

'Surprising, what is your opinion on why those three could when others couldn't?'

'Neville because of his parents, when Bellatrix escaped Neville changed so dramatically that he used to get any spell I taught first, even over Hermione. Ginny, well, I think she's just powerful, look what she did to the hall of prophecy. Luna, I'm not sure about her, she's always been a little strange, but she is smart. She's quiet, so I think people were used to believing she couldn't do a lot when she could, they underestimated her but I got to see how good she was.'

'I only saw Luna once, very nice girl by the look of her. Ginny, yes, they are still cleaning up her mess,' both Kingsley and Harry laughed, 'You'll have to be careful you don't get her angry.'

'That's for sure, she's like her mother as well, a very quick temper.'

'Neville did surprise me, more than anyone. The way he stood up to Voldemort even after being tortured, he wasn't going to back down, you could see it.'

'Yeah, you could and I know Neville would have kept fighting even Voldemort if he had to.'

'Yes, and he will make an excellent auror.'

'An auror?' Harry couldn't help showing his surprise.

'Yes, he applied. He told Gawain that he found causing problems for the Carrow's to be very satisfying but he also like the fact he rescued a lot of children that had been tortured. He said he wanted to keep helping because it made him feel good about himself when he helped others, others that couldn't help themselves.'

'Neville amazed me, he ran the DA during that year, worked on plans, organised rescues, yeah, I think Neville would be a great auror.'

'He will, now though, this job. I'm sure you're curious just let me say that this idea came to me because of the way certain muggle countries deal with their worst criminals. I'm not sure you know this, but I am a halfblood, so I grew up with a television in my home. The back of the house was blocked from the rest so electrical equipment could work with only basic magic being used in the other parts of the house.'

'Blood status never worried me as I believe we're all magical, why does it matter if we're born to muggle parents, magical parents or even a parent that had a muggle parent like me.'

'I believe the same, we are all magical, that is why one of the laws I'm changing is to do with blood status. But now this job, do you know much about muggle law and how they deal with criminals?'

'Apart from going to jail, no, not really.'

'In some countries, sometimes not the whole country, just certain parts of those countries have what's called the death sentence.'

'Okay, no, I've never heard of that. So that's the job you want me to do?'

'Yes, once the trial is over, the wizengamot will vote on life in jail, meaning for the rest of their natural life, or years in jail, but now they will also vote on if that prisoner will be put to death. In the muggle world they have different methods, some are firing squads, they are shot, some are injected with drugs that will kill them, some are hanged. We're magical which means we would use the killing curse, it's quick and painless.'

'Do you know I never thought I would ever use that curse, it took my parents and Sirius. But after what I've seen and gone through, I think I could if someone deserved it. After the fighting Neville told me something that sickened me. He said the Carrow's and some of the Slytherin's that helped them had raped some of the younger kids, eleven years old, boys and girls.'

'Yes, we've been collecting all the details of what went on at Hogwarts during that time. One of the Carrow's survived and is in Azkaban, some of the Slytherin's are as well. Amycus will face trial and I believe with everything he did as a death eater including what he did to those children he deserves to be put to death. Azkaban is overflowing right now, that's what made me come up with this idea. Some like Bellatrix should not have been allowed to live to escape where she killed again, Greyback is another even though he was never in Azkaban, it's luckily those two are dead, but others are just as bad. So this job Harry, you would be literally killing people but only those the wizengamot vote to be put to death, do you want the job and could you do the job?'

Harry stared at Kingsley, a year ago he would have said no, now, everything has changed, he has changed, but one thing he was glad about, he couldn't tell anyone what he did for a living. Harry didn't think his friends, Ginny or the rest of the Weasley's would approve.

'I can do it Kingsley, when do I start?'

Kingsley nodded, 'Great, you start next week, we'll talk about it more once you've settled into your office, so now I'll get you to fill out and sign the contract then I will show you where you will spend part of your time.'

Harry nodded, took the form from Kingsley, filled it out, signed it then watched as Kingsley filed it. They left the office with Harry's thoughts on killing people that to him didn't deserve to live. If Bellatrix was still alive, Harry would take great pleasure in aiming that curse at her, then watching as the light left her eyes, just like he had seen when she killed Sirius, his life left his eyes.