Harry stepped out of the floo in his dark Auror robes to immediately be blinded by purple flashes. Apparently, he was not the only one who knew that his first day of work as an Auror was today. As he tried to shove himself through the crowd, reporters fired questions at him, which he ignored:

"Harry, how does it feel to be the youngest Auror ever?"

"Harry, what do you think the other new recruits will think, when you don't have to go through three years of training?"

"Harry, do you have the Elder Wand? Can you show it to us?"

"Harry, is it really fair to start as an Auror with an undefeatable wand?"

Somehow Harry was able to push his way into the lift and shut the gate without anyone else joining him. He was tempted to send his Patronus after the reporters. Their grasping nature reminded him of dementors, trying to suck out his soul for their own gain. That reminded him that he had meant to bring chocolate to share with all the other new recruits.

As Harry stepped out of the lift in the Auror offices, the other lift doors opened and journalists spilled out with a cacophony of noise. Auror heads appeared above their cubicles to examine what was happening as other recruits were trying to fight their way through the reporters. Harry ducked his head as he entered the conference room and slid into a seat. He looked around at the new Auror-trainees; they were all either staring at him or staring at the commotion outside through the glass walls.

"Get out!" Suddenly Gawain Robards, the Head Auror, steamed out of his office. "No one from the Auror office will be talking to the media. Leave now before I get the Hit Wizards to throw you out." As the journalists began to load back into the elevators, Robards stalked by the conference room. "Potter! My office! Now!"

Harry noticed sympathetic expressions on all the faces turned his way. He quietly left the conference room and followed Robards back to his office.

"Chaos certainly follows wherever you go, Potter. I guess the question is whether you are worth the chaos. Shacklebolt seems to think so, but I am not so certain."

"I don't ask for the media to follow me around. I never respond to them."

"I know, Potter, it really isn't your fault. But, you are going to have to show that you deserve to skip over the normal training period; otherwise, there's going to be some hard feelings for the special treatment. Here, it's all about what you do now, not what you have done in the past, even if it includes killing the Dark Lord. Hand me your wand."

"What, sir?" Harry asked in shock.

"Your wand," as Harry reluctantly handed it over. "Is this the Elder Wand?"

"No sir."

"Is this the wand that you killed the Dark Lord with?"

"No, I gave that one back to Draco Malfoy."

"You gave the wand that killed Lord Voldemort back to Draco Malfoy?"

"Well, I doubt it will work very well for him. Its allegiance had transferred to me. This is just my normal wand, sir," Harry said, pointing to his holly wand with the phoenix feather core. "Anyway, you don't believe the mythical legends about the Elder Wand, do you?"

"Don't patronize me. One thing I will not stand is for you to lie to me, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. The Elder Wand is hidden. I won't be using it."

"Good. You could see how people might think that to be a little bit of an unfair advantage. Get back to the conference room."

Harry looked around at the other new recruits as the trainers droned on about all the paperwork they needed to fill out. He recognized one girl from Hufflepuff who had been two years ahead of him. She had been a Chaser on their Quidditch team. There were also two Gryffindors from four or five years ahead of him that he knew. They actually looked friendly toward him. Everyone else looked familiar even though he didn't know their names.

During a break, Harry talked to the Hufflepuff girl and the Gryffindors and then tried to make a point to introduce himself to the other recruits. He knew that they knew his name, but it seemed weird to ask for theirs while not providing his own. Hermoine had made a special effort to warn him that it wouldn't benefit him to be his normal reticent self. "They'll just see it as arrogance, Harry. I know you're not arrogant, but the assumption is going to be that you are unless you make an effort to show them your true side. It's not a time to keep everyone out. You are going to have to be extra friendly. Think Colin Creevey."

Although it made him sad to think about his late friend, he told Hermoine that there was no way he could channel that degree of energy and friendliness. "I know. But if you aim for Colin, maybe you'll end up somewhere in the middle where people might actually get to know you and not just think they know about you. You have to do this, Harry. You're already getting special treatment. You have to go out of your way to show that you're really just another person."

So all he needed was a personality change to show he was just another person while also proving to others that he deserved special treatment due to his talents; that should be easy. And yet, people seemed to be open to his offers of friendliness. Hopefully, Hermoine would be proud of him.

After lunch the new recruits gathered in the training room. Harry was uncomfortably aware that his dark robe (which showed his status as an Auror) was similar to the trainers, while the rest of the new recruits wore the light robes that signified their status as Auror trainees. Throughout the afternoon, the trainers asked them to demonstrate certain magical skills in groups. As they were basic skills that Harry had mastered long ago (Expelliarmus, really?), he went around helping the other recruits with their efforts.

As the end of the day, one of the trainers asked Harry to stay. "Robards has asked us to determine how much of the planned training exercises you already know." Everything they asked of him he was able to do.

"Is that what you cover in the first month of training?" Harry asked.

"Actually, that's the first three months of training. We'll let Robards know so he can decide what to do with you."

Apparently, what to do with him seemed to be a common problem. As he prepared to leave (again), Robards called to him before he reached the elevators. "Potter! Come with me! Minister Shacklebolt says we have to talk to the press. He says they're not leaving. Let me do the talking, please."

"No problem," Harry said as he followed his boss back to the Atrium.

If anything, there were more reporters than in the morning. Spending his summer at the Burrow where wards kept the reporters from coming close, he had not had the full realization of how his life really had changed. Reporters had always gathered around when they noticed him before, but it seemed now that he might have a permanent following, not something that he looked forward to.

After Robards had talked to the press and answered a few questions, "Yes, Harry Potter is one of our new recruits. Yes, he is the youngest one ever to come in as a full Auror. No, the Elder Wand is a myth and I won't be answering questions about it…" he dismissed Harry along with the journalists. Harry hurried through the crowd again, ignoring questions, before finally flooing back to the Burrow.