Title: Strings of Fate
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Being raised only by his Aunt, Harry comes to Hogwarts not only knowing about the Wizarding World, but with a kind of training no one at the school is expecting.
A/N: Apologies in advance for some of the dense talking in this chapter.
Harry was staring off into space, his mind wandering as he idly listened to Susan humming as she read next to him, a comfortable warmth against his side as she leaned up against him. She was reading her Transfiguration textbook as she hummed. Harry himself should have been studying himself, it was the official reason why he had bowed out of the Poker Tournament this weekend, now being run by the Janus' since Indy had graduated.
That was where Dragon and Sunset were, Neville having invited Hannah, who did not have the spare spending money for the tournament so Harry had given her the money and told her to have fun. It was good to see Sunset getting out with others of the group without Harry or Diva. The terminally shy Hufflepuff was not one to get out much without one of the two of them, but Dragon had gently convinced her to participate.
"Where did you drift off to?" Susan asked.
Harry looked down at her, who was looking up from her position at his side, her book open but face down on her lap.
"Sorry, just thinking about stuff." Harry said. "How good it is that Sunset's bonding more with the others. DADA Class. Just stuff."
Defence Against the Dark Arts had become a joke, at least when Lockhart was there. Luckily, just like in the Duelling Club, as soon as any mention is made of any potential physical flaw he would leave the class room. Even Hermione had gotten in on it and hers was the one that got the best laugh afterwards, as hers had been a medical condition that only affected females, and Lockhart did not even notice.
For the Second Years, the DADA Class had become the province of Harry and his friends, utilising the extensive compilation of notes from the Hufflepuff records and notes from all of the older Weasley children. In the Ravenclaw Hufflepuff class, learning from these notes was led by Harry and Hermione, while the Gryffindor Slytherin class was led by Neville and Daphne. A number of students, particularly in Gryffindor and Slytherin, at first were more interested in slacking off when Lockhart was absent, but a reminder that they still needed to know this, if not on their end of year exams, then next year when the next DADA Professor would expect them to know this year's work. Those few who held out, namely Draco and Ron, were threatened with McGonagall and Snape.
"The class is going well; Wells is on top of the lesson planning." Susan replied. "I even saw McGonagall watching one of the lessons with an approving look."
Harry's hand idly ran through Susan's auburn locks, more to comfort himself than her.
"I just have a feeling that something bad is coming." Harry said. "Something about what happened to Filch's cat on Halloween. I know Wells is researching, but.."
"There is so little to go on. And you like to know what is going on." Susan said.
"You know me so well." Harry said.
Susan just smiled to herself and snuggled closer into Harry's side.
Indy and Tali walked into the large lecture hall and took their seats in the middle of the rows of benches. The rest of their class of Auror Trainees, bout forty strong, filed in and sat around the room in their groups of friends, with a number of trainees sitting by themselves. Two figures entered and moved to the podium. One was one of their regular instructors, the other was Amelia Bones, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement herself.
"Oh look, it's your friend." Tali said softly.
"Shut it, Tali." Indy replied in kind.
"Attention everyone." The regular instructor said. "We have a special guest instructor today. Madam Bones, the Director of the DMLE."
"Thankk you, Stevenson." Amelia said. "I always take this one class with every class that goes through the Academy. Today we are going to go over the structure of the DMLE and the Auror Corps."
Amelia looked over the entire class with a level look, not showing any sign of recognising Tonks or Tali.
"Now most people have no real understanding of the structure of either the DMLE or the Auror Corps. Most think it is simply Aurors, who catch dark wizards, and Hit Wizards, who they think do everything else. This is not only overly simplistic, but simply wrong."
There was a bit of a mummer from most of the trainees.
"There are four departments in the DMLE." Amelia explained. "The Auror Corps, The Hit Wizards, the Dispatch Office and the Patrol. The two largest departments are the Dispatch Office and the Patrol. Every guard at the Ministry and the DMLE personnel often seen in Diagon Alley are all members of the Patrol. The Patrol is responsible for the day to day policing of the Magical World. The Disaptch Office is made up of all of the non-field personnel. They do all the administrative work and they answer all the Floo-calls made to the DMLE."
Amelia smiled at the shocked look of many of the trainees.
"What, you thought we would have trained Auror's answering the Floo and patrolling Diagon to stop shoplifters?" Amelia said with a hint of sarcasm. "Now we get to the pointy end of the DMLE. The Hit Wizards and the Auror Corps. The Hit Wizards are, when you get right down to it, more a physiological deterrent than an effective department. There are only four Hit Wizards in the entire department, but their primary job is assassination, but they are only deployed under very strict circumstances. Now we get to the Auror Corps."
The feeling in the room instantly changed from confusion to rapt attention.
"The Auror Corps is not a single large department; it is actually four." Amelia continued. "Investigations, Intelligence, Protection and Rapid Response. Investigations is the bulk of the Auror Corps, and are responsible for processing serious crime scenes, chasing down major criminals and chasing down tips of major crimes being planned. The Intelligence department is responsible for making sure that the Corps is aware of what is happening out there. Everything from undercover operations to working with informants and full on Spy work. The Protection department is just what it sounds like. They provide close quarters protection for VIP's, be they Ministry, foreign dignitaries or other people of importance. The final department is Rapid Response. They are the ones who go in when the shit hits the fan. If there is a major situation, the Rapid Response Aurors are the ones who deal with it."
Amelia paused to let this information sink in.
"In the next two years, you will all be trained in aspects of all of all the four Departments. This is not only to find out which of these departments you would be best suited, but also so that all Aurors are able to, if need be, fill in into any department if needs be." Amelia concluded.
"Well, you're going to be in Investigations." Indy said.
"What about you? Intelligence?" Tali asked.
"Maybe, but I am clumsy." Tonks said. "Sure I am a metamorph, but undercover does not really appeal. I want to be me, not always someone else."
TBC…