Chapter 29: Auror's Training Camp (ATC)

"You ready?" Ron called to Harry from down the stairs. Harry took one last look around the room he would not see until Christmas to see if he left anything, then followed Ron down the stairs.

We had breakfast there a few hours ago, thought Harry, thinking of Ginny as he passed the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley with all of their offspring except two were waiting on the front lawn to say good-bye. Many "See you at Christmas" were exchanged, then Harry Ron and Hermione apparated away, headed toward the Ministry.

They came to a stop at the Atrium. Many people stared at them as they passed, but the trio didn't pay them any attention.

"I guess I'll see you later. At Christmas." Hermione said. They were now standing outside the Auror's main office. Harry and Ron were about to leave for a year except for Christmas day. A young man walked past them through the Auror's door, separating Harry from his best friends; Harry noticed the sign.

"I'll see you at Christmas Hermione," Harry muttered in her ear. She hugged him back tight, looking at Ron over his shoulder.

"Bye Harry. See you then." Hermione said back. Harry left before he had to see his best friends saying good bye to each other. He walked into the office to find several waiting people sitting nervously in chairs. He signed his and Ron's names on the roll sheet and took a seat.

This is it. A few people were staring at him, like usual. After a few minutes, Ron came in and took a seat next to Harry. Seconds later, Kingsley's successor, Felix Grint entered the room. Harry, along with everyone else sitting, sat up straighter. Grint seemed to have a certain aura about him.

His pep-talks were very boring however. Ron wasn't the only one who was snoozing on someone's (Harry's) shoulder. Grint either looked above the heads of everyone, or directly at Harry, so it was no wonder he didn't notice the lack of attention.

Hours, it seemed, later, the aurors-to-be followed their boss behind the desk of the office to a room. "This is one of the interrogating rooms. All these rooms have special spells that can detect when you are lying. You will go through one of these doors where you will meet your supervisor. Treat them well, and your job will be much, much easier." He then read off the roll the name of each person and what door they were going to.

Harry entered room 13. A woman was sitting at a desk, reading over a bunch of parchment in a folder. She looked up, and smiled, not seeming to care that Harry was a famous wizard.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. I'm Samantha Timberland, but you may call me Ms. Timberland until we know each other better; then you'll just call me Sam." She stood up and held out her hand. Harry grinned and took it.

"I'm Harry Potter, but you obviously know that." Ms. Timberland smiled wider and motioned for him to sit down.

"Before you can go to the, um, 'training facility' I have to make sure you are not a dark wizard. I will ask you a few questions that you should know and check them on your records. I hope you don't mind, but you will have to take a small bit of Virtasirum."

"Understandable"

"Good attitude. I like that. Now, when were you born?"

"July 31, 1980."

"Excellent. How many and what classes did you take at Hogwarts?" The questions went on for five more minutes, but Sam kept it amusing with her witty remarks. Harry was over-all glad that the Ministry weren't allowing dark wizards to get into the protectors' main base.

"Excellent. You pass. Now you may call me Sam."

"In that case, you may call me Harry."

"Wonderful, Harry. We are actually," she checked her watch, "a little early. The time we're supposed to be done is in ten minutes. What would you like to do?"

They ended up talking. The more Harry got to know her, the more Harry felt two odd emotions. One was an immediate liking, and the other was sadness; but why would he be sad? It occurred to him as they left the room to meet with the group: She was like Tonks and he missed her. At this revelation, Harry became even sadder.

Grint was at the front of a bigger room this time. He lectured the new recruits about the rules at the place where they were going to go, which was still un-known to Harry. He explained that the "newbies" would have to be placed under a form of the fid-something charm, so that no one could ever reveal the whereabouts of the headquarters or what went on there.

Sam stayed by Harry's elbow nonstop until they actually got to the 'place-that-shall-be-left-un-named'. Because of the charm, the only thing that could be said was that they were on an island. A short tour later, Sam dropped Harry off at his dorm he would be sharing with one other person. A few minutes later reveled that person would be someone named Laurence McGill. Ron was staying across the hall.

Harry lay down on his bed later that night feeling mixed emotions with everything that went on today. He turned on his side, rightly guessing he wouldn't have the absolute best sleep tonight.

Miles and miles away, Ginny was lying in her dorm after a long day. People had been staring at her more than ever before, even when she was with Harry. Several (jealous) girls had insulted her, but in the long run, her plan to make everyone knew she was with Harry Potter worked.

At the Feast, she heard one boy ask another if he should ask her out, but the boy said, "Dude, the girl's taken. Did you not see the display?"

"I just heard about it…"

"I was there, and let me tell yah, she's taken. Do you really want to get on Harry Potter, or his girlfriend's bad side?"

The boy muttered something under his breath as Ginny grinned.

So what if a couple girls thought Ginny was… a couple of things, actually? Ginny enjoyed hanging out one side of the train kissing Harry, and it wasn't like she was shy.

Ginny sighed into her pillow, wondering if Harry was missing her as much as she was missing him.

Even though she didn't know it, he was.

A/N: I have the biggest announcement of the year…….. SUMMER!! HAPPY SUMMER TO EVERYONE WHO'S ENJOYING IT!!...ok, actually, we've been out for a week, but I still wanted to say that.

Blonde Joke: A man saw his blonde neighbor go out to her mailbox twenty times in one hour.
On the twentyfirst time, he walked over and asked, "Why do you keep checking
your mailbox?"
The blonde replied, "The computer said I had mail."

Thanks to tdogg for the joke, if you've got a joke, send it in!

Um, I know everyone's probably a little annoyed that I haven't and probably won't update as much as demands, I have a gazillion excuses, but that's no excuse. The one that I will tell you about is because I need everyone's help if you want to see an update. I have ADD. For those of you that doesn't know what that means, simply means, forgetfulness, having a hard time of concentrating, automatically being paced in special ed., staring off into space for several minutes without realizing what you're doing, etc. I take medicine during the school year, so it's bearable, I can concentrate, but it's expensive, and I don't need it in the summer. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I'm trying hard, but if you would give a review, I think it would help with not only self-confidence, but a reason to write more!

Thank you all,

L.O.L.,

PrettyFanGirl