A/N: For the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-athlon competition, January 2014.
jaggernaut
10: Pass
She'd set him a test, and he fully intended to pass it. Because it mattered, not like his twelve OWLs, or the NEWTS that got him a spot in Auror training in the Ministry: a position of prestige, even if he was one of many new and hopeful recruits.
New he might have been, but certainly not helpful. That was why he was the picture calm: the picture his father was so proud to see, unwavering in the face of mountains of effort, and danger.
He scoffed; the danger those Aurors talked of were nothing, nothing, compared to what truly happened in the world. They got the filtered version; it was the Muggles who got the worst – or the best, he thought, his lips twisting into a smirk that tugged painfully at his face. Because he hadn't had the chance to smirk so fully before, and it hurt despite how satisfying it felt.
He also hadn't had the chance to throw himself into a test before; it had never been so important, and so fulfilling. And he was proud when he passed – proud, not just content – even when he was soaked in sweat and blood and bodily fluid.