Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter, but prepare yourselves for the Adventures of Lily Luna: Girl Detective ;-)

Chapter Fourteen: Celia Smallshaw

After Darius Williamson left Harry and Celia there were several moments of silence. Harry coughed uncomfortably and looked around for something to distract from the awkwardness of the situation. His eyes landed on his watch and he started.

"Oh no! I completely forgot! I'm supposed to be at Tracking training in three minutes," he said, grabbing his books.

Celia jumped. "I can't be late to my first class!" She scrambled to her feet, grabbing a notebook and quill. They hurried down the corridors to the training rooms.

"I didn't realise you were a trainee as well," Harry said, as the rushed around a corner.

"Well, I began my training with the South African Ministry, but my family got reassigned to England, so I applied to be transferred to this program."

Harry was on the point of asking her what her family had been doing in South Africa when they arrived at the training rooms. He pulled the door open for her and then followed her in. They took their places among the other trainees on one side of the room.

The Auror Tracking Trainer Mycena Epworth strode into the room at exactly ten o'clock. Harry had heard Callum McEvoy speculating a few days previously that she hid outside the room in an Invisibility Cloak to ensure her entrance was always timed perfectly.

"Good morning, everyone," she said, pointing her wand at the blackboard. A piece of chalk flew into the air and began to write.

Mycena stood in front of the board and rocked on her heels as she addressed them. "In today's lesson we will be looking at the spells you can use to assist you when tracking a Dark witch or wizard." She pointed to the blackboard where she had written the words 'Homenum revelio'. "Now, you are, of course, already aware of this spell, but there are others that can be very useful."

She stopped rocking on her heels and looked around the class to check they were all paying attention. "Most of these incantations are also performed non-verbally, which makes them more difficult to perform, although it does help to ensure that your position is not given away to your enemy." She brandished her wand again, "The first spell we shall try is Homenum inconstans. This spell is the Auror's equivalent of a Sneakoscope and a Point Me spell rolled into one. When performed correctly the spell will cause your wand to point in the direction of a wizard with treacherous intentions. Now if you will all please place your wands flat on your palms - "

Harry put his wand on his hand and took the opportunity to glance over at Celia. She looked a little anxious, but was watching Mycena intently.

" - and repeat the words 'Homenum inconstans'. You may all do it verbally, as this is the first try for most of you…"

Two hours later, they broke for lunch. Harry felt as though his brain had been put through a wringer. He had a dozen new spells to learn to cast before their next Tracking class on Thursday. He began to head back to his desk when a voice beside him asked, "So, what do you usually do for lunch?"

Harry glanced beside him - it was Celia. She was quite tall, much taller than Ginny and Hermione and her short, blonde hair fell into her eyes as they walked. She brushed it away as if she had been doing it so long she no longer noticed she was doing it.

"Er." Harry coughed. "Er, well sometimes I go to the Leaky Cauldron, do you know it?"

"Yeah, I remember going to Diagon Alley through the pub when I was younger – before we moved away."

"Oh, OK, well, sometimes I go there and have lunch with my friend, who works in a shop there and sometimes I go to one of the Muggle lunch bars, but only when I'm not in robes." Harry pulled at his long navy blue robes.

"So, you'll be having lunch with your friend at the Leaky Cauldron today then?"

"Ah, well, no. He's having a special lunch with his girlfriend today. He's surprising her and taking her for a picnic lunch nearby at Lincoln's Inn Fields."

"Wow. That's pretty impressive."

"Yeah, Ron's become a bit of romantic of late. You'd find that pretty amusing if you knew him. Although, I'm glad I left the house early before I had to witness him fussing over the hamper."

"So do the two of you live together?"

"Yeah, with Hermione, Ron's girlfriend. We went to Hogwarts together."

They had reached their desks. Harry put his things down and turned back to Celia. "Do you want to come and have lunch with me at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Oh, yes please. I don't really know anyone around here yet."

They went down to the Atrium and travelled by Floo to the bar at the Leaky Cauldron. Hannah Abbott chatted to Harry for a few moments when she brought out their huge ham and chicken salad rolls and butterbeers, before returning to the kitchen.

"So," asked Harry, through a large mouthful, "what were your family doing in South Africa?"

"They worked for the Ministry of Magic there – in the Department of Magical Co-operation. They used to work for the department here, in London - that's how they met." She raised her eyebrows. "It was the office scandal. My mum was the Chief Representative of African Affairs and she fell in love with the Head of Department's assistant. Then they got married and Dad started to move up through the department. When I was about seven, she got transferred to South Africa as England's Ambassador to the Southern African Council in the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Wow! Sounds pretty important."

"Yeah, it was. Mum was always really busy."

"Why did you come back, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, not at all. Mum was tired and Dad really wanted to come back to England – his mum and dad are getting pretty old now and he wants to spend more time with them."

"So what are they doing now?"

"Mum's the new Head of the Department of Magical Cooperation and Dad's a consultant."

"Wow. I never really thought about the Ministries in other countries. Is it pretty much the same as it is here?"

"Yeah, but Kingsley's really changed a lot here. Dad was saying that he wished Kingsley had been around to tidy up the South African Ministry."

Harry took another big bite of his sandwich. "Ron's older brother works in the Department of Magical Cooperation - Percy Weasley."

Celia laughed. "Is there anyone around here you don't have some sort of connection with?"

Harry thought for a moment then laughed himself. "No, probably not. It's not a really big community I suppose, when you think about it."

"Yeah, and everyone already knows who you are anyway," Celia added, matter-of-factly.

Harry shrugged.

"I suppose you don't really like talking about it much."

"No, not really." He paused, trying to remain calm and push down all of the memories welling inside him. "I lost a lot of people that were really important to me – it's a hard thing for all of us that were there."

"I believe you." Celia laid her hand on Harry's forearm. "You don't have to worry about me bothering you about it."

Harry smiled gratefully. "Come on, let's get back to a more normal conversation topic. What made you decide to become an Auror and fight the evil forces of Dark Magic?"

Celia burst out laughing and Harry couldn't help joining in, her laugh was so infectious, and for a long time, neither of them could stop.

Harry returned to Grimmauld Place in the early evening to catch Ron and Hermione breaking out of a tight embrace. Harry felt a small sense of satisfaction, given that Ron had interrupted himself and Ginny so many times.

"Hello. Did you have a nice lunch today?"

"Hi, Harry. Yes, we did. It was lovely," replied Hermione.

"Yeah, it was great until that old, homeless Muggle came over and started asking us for money. I mean, seriously, what could he do with a handful of wizard change?" Ron asked, throwing his hands into the air.

"Anyway," said Hermione, rolling her eyes at Harry, "how was your day?"

"Oh, it was good. There's a new girl, she's transferred in from the South African Auror program - Celia Smallshaw. Both her mum and dad work for the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Actually," he said, turning to Ron, "her mum is Percy's new boss."

"Really?" said Hermione. "I'd heard there was a new Head of Department there."

"I wonder if Madam Smallshaw calls Percy Weasley or Weatherby?" Ron asked, breaking into laughter.

"Celia's sitting at your old desk, Ron."

"Huh, d'you mean to tell me it hasn't been turned into some sort of shrine?"

Harry punched him in the arm.

"Ow, hey, watch it or I'll report you to the Ministry – trainee Auror abusing his position, attacking innocent members of the public."

Hermione giggled, but Harry pointed a finger at Ron and said, "You know, I think you've been spending entirely too much time with George."

"Maybe I have," replied Ron. "So, what's this Celia girl like?"

"She's really nice. We went and had lunch together at the Cauldron after Tracking training."

Harry noticed Ron raising an eyebrow, but he chose to ignore him. At that moment Kreacher entered the kitchen, Pigwidgeon sitting on top of his head.

"Ah, good evening, Master," he said, bowing low. Pigwideon flew off Kreacher's head and wheeled around the kitchen, hooting incessantly.

"Master has had a letter arrive, but Kreacher has been unable to remove it from the little owl's leg."

"Don't worry about it, Kreacher," said Ron, "I'll get it off him. Come 'ere, you." He swiped at Pig and after catching him, held his feet out to Harry so he could remove the letter.

Harry opened it and pulled out a small sheet of parchment. "It's from Ginny," he said.

"Read it out then," said Ron.

Harry cleared his throat, and read:

Dear Harry – and Ron and Hermione,

I've been selected for the next Harpies match!! They've given me a bunch of free tickets, so I've enclosed a few for you. We're playing the Appleby Arrows on their home pitch.

Hope to see you after the match,

Love, always,

Ginny

Harry shook out the envelope. Three parchment tickets fell into his hand.

"Awesome," said Ron, leaping forward and snatching one from Harry's hand, "I knew Ginny playing professional Quidditch would be a good thing. D'you reckon when they play the Cannons she'll be able to introduce me to the players?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno, mate, but just in case she can, you'd better be really nice to her for the next few weeks."

Ron nodded seriously, still staring at the ticket in his hands, while Harry and Hermione shared a smirk over his head.

Thanks so much to everyone who left those wonderful reviews for the last chapter. I hope some of your suspense has been curbed. I'm in the process of moving house at the moment - right now I am surrounded by boxes - so it may be a little while between chapters as I wait for the internet company to reconnect me, then wait for Anna to turn my shabby document into something readable and then posting. So please bear with me - I promise to make the next one a good one! Please review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.