* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART THREE

The Eighth Year

Chapter 52: This Path is Treacherous & Reckless

A/N: The chapter title is from the song:

Treacherous by Taylor Swift.

After an eventful first weekend back and an even busier first week, career week began. This was a week in which the seventh and eighth years would spend Monday to Friday in a workplace to prepare them better for the outside world. It had been announced weeks ago, and thankfully it came after all of the final assessments had been handed in. Hermione was still panicking about it being a whole week that would cut into her time to revise, however.

Because of career week, they had all had another career meeting with their Head of House throughout the week. The Heads of House had taken their interests and future goals into account and allocated them a place of work. However, McGonagall did not announce these until the night before.

Thes seventh years were told first, and Ginny was slightly miffed to be told she was exempt from career week for 'obvious reasons'. With the seventh years knowing what they would be doing, it was time for the eighth years to file into a classroom and be given their allotted jobs for the week.

"Silence, please," McGonagall said curtly, "I will announce the career placements in alphabetical order. You will come and collect your information pack from me when you hear your name, and then you will sit down until I permit you to leave."

Everyone waited with bated breath, and McGonagall glanced down at her list and began to read.

"Abbott, Hannah. Placement within St Mungos."

"Black, Draco. Placement in the Auror Department."

Draco couldn't help the huge grin that spread across his face at this; it would give him a chance to prove himself before the Auror selection process.

"Bones, Susan. Placement in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, working on a bounty hunting team with Percy Weasley."

Susan smirked at this, and next to her, Hermione rolled her eyes. From what she knew of the situation, Susan was getting closer to Percy. Hermione hoped it went well. After what had happened with Krum, she just wanted Susan to be happy.

"Boot, Terry. Placement in the Department of Mysteries."

"Brocklehurst, Mandy. Placement in the Department of Magical Transportation."

"Cauldwell, Sadie. Placement as an assistant in the Apothecary in Diagon Alley."

Sadie grinned at Theo; it was exactly what she had wanted. After all, it was her goal in life to own an apothecary.

"Corner, Michael. Placement within the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

"Delacour, Gabrielle. Placement within a wizarding fashion boutique in Diagon Alley."

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin. Placement within the Accounting Department at the Ministry of Magic."

"Goldstein, Anthony. Placement within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Granger, Hermione. Placement within the Misuse of Magic Office."

Hermione smiled brightly at this; it was exactly where she wanted to work, so it was a perfect placement for her.

"Greengrass, Daphne. Placement as secretary to the head of staff at Gringotts."

Daphne made a face. Harry smirked as he imagined his girlfriend having to cater for Bill for a week. He had a feeling that the Weasley would use it to his advantage. It gave Daphne some experience, though, because she couldn't work as a curse breaker in any way, shape or form until she got her N.E.W.T results. It was too easy for something to go wrong.

"Jones, Megan. Placement at the flower shop in Diagon Alley."

"Longbottom, Neville. Placement in the Auror Department."

Neville grinned in Harry's direction at this news.

"MacMillan, Ernie. Placement within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Moon, Lillian. Placement within the Alistair Moody Trauma Hospital, shadowing a Healer."

Lilly couldn't have been happier with the placement.

"Norris-Filch, Melody. Placement shadowing me during my classes," McGonagall looked up and added, "We couldn't find anything else due to it being on such short notice."

Melody only smiled at the Headmistress, "That's fine, Professor."

"Nott, Theodore. Placement in the Auror Department."

"Awesome," Theo said as he hi-fived Neville and then Draco. Harry rolled his eyes in amusement at the exchange.

"Perks, Sally-Anne. Placement at the Wizarding Wireless Network."

Finally, McGonagall had gotten to Harry; he hated that it took so long to get to his name on any kind of list like this. It had been the same when he got sorted.

"Potter, Harry. You may have already guessed this, but you are also serving a placement in the Auror Department."

Harry grinned at the others, but before McGonagall continued with her list, she added, "However, you will be working on different teams with different Aurors."

The four boys looked slightly disappointed, but they were still working in the same department at the end of the day, and it was only for a week. McGonagall looked away from them and continued down her list.

"Smith, Sally. Placement at Madam Malkin's."

"Smith, Zacharias. Placement as an assistant to the Head of the Wizengamot."

Zacharias punched the air at this, which led to much eye-rolling and head-shaking from his fellow eighth years.

"Zabini, Blaise. Placement within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

McGonagall rolled up her scroll of parchment, "Make sure you all sleep well tonight. I want to see you at 6 am sharp in the great hall tomorrow morning."

When Harry, Draco, Neville and Theo turned up on Monday morning for their first day 'on the job', only Draco was nervous. Harry, Theo and Neville had walked through the Ministry chatting animatedly, but Draco had remained relatively quiet.

The boys were sitting in the corridor outside the department, waiting to meet the Aurors they would be working with for the week, when they heard an argument resonating through the wall from the room behind them.

"Right, settle down all of you! The newbies from Hogwarts are, here again, we've got four this time, so we're going to need to split them up," A brisk male voice said from inside the room.

"Four? They're keen this year given that they just went through a war," A young male voice said.

"Yeah, well, we can't complain," The brisk voice said, "This is Lorne's last year before he retires-"

"I'm becoming a trainer, Graves. I'm hardly retiring," The younger voice cut in. He sounded amused.

The brisk voice, that belonged to the one they called Graves said, "Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm retiring soon too. We need as much new blood as we can get."

"Are there any competent ones, or are they all wannabes?" Another voice asked with a yawn. This voice was female.

"They are competent, Clarke; I'll give you a decent one this year, don't worry," Graves said.

"Who do we have then?" The younger man asked, his voice was laced with amusement.

"Potter, Harry Potter," Graves said.

"The Harry Potter?"

There was a lot of noise and bickering in the room, which made Harry roll his eyes outside.

"Quiet!" Graves thundered, "Potter will be working with me. We've also got Longbottom. Who wants him?"

Neville chuckled and shared a look of amusement with Harry as more bickering arose over who would get to partner Neville.

"Alright, Clarke, you can have Longbottom since the last one nearly blew your foot off, but no funny business," Graves said.

"Yes, sir," Clarke replied sarcastically.

"Who else we got?" The younger man asked.

Graves paused before saying, "Black."

"Black? Who's that?" Another male voice asked. This voice was new and sounded suspicious.

"Draco, formerly Malfoy," Graves said, and Draco winced as he waited for the insults.

"A Malfoy? What is he doing here?"

"He's been vouched for by the chosen one himself and the Minister for Magic, give it a rest Lorne," Graves said lazily, "He's a damn good duellist. Who wants him?"

"I'll take him, I suppose; I could use a good duellist," The man who Harry had identified as Lorne said.

"Good, well that leaves...Nott."

Theo rolled his eyes at his friends and asked quietly, "Why am I always last with you lot?"

Draco gave his friend a weak smile, and Harry and Neville chuckled.

"Nott? Why do I recognise that name?" Lorne asked slowly.

"His Father was Alfred Nott. He was a notorious charlatan back in his day," Graves said, "We arrested him a few times for sleeping with prostitutes. Who wants the kid?"

"I'll take Nott," The youngest voice said.

Graves then spoke again, "Alright then, let's get them in here."

The boys tried to look like they hadn't heard the entire conversation as Graves entered the hallway and smiled at them, "Hi there boys, do come in."

Harry, Draco, Neville and Theo made their way into the room where they saw the people whose voices they had heard.

"Potter, I'm Samuel Graves. You're with me this week," Graves said as he shook Harry's hand. He was a tall, thin, older man with greying hair.

Harry smiled, "Nice to meet you."

Graves nodded and turned to Neville, "Longbottom, you'll be partnering Clarke over here."

A young woman jumped down from the table she was sitting on. She looked to be only a few years older than them, maybe around the same age as Tonks had been. She was relatively short for an Auror and had shoulder-length straight blonde hair.

"Lorna Clarke," The Auror said with a smile as she held out her hand.

Neville took it and shook it, "Neville Longbottom."

"Black, you're with the softy we call Lorne," Graves said, pointing Draco in the direction of a man who looked to be in his mid to late 20s.

Lorne nodded, "Evan Lorne," he said as he shook Draco's hand.

Draco was still extremely nervous, "Draco Black," he said and let the older man examine him suspiciously.

"I hear you're a good duellist," Lorne said.

Draco nodded, "So they tell me," he said.

"Finally, Nott, you will be working with our youngest recruit," Graves said as he pointed Theo in the direction of the only Auror whose name they hadn't heard during the conversation. This Auror looked around the same age as the woman, Lorna. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and looked vaguely familiar to Draco.

The man stepped forward and looked at Theo closely.

"Oh fuck," Theo muttered, "Sorenson? Really?"

"Auror Cauldwell to you this week, Nott," Sorenson smirked.

Draco snorted, "Hah!"

"Cauldwell?" Neville grinned, "As in…"

"Sadie's big brother?" Theo asked with a shake of his head, "Yep."

Harry grinned, "Good luck with that, Theo," he said as he slapped him on the back.

Sorenson smirked, "I'll be watching you this week, Nott. You got that?"

Theo didn't often feel intimidated, but Sadie's brother was built like a tank, he was bulky and rather scary looking, and Theo knew that he was pretty much a scrawny weed compared to him.

He nodded, "Got it," he said weakly. The others were vaguely amused at this version of Theo when they were used to seeing the cocky, arrogant side of the Slytherin.

"Well then, let's get you started," Graves said, clapping his hands together.

And so it began.

"Paperwork?"

"Paperwork is a big part of the job Nott."

Theo resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "So don't we get to go out and duel people?"

"Not on your first day," Sorenson said matter of factly, "You don't get to go out in the field until you have passed your first year of training. We can't just let newbies out in the wild, can we?"

"So we spend the whole first year doing paperwork?" Theo asked in disbelief.

"No," Sorenson replied, "You spend it doing classes on disguise and learning basic healing. You will get to do some simulated fieldwork in a created environment but no real missions until your second year."

Theo sighed, "That sucks."

Sorenson shrugged, "We don't send capable young men out to die. We make sure you are fully equipped and capable before we let you do any fieldwork…even then, we have accidents sometimes. Do you really think I want my sister's fiancé to die on my watch?"

Theo glanced up at the large man, "Are you okay with that? Me being your sister's fiancé."

Sorenson smirked at him, "Course I am. My mother thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread. I was just winding you up this morning in the office."

Theo breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank Salazar for that."

Sorenson's smirk widened, "Still doesn't mean you're getting off easy this week though. I want that whole stack of paperwork finished in the next two hours, so get writing!"

"Please tell me I'm not your secretary for the week," Daphne said as she stood in Bill's office, "Because filing and menial paperwork I can do, but bringing you coffee and doughnuts is not my thing."

"I make my own coffee, and I don't like doughnuts," Bill said with an amused smile, "You can't do any curse-breaking work without N.E.W.T's, as I'm sure you already know. But you're a smart girl. I won't waste your week with menial tasks."

"So what will I be doing then?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Well, because I like you and because you're dating my adopted little brother," Bill began, "I've set aside a pretty special task for you. We are developing a new system for the bank, and while you can't curse break, you can help with that."

"A new system?" Daphne asked eagerly, "As in you are modernising?"

"Exactly," Bill said with a nod, "We're getting in on what Egypt and Dubai are doing. At the moment, we've got vaults of bank records, all on parchment. We are developing an internal spell-base. So, in other words, one big room, you walk in, search for what you are looking for and find it. Without having to look through hundreds of records."

"But surely that makes it easier to be hacked," Daphne pointed out.

"It does because people can change the spell frequencies from outside our walls," Bill agreed, "As opposed to having to break through our multiple defences to get to the records. That's why this new system is complex, we need to make sure it isn't going to be capable of being hacked, and we need to strengthen the wards around the entire building, including the vast underground vaults."

Daphne grinned, "I'm in!"

"I thought we would get to do a lot more fighting this week."

Harry shrugged, "We learned a lot from our visit to the training centre yesterday, though, didn't we? I loved that class on disguise; it was great fun."

Draco nodded his agreement and swallowed his mouthful, "Yeah and that room they showed us where they can create these huge scenarios, but the environment is all fake, that's awesome."

"But we didn't get to go in it," Neville pointed out.

"We will in training, though," Harry said eagerly, "They can't let us do a lot of stuff at the moment, probably because of health and safety. That place is amazing, though, and we're going to be there in a few months."

"If we all pass selection," Draco said, "There's a chance we'll fail. You heard the first-year students telling us about it. They said out of 41 applicants, only 19 got into the training process."

"It's hard," Harry agreed, "But it's hard for a reason. They need to make sure the people who get through are the right kind of people. They need to avoid another generation of corrupt Aurors and spies, but that doesn't mean we won't get through. We can all duel; we'll do it."

"It's not all duelling, though," Neville said with a frown, "There are logic puzzles sometimes, and there is a mental aspect too. What if we don't all make it?"

"Then we cross that bridge when we come to it," Theo said with a firm nod.

Harry nodded his agreement, "If we go in thinking we won't do it. Then we won't be able to do it. All we can do is try our best and have confidence that our best is good enough."

"And for the moment," Draco added, "Let's try and enjoy this week while it lasts."

It was Wednesday afternoon, and the Leaky Cauldron was reasonably quiet. At a table in the middle of the room, Hermione, Daphne, Sadie, and Lilly sat together because they had met up for lunch.

"So, how is it going?" Sadie asked the group cheerfully as their drinks arrived.

"It's hell," Hermione said with a groan, "My supervisor is such a bitch!"

Daphne and Lilly shared an amused smile as Hermione got started on one of her rants, "She just makes me sit there and do paperwork all day and then when I finally got to go out and do some practical work this morning, she told me I was useless and that I would be spending the rest of the week doing paperwork."

"Why? What happened?" Sadie asked her friend. Hermione didn't get this riled up often.

"There was an incident of underage magic, so she sent me to deal with it under her supervision," Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance, "This 6-year-old kid smashed a glass window because his mother was literally screaming at him. So I tried to calm the kid down, but she told me that it was the kids own fault for using the magic and that I should be talking to the mother to understand why it had happened instead of the kid!"

"That's bullshit," Daphne said casually, "A calmer approach means you can get the full story from both sides!"

Sadie nodded, "The people who work in the department are brutes, Hermione. They are prejudiced idiots like Umbridge."

"So you think I should just suck it up for the next few days and get on with it?" Hermione mused as she sipped from her drink, "Because in that case, I already can't wait for Friday."

Daphne smiled sympathetically at her, "Well, I hate to sound cheery, but my week is going alright. I thought it would be bringing tea and coffee to Bill, but he's letting me help on this huge project to redesign the way Gringotts works, which is a pretty amazing opportunity."

"Wow," Hermione said, "That is an amazing opportunity."

"How awesome of Bill to let you do that," Sadie agreed.

"Bet you have a foot in the door because of Harry though," Lilly said, "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing," she added.

Daphne rolled her eyes at them, "Yeah, well, a foot in or not, it's really exciting. It's just the goblins who creep me out. Even Bill doesn't like them, and he's worked with them for ages."

"Bill this, Bill that," Hermione teased, "Does Harry have something to be worried about?"

"Don't be silly," Daphne said honestly, "Bills my boss."

"You know talking about Harry," Hermione said, "I have a bad feeling, and I'm worried about him."

"A bad feeling?" Lilly asked sceptically as Daphne surveyed Hermione with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione shook her head, "I don't know, it's just a thing Harry and I have always had," she admitted, "When one of us is in danger, we get a bad feeling. We can just tell that the other one is in trouble."

"That must have come in handy," Sadie said thoughtfully.

Hermione nodded, "It did during the war."

"What about Draco?" Daphne asked, "Do you get it with him too?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, only Harry."

Daphne snorted, "Oi Granger, it's my job to worry about my boyfriend and your job to worry about yours."

Hermione laughed at this, "Yeah, I'm probably just being stupid. They're just doing paperwork, I bet."

"They'll be fine," Lilly said with a yawn, "They aren't out on the job from what I know. I saw them at the training centre the other day while they got the tour."

Hermione nodded, "How is the hospital, Lil?" she asked conversationally.

"It's horrible but great, which probably makes no sense to you guys," Lilly said with a frown, "I can't do much without training, so I pretty much just shadow people. But some of the injuries I've seen are horrific."

"You'll get used to it, I expect," Daphne said as she glanced at the Ravenclaw.

"Eventually, maybe," Lilly agreed, "It's just very life-affirming, I guess."

"I bet," Sadie said sadly.

"Anyway, enough about me, Sadie; how are you finding this week?" Lilly asked.

Sadie smiled and admitted, "I'm having a great time. The guy Ichabod, I'm working with, is amazing. He's been letting me deal with the customers and handle the stock."

"That's great," Hermione said with a smile, "It's a really good experience for you."

"I did have an interesting experience this morning, though," Sadie said as she caught Lilly's eye, "Your ex came into the apothecary."

"Ron?"

Sadie nodded, "He came in to get some supplies for his brother's new prank potions," she said, "But other than that, not much of note has happened to me this week."

Before any more could or couldn't be said on the matter, a distraction arrived.

"Guys," Sadie said quietly as she leaned in closer to her friends, "Look at the stairs!"

Everybody turned to see what there was to look at. They saw a somewhat amusing sight. Susan and Percy were making their way down the stairs from the rooms above the restaurant.

Hermione and Lilly chuckled, and Daphne shouted, "Susan!"

Once they had caught the girl's attention, she made her way over to their table.

"Hey guys," Susan said casually as she sat down at their table.

"Pull up a chair, Percy," Hermione said in amusement, and the Weasley did so.

Hermione still couldn't get over the difference in Percy. He had taken this bounty hunter thing seriously, and he had taken a leaf out of Bill's book in the clothing department. He was wearing skinny black jeans, a black shirt and black robes. His hair was shoulder length and dyed, so it was a dark red, he had his ear pierced just like Bill, and he was wearing what Hermione could only fathom as biker boots. He didn't look like the same person.

"So, Susan," Daphne said, with a smirk, "Are you enjoying career week?"

Susan wasn't bothered by this. She just grinned, "I am indeed, and this whole bounty hunter thing is good fun. Just yesterday, we brought in none other than Viktor Krum!"

"What did you bring him in for?" Hermione asked in surprise. She had gotten the impression that Krum was pretty law-abiding.

Percy leaned back in his chair and answered, "He was supposed to appear on trial for attacking his team-mate when drunk, but he skipped, so we had to go pick him up. I let Susan bind him and bring him in," he said with a wink at the redhead.

Susan smirked, "It felt good," she admitted.

Hermione laughed; she was glad to see Susan happy.

"And I see you two are making good use of your lunch hour," Lilly teased.

Susan just smirked, "Hey, I'm just having an enjoyable working experience! I could totally do this for a career."

"The offer is open," Percy said casually as he pushed himself up after his wand flashed red, "We've got another one. Let's go get 'em."

"On it," Susan said as she and walked out of the Leaky Cauldron without another word, much to the amusement of their friends.

It was the last day of career week, and Graves had decided to finish off with a duelling competition between the newbies.

It had started relatively even. Theo and Draco had duelled on one platform, while on another platform, Harry had duelled Neville.

The duel between Theo and Draco was over fairly quickly. It had started with Draco firing "Expelliarmus" at Theo, who dodged it easily with a shield charm. From the other podium where he was duelling Neville, Harry had shouted, "Oi! That's my trademark spell!"

Draco shouted back, "Sorry!"

Theo then teased him by saying, "Stop trying to copy Potter and let me kick your arse!"

Theo then spiced things up a little by firing three stunning charms in quick succession at Draco.

Draco used a shield charm to send the first stunner flying back at Theo. Draco had to avoid the second two by himself though, and he managed this by jumping to the side to avoid one and ducking to avoid the other.

"Nice dodging technique!" Graves called from the sidelines.

"Are you practising for the ballet Black?" Theo shouted at his friend.

Draco rolled his eyes, "Don't use my lines against me, Nott!"

"Yeah, that's his insult for me, Theo; don't take that away from us!" Harry joked as he ducked to avoid Neville's langlock hex.

"Oi! We're supposed to be keeping it clean, Neville!"

"Sorry, Harry!" Neville called jokingly across the podium. Nobody seemed to bother about the fact that all the Aurors were listening in.

Draco managed to get the upper hand on Theo after several more dangerous and semi-dangerous spells had been casually chucked across the platform. Draco threw a full body bind in Theo's direction and cast a numbing charm on his wand hand, so when he tried to put up a shield, his hand hung limply and didn't do much.

"Draco!" Harry said in annoyance, "Are you trying to use spells and insults from my life or something?"

Draco smirked, "Hey, I could have removed all the bones in his hand. I was good! I'm not Lockhart!"

Harry was sure the Aurors had no idea what on earth was going on or what the boys were talking about, but Draco was declared the winner of his duel with Theo and his fellow Slytherin promptly went in the huff with him about the fact his hand still felt a bit numb.

On the podium with Neville and Harry, the duel went on and lasted longer than Theo and Draco's had. They had started reasonably nicely with the ordinary spells and jinxes being thrown about. Then it got dirty, and it was Neville who started it.

After dodging "Expelliarmus" for about the 12th time, he shouted, "Sectumsempra!" and shot the spell near Harry, but far away enough so that it wouldn't hit him unless he decided to jump off the platform into it.

"Oi! You can't use my own spells against me!"

"It's not your spell, Potter!" Draco called from where he and Theo were watching, "It's Snape's!"

"That's not the point!" Harry called back as he shot a jet of boiling water out of his wand, which Neville shielded, and Harry then shielded, leaving water bouncing back and forth for a few seconds until it vanished.

Harry had to admit, Neville was good, but he wasn't as good as him. Harry then resorted to dirty tactics. He apparated behind Neville and knocked him out with a stunning charm.

"A dirty win but a win all the same, Potter," Graves said as Harry used enervate to wake Neville up before jumping off of the platform.

Next up, Neville and Theo were to duel to determine who would come last and then Harry and Draco would duel for first and second place. The duel between Neville and Theo was over faster than anyone had expected.

They had barely been duelling for long, but a few pretty lethal spells had been exchanged when Neville shouted, "Theo, what's Sadie doing here?"

When Theo turned his head ever so slightly to look at Sadie, who of course wasn't even there, Neville used Expelliarmus and disarmed him.

"Stealing my moves," Harry teased as Neville was announced the winner. Needless to say, Theo wasn't happy about finishing last.

"Rookie mistake Nott," Graves said as he shook Neville's hand, "You're a good duellist. With practice and training, you'll be great."

Finally, it was time for the grand finale between Harry and Draco. They wasted no time with the weaker jinxes and got straight into the gritty stuff. Harry started things off with a shout of, "Reducto!" aimed straight at Draco's head.

The Slytherin dodged it easily and yelled, "Is that the best you've got Potter?" he then shot "Expelliarmus!" at Harry.

The Gryffindor shouted, "Merlin Draco, get your trademark! I fought a Dark Lord for that one!"

Draco shouted back, "Well, thanks to you, Potter, there aren't any around for me to do the same!"

"Pity," Harry called sarcastically as he shot Sectumsempra at Draco.

"Just because I let you hit me with that once, Potter, it doesn't mean I'm going to let you every time!" Draco called over to Harry, who dodged the nasty homemade curse Draco had accompanied with this remark.

"By the way, did that hurt?" Harry yelled back as he sent a freezing charm over to Draco, which froze the part of the platform he was standing on.

"Let me see Potter, the last time you got a massive cut through your chest did it hurt?" Draco asked sarcastically as he slid around briefly on the platform while trying to hold a shield charm up and get rid of the ice.

"Well, I've had so many I don't feel the pain anymore," Harry called back, "You know there was the horntail, and that time Voldemort tried to kill me, oh and that other time Voldemort tried to-"

He was cut off because Draco had got back on his feet quicker than he'd expected and had sent a bludgeoning charm at Harry's arm, which he still managed to dodge. He also ignored Draco's shout of, "Stop being such a smug git just because you won the war!"

"Well, since I ended the war, Malfoy, it means I've had plenty of time to play games. Have you ever tried skipping?"

Harry then used the fire whip that Dumbledore had used in the cave when they'd gone to find the locket Horcrux. He aimed it at Draco's ankles, and the Slytherin cursed loudly and jumped with a slightly girlish shout. When Draco landed on the ground, he swore as his ankle bent the wrong way, and he crumbled to the ground.

Harry quickly shouted, "Expelliarmus!" and then healed Draco's ankle. He made his way over to his friend and helped him up.

"And that, my friend, is how you use my trademark spell," Harry said with an amused smirk. He got a glare in return.

As Harry jumped from the platform, the Aurors applauded him, and Graves approached him with a glint in his eye, "Alright, Potter, as the winner, you get to take on all of us," he said.

Graves had probably thought that this would scare Harry, but it only made the Gryffindor grin, "Alright, who's first?" he asked.

"Sorenson, you're up!" Graves said, and a few seconds later, Harry was on the platform once more with Sadie's big brother.

After the exciting duel that everybody had just witnessed between Harry and Draco, this one was a bit of a let-down. It barely lasted 10 minutes, and Harry disarmed Sorenson after spooking him by conjuring a snake.

"Are you gonna use that to finish every duel?" Draco asked in exasperation from where he was sitting on the ground, with Theo holding an ice pack on his ankle for him.

"Just showing you how to use it correctly, Draco," Harry said with a smirk towards his friend.

The next Auror Harry duelled was the woman, Lorna Clark. He didn't put her down as an easy target. He'd seen Tonks duel. This duel was slightly longer, and Harry ended it by conjuring a cage around Lorna and hitting her on his fifth attempt with "Expelliarmus".

"Seriously, Harry," Neville said, shaking his head from the sidelines, "Are you gonna use it every time?"

Harry rolled his eyes at them and readied himself for the duel with Lorne. He was quite a hefty man, so Harry decided that the easiest way to defeat Lorne would be to make him move. After 15 minutes of making the man run around the platform like a headless chicken Harry lazily disarmed him and winked at the others as they groaned and muttered, "Again?"

Finally, Harry was up against Graves, and he was feeling pretty confident because he hadn't lost a duel yet, and to qualified Aurors too. This was the longest duel so far and the most impressive to watch. For at least 20 minutes' spells were fired at top speed and dodged and shielded just as quickly. Eventually, Harry got one over on Graves by using the element of surprise. From the door behind Graves, none other than the Minister for Magic himself walked in.

"Look behind you, Graves," Harry yelled.

The Auror wasn't convinced, "I'm not falling for that! That's what Longbottom did!" Graves called.

Harry smirked, "No, really, the Minister for Magic is behind you!"

"He is, sir!" Lorna shouted, and Graves briefly, very briefly, glanced behind him and was so shocked to see the Minister that he let his shield charm down. Harry disarmed him and grinned as he walked across the platform to hand Graves his wand back, "Rookie mistake, Graves," he teased.

Graves rolled his eyes, "I'll admit it, Potter, you're good."

"Good enough to be a match for me?" Kingsley asked as he took off his cloak. Harry grinned; he would get to duel the Minister. What a perfect end to a perfect week.

So that was how it came to be. Kingsley was at one end of the platform and Harry at the other with everybody on the floor watching eagerly.

It was the best duel of the day; it was the best duel many of them had ever seen. It lasted for just under an hour, and neither duellist seemed to get tired at all. They kept up the speed throughout the entire duel and didn't make any minor slip-ups. This was impressive for both of them for different reasons. For Kingsley, he was now Minister for Magic and hadn't been practising his duelling as often as he once had.

For Harry, he didn't have any qualifications in duelling, unless defeating the most powerful dark wizard of all time was something he could put on a CV which he supposed in this line of work, he probably could.

Regardless, Auror or not, he had still beaten all of the Aurors who were fully qualified.

The duel eventually ended in an amusing fashion. Harry conjured a set of mirrors behind Kingsley and fired "Stupefy!", "Reducto!" and "Expelliarmus!" at the mirrors in quick succession. Kingsley couldn't sensibly dodge or shield them all, so naturally, he dodged Reducto as it would have done the most damage and was then hit by the stupefy charm while trying to block it.

Unfortunately, he missed something rather hilarious while he was unconscious. Harry had thought he had won and had turned to the others with an amused grin. It was only then he realised his "Expelliarmus" charm hadn't hit anything, and he turned to face the mirrors just in time to get hit by it. His wand flew from his hand and landed on the floor next to the platform.

Needless to say, Draco, Theo and Neville burst out into laughter.

"You got hit by your own trademark spell!" Draco shouted as he roared with laughter. Harry had to admit; it was pretty ironic. He rolled his eyes as he jumped down from the platform to retrieve his wand and join them on the ground. While this was happening, Graves revived the Minister.

Theo and Neville then got in on the act by acting out the scene from their own point of view. Theo took the mick by grinning smugly and then making a ridiculous face as he pretended the spell hit him.

"Oh, come on, I didn't look like that," Harry said.

"Yes, you did," Theo said with a smirk.

Neville then did the same and pretended to cry once the wand had dropped. Harry rolled his eyes, "Guys, I'm not that attached to my wand," he said. He only realised after the words had left his mouth how wrong they sounded.

"Daph would say otherwise," Draco joked.

"Harry," Kingsley boomed from behind the boys, "That was an excellent duel."

"Apart from the part where he disarmed himself with his own spell," Neville said, and this sent him, Theo and Draco off into hysterical laughter once more.

Kingsley smiled, "I can't believe I missed it," he said as he held out his hand and shook Harry's, "You had better pass the tests during the selection process. I want you to be head of the department someday."

"Well, that is a high honour Kingsley," Harry said with a smile as the Minister thanked Harry for the duel and left the training centre.

"Man, this has been a good placement," Theo said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Graves then came over to them all and thanked them. He wished them good luck with the selection process and said goodbye.

"I wonder if the girls have had as good a time," Draco wondered out loud as the boys made their way out of the ministry so they could apparate back to Hogsmeade.

"I suspect we'll find out soon," Harry said.

When the boys walked into the eighth year common room, the girls were already there and were waiting for them by the fire.

Sadie and Hermione jumped up and rushed into their boyfriend's arms.

Lilly just waved at Neville, "Good week?"

"Great week," Neville said as he sat down next to her, "But tell me all about yours first..."

Sadie threw her arms around Theo and chuckled as he elaborately spun her around. Once he had set her back down on the ground, he kissed her, and Sadie said, "I didn't know how much I'd missed you until we had to be apart this week."

Theo smiled genuinely, "I missed you too, even with all your cheesy cliché comments."

Sadie affectionately hit him around the back of the head, and Theo grinned.

Hermione had also flung herself at Draco, who hugged her and kissed her, something that didn't often happen in the common room in front of people, "Hi," Hermione said somewhat shyly.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, "Is that any way to greet your boyfriend, who you haven't seen for a week?" he asked, and Hermione grinned and kissed him once more.

Harry walked through the hugging couples to Daphne, who hadn't moved from her armchair. He gently lifted her and sat down, and he put her back down on his knee, "Hey," he said casually.

Daphne smiled, "Hey, good week?" she asked.

Harry grinned at her, "Oh, come on; you missed me, right?"

"Maybe a little," Daphne said with a laid back shrug.

Harry smirked, "Yeah, right."

Daphne then proceeded to kiss Harry, "Okay, so maybe I did miss you," she conceded with a giveaway smile, "Just a little, though."

The week had been fantastic for Harry, it had shown him what he could be, and he didn't feel scared about the end of Hogwarts anymore. It would be the end of an era, a significant era, and that would be sad. But it was also going to be the start of an age, and the closer it got, the more Harry found that he couldn't wait for the next stage of his life to begin.

* ~ TBC ~ *