Three Weeks Later: Second Week of June
"'Ello, govner." I say in my fake British accent to Hermione as I sit down for breakfast. Ever since I left Hogwarts Hermione has been staying with me at my house in America. In a few days, however, she was leaving to go to the Weasley's house. "How are you this morning?"
"Melrose you are much too cheery for ten a.m." She grabs a mug and pours herself some coffee. "Are you going to call the minister this morning now that you're in such a good mood?" I glare at her.
"I'll call him eventually. Just. Let me mourn and grieve for another few days, alright?" Dramatically, she lets out a sigh and walks over to the table.
"You've been in mourning for weeks now. All you do is sleep, watch t.v., eat massive amounts of junk food, and listen to depressing break up songs. And I just…" Looking away she starts nervously playing with a hair band on her wrist.
"You just think whattt? Come on babe. Spit it out." I take a spoonful of Cocoa Puffs and shove them in my mouth.
"I think that maybe accepting his offer would do you some good."
"GAH!" I push away from the table and shake my head, surprised that she would even consider that possibility.
"What?! Is it really so crazy?! Think about what Dumbledore said to you. About being a protector." She has a point there. "Becoming part of the Ministry Guard will give you all the training you need to accomplish that goal." For a moment there is silence; now that she brought it up I couldn't help but think about all the positive things that could come out of it.
"Okay. Okay okay okay. Lets say I accept. I go through the four weeks of training and become an agent. Then what?"
"Then," I could feel the relief pouring off of her. "When Ron, Harry, and I leave at the end of summer you come with us. I'll convince him that we'll need your help by then so he'll be okay with it. You'll know all sorts of things we wont and you could really help us. Please Melrose. If you don't do it for yourself do it for the rest of the world." The pleading look on her face is more than enough to convince me to do this.
"Fine. I'll call the Minister and let him know I want to be a member of the Ministry Guard. There's just one more thing I have to do before."
"What's that?" Hermione asks, her face scrunching up in confusion.
"I have to destroy Voldemort's heart." Before she can respond I run off to get the music box that has been hiding under my bed for the last three weeks. "Wanna help?" I yell down to her.
"I'm not even going to ask how this happened," Hermione says, coming up the stairs. "But I will tell you that it isn't going to be easy to break that thing." Hermione opened the music and the familiar song starts playing.
"Even when your skies are dark,
And your days are full of sorrow;
You'll always be my baby,
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow…"
"Close it please. I… I just cant listen to that right now." I wrap my arms around my torso and feel like disappearing. Mom… Serious… Dumbledore… All people I love. All people gone because of my father. Suddenly I was filled with rage.
"Okay! So if I was Voldemort what would I do to make it impossible to break…" I pick up the heaviest object I can find and walk to Hermione.
"Here. Let me try." Grabbing the music box from her hands, I put it on the floor and start beating it up. All the rage I've been feeling since that night my fourth year at Hogwarts is being targeted at the heart of the person who caused it all. I want to break him, hurt him, tear him apart so he might feel an ounce of the pain he has caused. But for now all I have is his heart; it's a start.
"Melrose! That's enough!" Hermione rushes over to me and takes the object I was used as a weapon. "I think you destroyed it…" Trying to catch my breath, I look up at her then glance down at the mess I caused.
"Oh my God." A giant cloud of smoke and a small amount of fire is starting to form around the broken pieces of Voldemorts' heart. "Um. Hey Hermione. Just a thought, but I think we should, ya' know, get the hell out of here." For a moment we lock eyes then scramble to get up and get out of the room.
"I'm going to Apparate to the Weasley's." Hermione tells me as she stuffs some of her stuff into a duffel bag.
"And Im going to Apparate to the Ministry." We both glance back to my bedroom. The amount of smoke is increasing, making it almost impossible to breathe.
"See you soon, Agent." Hermione winks at me then disappears. Taking one last look around my old house I'm filled with a feeling that this is going to be the last time I'll ever see it. All the memories I've made here will soon be destroyed and then nothing will be left of them.
Right here, I make a vow that one day I'll defeat the man who caused all this.
Four Weeks Later: Second Week of July
"Okay! Good work out today guys!" The trainer, Derek Renyonds shouts. "You guys are free to go. I think the captain wants to talk to you before you leave for the night though. Oh and guys. Congrats." He smiles and looks at each one of us. When our eyes meet I know right away he wants to discuss something with me.
"Looking good out there, Cole. Captain says you're probably the best he's ever trained." Derek hands me a water bottle. "Go ahead and sit down. I know how tired doing laps can make you."
"God, can you believe that? He wants us to increase the amount we do by fifty percent. I was already doing more than the others. Now he expects me to do sixty? No way." I gulp down the water and wait for what Derek has to say.
"So I talked to the captain about what you wanted to do after training was complete. You know, guarding someone who would be near the Weasley's?" I nod my head. "He found you someone. You remember Fleur Delacour?"
"The French lady from the Tri Wizard cup?" What the hell did she have to do with anything?
"That's the one. Anyways, she's getting married. To one of the Weasley brothers. I can't remember which one. Her dad wants someone to protect her and make sure she's alright." Feeling the skepticism that is flowing off of Derek I ask him why.
"Well her daddy has money. And for some reason that God only knows he feels his baby girl should be protected."
"And the captain assured him that he'd be getting the best possible agent he could. I gotcha."
"Exactly. Now it would only be until the end of the summer. Then you get resigned. You cool with that?"
"I have to be, don't I?" Derek laughs and playful pushes my shoulder.
"You got spunk kid. I like it." I shrug my shoulders in a, what can you do, kind of way. "How do you feel about leaving the academy? Was training too much for you?"
"No, it wasn't too hard. Well I mean. Mentally it was exhausting. Learning all those new spells along with escape and fighting plans. Learning the best way to protect someone on while flying on broom sticks. How to hide someone in plain slight. How to talk with muggle officials. How to interrogate the enemy. Not to mention the physical part of it. Running, push ups, sit ups, working on muscle tone. Its hard shit, I'm not gonna lie."
"Yeah, I know how you feel. I remember by days as a trainee. But you something? And if you tell the captain he'll have my ass so don't say ANYTHING. When people start as trainee's we teach you the basic skills every good agent needs. Those are who we call Code One agents. Code Two agents are a little more advanced and are mentally and physically more capable. We had orders to train you as Code One and Code Two at the same time. So all the things you mastered in a four week time period took everyone else eight weeks." The disbelief and shock I feel must have shown on my face, because Derek goes on to say, "Like I said kid. You're the best the captain has ever trained." We sit there looking at each other for a few moments. "Now go get cleaned up, Cole. You have closing ceremonies and then you're getting shipped off to the Delacours in a matter of hours."
Wearing the required uniform of black slacks and a white button down shirt, I sit on the stone cold bench as the Captain gives his speech about how much progress we've all made. All I can think about is how much I want to get out of here and start actually making a difference. At last my wish is fulfilled and the Captain starts calling us up one by one to get our credentials. He moment he puts them in our hands we are official agents of the Ministry Guard.
"Melrose Molley Cole." At once everyone's thoughts change and the mood grows very suspicious; some wonder if I can be trusted, knowing who my father is. Others wonder if I really deserve to be an agent. I don't let them bother me though.
"I'm proud of you Molley. No matter what anyone says this is where you should be." The captain smiles at me and shakes my hand. "Your assignment is also in there. Don't even bother waiting for the ceremonies to be done. You can leave now." With one last smile in my direction, he continues with the names. Obviously I am dismissed.
With my head held high I walk out of the room and, gathering all the courage I can, I prepare for my first assignment.