Chapter Seven

The closing ceremonies for boot camp were much different than he anticipated. Given their past few weeks, Draco and the others were expecting a harsh final test.

They dressed one last time in their cadet uniforms. He looked over his group and had to smile. They each excelled in their own ways and he wouldn't have hesitated to take them to hell with him because he trusted them to take him back.

He studied each of them, wondering when he'd see them again. Ginny had implied that he stood a good chance to run into them in the future on missions or whatnot.

Eve stood tall, confident for once. He knew all their stories by heart. Eve was French and had been discovered by Ginny Weasley. Ginny, it turned out, was something of a legend in the IAL. Though no one was free to disclose what she did or had done, everyone in the group had their own stories about when she discovered them.

Beside Eve stood Kim Yu, a short little Chinese man, perhaps three years older than Draco. He specialized in defensive spells and he'd been defending his town against a tsunami when Ginny showed up.

Then there was Lyra Frost, who had perfected the art of cyber wizardry. She and Ginny had run into each other on a planet somewhere (no one would give it more detail than that) and she'd been recruited.

Joy Roster had been discovered while curbing an epidemic. Andrew Rhodes had destroyed a dark uprising in Ireland. Christian Williams was found after a minor war with the Rakshasas in India. David Wright had purged the entire of South America of the barrow-wrights that had long plagued it.

Next to them, Draco felt almost un deserving of being their leader. They were all so much more accomplished, even Eve. Still, they all had their skills and his was taking control.

He nodded to them and they made their way to the main mess hall where the final ceremony would be held.

He threw back the flap arrogantly and stared at the scene before him.

Sarge and the rest of the instructors were waiting inside, bright banners everywhere.

"Congratulations, maggots," Sarge bellowed. "Now get in here and have some cake, you Aurors."

Draco stepped aside and let the rest of his group in. They all burst into relieved laughter and conversation filled the air.

The party lasted several hours. After the first twenty minutes, some of the higher ups began Apparating in. The cadets separated as the officers pulled them away to talk about mentoring.

"So you made it."

Draco spun to face Ginny Weasley. She was wearing her standard uniform of black jeans, dark tank top and silver belt. Her hair was back in its usual ponytail and there was a fresh scar running from her neck to disappear down her shirt.

"What happened?" he asked, staring at the scar.

She looked down. "Oh, didn't get out of the way fast enough. It'll be gone tomorrow."

"You don't brag about your battle scars?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Scars make it easier to remember you. We're in the business of not being remembered."

It made sense to him and he didn't like the look of that scar anyway.

"I have a bone to pick with you," he said.

She smiled. "I figured you'd get to this sooner or later."

"Get to what?"

"To why I picked you."

"Well, since you brought it up...I can't help but notice that everyone else has done something fantastic in their time on this planet. Why me?"

"I could lie and tell you that I picked you because of your efforts in the war, but I think lies are a bad way to start a mentorship. I picked you not because of what you have done, but because of what you can do."

He stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure her logic out. Then something she said hit him.

"Wait, start a mentorship? What does that mean?"

She laughed. "You're kinda stupid some times, Malfoy. For the next couple weeks at least I'm your mentor. Report to my office at 0700 tomorrow. You know the way," she said then Disapparated, leaving him confused and suffused with a mix of emotions.

(A/N: One of my shorter chapters for this fic but I had fun with it.

Works Cited -

I got the idea of a Cyber wizard from Diane Duane's novel High Wizardry. In the book, one of the main characters is a cyber wizard.

Rakshasas are the invention of F. Paul Wilson and appear in his wonderful novel The Tomb. Please go read it!

To What12- Ah! Sorry for the delay. I promise I'm usually better at this.

To 1ce-in-Forever12- Again, sorry for the delay. I promise to be quicker this time.