Chapter 21

James sat at one of the desks with the parchment in front of him. It was a different language the words written on the scroll. He glimpsed sideways at Alice and saw that her face was scrunched up as if in pain as she stared at the letters. It was clear they made no sense to her either. He leaned in close making sure no-one was looking.

"Can you make anything out?"

"I think that one is supposed to say 'the' but otherwise it's so foreign."

"Did Frank tell you that we had to learn Goblin?"

She raised an eyebrow as she shook his head.

"No. He told me we have to learn shorthand because notes come in that way. Nothing about another language."

James pulled his seat closer and laid his parchment onto the table next to hers. They were clearly written in the same language but that was the only common link in them. The 'words' were different so the messages would be different.

"How about we try and work it out together."

"Do you think we're allowed to?"

They looked at the other three people in their group. They were the youngest having been taken on straight from Hogwarts. There was a recently retired Quidditch player named Patrick Fitz who had joined the training programme in September, then there was Joey Smith who was twenty and had retaken his newts over the last two years to get the grades he needed and lastly Olive Collins who was a year older than them but had waited to start the course due to the fact that she had left Hogwarts three months pregnant.

The three of them were working on the text alone. None of them were speaking as they hunched over the words. James looked back at Alice and shrugged.

"Moody didn't say we couldn't. All he said was that he wanted them translated by five. And I've spent an hour looking over it and can't seem to make sense of it. The dictionary isn't helping much because some of the symbols look so similar. But maybe together we could get it."

Alice looked around once and then smiled.

"We did always do homework in groups bouncing ideas off each other. And since Moody didn't say that we couldn't –"

An alarm buzzed through the floor breaking Alice's words off. James looked up his head spinning round as the Aurors quickly stopped everything and moved to the centre of the room talking amongst themselves.

James moved to where Frank was stood with a woman named Candace Moyles. She gave him a look of questioning but didn't comment. James knew that she was Frank's mentor. Second year training was so different to the level that James was currently at. Second years went out in the field. Nothing major but to the aftermath of scenes, to trials and to speak to witnesses. James was jealous that Frank got to do so much but he knew that in a year he'd be at that stage too.

The buzzing stopped as quickly as it started and they were all looking at Moody as he stood before them. James had seen that look before; it was the look of a man with bad news to break. It seemed others knew the look to because the little conversation stopped.

"Glastonbury. Twenty plus Death Eaters."

James was amazed by how quickly things were assembled after that moment. He was ushered back towards the desk with the other first years. Then the lifts started to arrive and they were jammed with Aurors. Half the office disappeared within minutes off the floor towards the atrium and the apparition points.

This was what they were trained for. They knew how to jump into action so quickly. Assignments had been given first thing and the first wave of defence and the second had gone. Only ten Aurors remained. They were there in case another attack call came in. They would go to the second assault calling in those that were off duty. But hopefully that wouldn't happen.

James felt useless as he sat back at his desk with Alice. He knew he could fight he had proven it time and time again. He was a member of the Order. If he was off duty he'd be there fighting now but as he was a first year trainee he couldn't leave the office yet. Even though it killed him not to be involved. It was at that moment he realised something though. Frank had gone.

Silently he reached across and took Alice's hand giving her a reassuring squeeze. Her eyes were dry and a look of determination was on her face as she looked at the roll in front of her. But he knew she felt as useless as he did. But she also had the worry of a loved one out there knowing that she couldn't help. He wondered how he would feel if Lily was there. A lump stuck in his throat as he picked up the dictionary hoping that the attack would be quelled quickly.