Author's Note:

Parts of this are a bit choppy-those were written late at night. My apologies. This chapter has to do with the first training session, as well as a brief glimpse into the background of one James Potter, or rather his family's. Several characters we are already acquainted with appear. I made up the Potters' names, obviously, although I don't much like them. Suggestions are welcome--I hate coming up with names. Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed! I know, the first chapter wasn't as good as the prologue was--at least in my humble opinion--(hey, I'm the author, it should count for something.) But anyway--yes, for those of you who mentioned it, this is going to lead up to Peter's betrayal, among other things that I'm planning. Sorry this particular chapter took so long--with finals and everything, my computer time has been seriously limited for the last few days, but now that's over, and I think I did really well on my Calculus test, if it matters to anybody but me! Anyway, enough of me, just read.

Disclaimer: Everything actually belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter Two: Constant Vigilance

The Headquarters of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in Diagon Alley opened at six thirty in the morning on weekdays, and July 20th was no exception. Mr. Crouch was to attend the first of the training sessions for the new Hogwarts graduates, as he did every year. It was no secret that he was submitting a proposal to the other heads of departments for approval that somehow related to the Aurors, particularly those in the new group of trainees; however, nobody was exactly sure what it was, just that it was obviously extremely controversial, judging by the debates that had already lasted nearly three weeks. Mr. Crouch was very tight-lipped about the proposal, and the press was beginning to cause a stir, despite the Ministry's efforts to keep the whole affair quiet until it had been decided for certain. In any case, the training was to begin today, and the whole department had been consumed in the ensuing bedlam resulting from this as well as a new string of Death Eater attacks in London.

Remus Lupin knew very little of this. Little more than two hours after the department offices opened, he was standing with the other prospective Aurors--most fresh out of Hogwarts--awaiting nine o'clock. All except for James and Sirius, that is, because they had both wandered off to look at the latest model of broomstick in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Remus had been interested to learn which of his former classmates were to be training with him. Frank Longbottom from Ravenclaw was there, as well as Megan Abressly, a Hufflepuff, Edith Swanson, a Slytherin, and William Nott, another Slytherin. He suspected that there were at least a few more people still coming, considering the number of students that had applied to the Ministry. Even if not all of them had been eligible.

Remus himself hadn't been at all sure that he was going to be accepted into the Ministry's training program, even with his top grades and Dumbledore's recommendations. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures knew what he was, as did the Department for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Anything they knew, Bartemius Crouch knew. Especially if it involved one of his prospective Aurors. Remus had never met Crouch himself, but he knew that he was respected by nearly everyone at the Ministry, including the current Minister of Magic, Jonathan Prewett. From what Remus had heard of Crouch, however, he hadn't though it likely that he'd be willing to take a werewolf on as an Auror in training. Still, he had gotten in. Perhaps the Ministry wasn't as close-minded as Dumbledore had seemed to think.

His parents had been delighted, of course. That had been the best part of it. They never said anything in front of Remus, but he could tell that they were concerned about his future--whether he'd be able to get a job, start a family, and do something worthwhile with his life. That was the worst part about everything: the complete lack of opportunity available to a werewolf. It was obviously not as complete as he had thought. Maybe, just maybe, this would give him the chance to prove himself, and to start changing the minds of some of those who had been opposed to letting Remus attend Hogwarts to begin with.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of James and Sirius, who were apparently discussing the broom they'd just been examining.

"...not that we need anything special now that we're out of school. We can just apparate anywhere we need to go, or we could use Floo powder," James was saying.

"That's not the point."

"Have you taken your Apparating tests, then?" Frank Longbottom put in.

Sirius shook his head. "I've got it scheduled for next Wednesday."

"I'm glad they taught us how in school," Remus said. "Even if we had to go to Hogsmeade to practice. At least we have some experience with it now."

"At least, most of us do," Sirius remarked with a grin. James chose to ignore him.

"What's that?" Frank said, interested.

"Oh, nothing. Just that James here had a little accident during that particular Charms class."

"Go on...."

"He managed to splinch himself rather effectively. Both of his legs, his left arm, and all his hair disappeared. The rest was left in a rather untidy mess back in Hogsmeade. Eventually, they found the rest of him about fifty miles to the south, in a swimming pool at a Muggle secondary school. The Ministry had to wipe about thirty memories, as I recall."

"Sirius, you can quit it now," Remus admonished. "I think James is sufficiently embarrassed."

James was looking resolutely across the street, pretending to be interested in the advertisement for dragon livers an the apothecary shop window. He checked his watch, then looked up at the others. "It's seven to nine. Do you think we should go in?"

Remus stood up, not wanting to give Sirius time to start goading James on again. "All right." The others followed him into the Ministry offices. The first room was perfectly neat, with various decorative magical plants growing in pots. A witch was sitting behind a desk with a stack of envelopes next to her, busy writing on a sheet of parchment. She looked up at them and smiled.

"New trainees?" she asked. A few of them nodded, and she pointed to one of the doors that was labeled "Lower Level." Behind the door was a set of stairs leading downward, and at the far end was another door. A the ceiling and walls lit up as they filed down the stairs and opened the other door. The room beyond was large, with a minimum of furniture. The light seemed to come from the fireplace in one of the walls, but it was quite enough to light the room up brightly. About twenty chairs and desks had been set out in rows, reminding Remus of a classroom. Several cabinets stood against the walls. There was a large clock high on the wall facing the desks that told them they had five minutes until the first session began, right under which was a door. James turned to the others.

"Do we just wait?" he asked.

Remus shrugged. "I suppose so--what's that on the desks?" On each one was the name of one of the former students in a bright blue ink of some sort that seemed to change color subtly if you looked at it from a different angle. "Seating assignments?" He looked around at the names to find out who was still coming. "There's yours, Frank...Andrew McKinnon...Ravenclaw, right? And Shelia Penn...I didn't know she applied..."

"Snape!"

"What?" Remus turned to look at Sirius, who was staring with horror at one of the desks.

"You heard me, Severus Snape! What's he doing, trying to become an Auror? You'd think he'd be with the Death Eaters."

"Sirius, don't," Remus said in a cautionary tone of voice. "You shouldn't say things like that."

"Why not? It's true. I told you about seeing him with Malfoy the other--"

Remus cut him off with a furious glare. As if they needed any of the others in here to know they'd been sneaking out of the castle their last night at Hogwarts, he thought angrily. Sometimes Sirius acted like he had no common sense at all. Fortunately, because Frank and the others were looking rather curiously at them, the door opened again and about ten other people came in, Severus Snape in front. Sirius scowled at him, and Snape's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the people already in the room. Before he could say anything, the clock chimed to announce that it was now nine o' clock, and the door beneath opened. Two men stepped into the room.

One of them was very severe looking, with impeccably parted dark hair that was beginning to go gray at the roots. His robes were perfectly straight, although Remus thought he would have looked more in character with a Muggle suit on. From pictures in the Daily Prophet, he recognized the man as Bartemius Crouch, head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement. The other man looked completely different. He was surveying them all as though sizing them up, tapping his wand on his thigh with one hand and thumbing his chin with the other. His hair was slightly long and a bit unruly, and his grim face was scarred and jagged, like it had been very inexpertly chiseled out of stone. Crouch cleared his throat to get their attention--rather needlessly, Remus thought--and spoke in a clear, precise voice.

"Please take your seats," he commanded, "according to the names on them. We will begin when everyone is settled." They did so, and as the students sat down at the desks, the names disappeared. "Thank you. My name is Bartemius Crouch, and this is Alastor Moody." A low murmur ran around the room at this. Alastor Moody was a renowned Auror, and most of them had read in the Daily Prophet about the many Death Eater captures he had been involved with. Crouch cleared his throat again, and the noise died away instantly. "Mr. Moody will be teaching most of these sessions, but I am here to oversee the first of them and make introductions."

"First of all, anything obviously confidential--I trust you all have the ability to distinguish such things--is not to be repeated outside this room. Noncompliance will result in sever consequences. Understood?" Everyone nodded. "Secondly, an Auror is a representative of the Ministry. If you do become an Auror, there will be restrictions and guidelines you must follow. It is best that you are aware of these before you begin training in earnest." He flicked his wand at one of the nearby cabinets. A door flew open, and a stack of rolls of parchment floated out, each settling on one of the desks. Remus took his and read the title: "Rules and Regulations of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Crouch continued, "I will expect you to read this by the next training session. It is vital that you know these guidelines. They will be updated regularly." Here he flicked a glance at Moody, who was looking rather sour about something. "Only by understanding the regulations the Ministry has put down to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of this Department can you work together as a unit. That is one of the most important goals we have here--to build a bond of trust and interdependence. We cannot succeed in our aims if we are striving to achieve individual objectives and satisfy our ambitions. I trust that you will all manage this admirably. On this note, I will turn the floor over to your instructor, Mr. Alastor Moody."

Crouch conjured up a chair for himself and sat down in the corner. Moody glared around impressively at all of them. "Right. I want to begin by telling you all that you're not here to be coddled. The Death Eaters and their leader are strong, there's no concealing that fact. Least of all from you people. It's not an easy time we live in, and we had better get around to facing that. You will not be able to hide from the things you will be learning about in this room. Eventually you'll have to go out and meet them face to face. I've done it, so I know what it's like. It's not easy. But that's why you were chosen, of course--because you showed your ability in classes and in the Ministry's examinations, and because Dumbledore's told us what you're made of. That's not going to mean any of the Death Eaters you meet are going to sit there and let you capture them. They won't hesitate to torture you for information, or to kill you. You've got to understand that. And if you're outnumbered, you're in trouble, no matter what your skills. That means you have to plan ahead. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

He bellowed this last at them all hard enough to cause Remus and some of the others to jump slightly. Mr. Crouch looked on impassively.

"Constant vigilance--that's the key. You've got to be focused and ready for whatever they throw at you." He was talking, Remus thought, as though there were a band of Death Eaters standing right outside the door. "You also have to have discretion. The Dark Lord has eyes and ears everywhere, so you can't go telling classified information to just anyone. There may be some cases in which it's better not to relate certain information to all the other Aurors, even if you're working alongside them. But if the information is vital to the survival of the group, you must be willing to give it up. Along with that discretion comes trust."

Moody jerked his head over to stare at Remus, eyes boring into his own. "Remus Lupin." Remus nodded apprehensively. "If you plan to work with these people, you've got to learn trust, and do they. You can't expect them to trust you if you conceal information that may quite possibly affect us all in the future. If you choose not to become an Auror and to withhold your condition, you may leave this room immediately, and I won't think any the worse of you. If you choose to begin training, you've tell these people what you are, with the understanding that it will remain in the strictest of confidence."

For a full moment, all eyes were riveted on Remus, including those of Moody. He swallowed. He couldn't tell anyone. He had kept it a secret for twelve years. The thought of revealing his lycanthropy to everyone else in the room--most of them people he respected and counted as friends--was inconceivable. And yet, Moody was right. If he couldn't trust these people with this secret, he had no business being a part of the group. He nodded again. "Very well." James and Sirius stared at him, taken aback. Snape let out his breath in a low hiss. "This will come as a shock to most of you--well, I suppose, all of you, really, except the people who already know...." He broke off, floundering about helplessly. Moody just watched him. Remus looked around at the expectant faces surrounding him, and then stated bluntly, "For the last twelve years, I've been a werewolf."

The expressions of his former classmates turned instantly from inquiry to horror. Some of them recoiled slightly. James looked down at his desk, and Sirius looked back at Moody.

"I hope," Moody growled, "that you will be able to live with this, Nott." Remus glanced over his shoulder to see the Slytherin's face. The look he recieved was pure revulsion. "I can't expect you all to accept this immediately. That's for you to deal with. I do, however, expect you to be able to accept it in time. Any questions?"

There was no reply. "Good. Mr. Lupin will, I'm sure, be willing to elaborate on this after class. I know from experience that the rumors surrounding werewolves are a lot worse than the truth." Remus couldn't help but wonder where the experience came in. Where had Moody encountered a werewolf before?

The Auror had already moved on. "For the remainder of this session, we'll do a quick review. Nothing too difficult--I just want to see how you all can deflect basic curses."

After they had cleared a space on the floor, Moody made them stand in a circle around him, wands at the ready. Without warning, he began shooting trails of sparks at various people in the circle, turning rapidly and moving on to the next after the spell was either deflected or had reached his mark. After a few minutes, Sirius was flat on his back under the effects of the Body-Bind curse, wand lying several feet away, and a few of the others had been disabled in various other ways. At one point, Moody whipped clear around to face Remus, and shouted, "Stupefy!" Remus was caught off guard but managed to duck the spell. He'd seen that Moody generally used a succession of curses in this situation, and was prepared for the next. Before Moody could bellow something else out at him, Remus threw a spell back.

"Expelliarmus!"

He heard the slap of wood against wood as Moody's wand hit the wall behind him. Remus froze, wondering belatedly whether they had been expected to retaliate or just to deflect the spell. Moody, however, grinned at him. The effect this produced was rather disturbing, as on the jagged face it came out as something like a grimace. "Simple spell, that, but effective. Good, all of you. Let's do this individually, and don't hesitate to shoot back this time."

The individual "duels" lasted until eleven thirty, at which point Moody dismissed them all, with the reminder to return the same time the day after next.

The moment they all made it out of the building, Remus found himself to be everyone's center of attention.

"So," Frank Longbottom began, in a low voice, "are you going to tell us what this is all about?"

"Just what I said. I'm a werewolf."

"For twelve years? How did you get into Hogwarts?"

And so he found himself explaining the past twelve years of his life to all of them, except the Slytherins. Remus suspected that Snape was currently relating the same tale--or the details Dumbledore had told him--from a very different perspective.

It wasn't as hard as it might have been, he supposed. They accepted his story without question, including his explanations of exactly what his condition entailed, including an emphasis on the fact that he posed no threat except when the moon was full. He still wasn't quite sure that he had convinced all of them, though, by the obvious trepidation on some faces as they said good-bye to Remus, Sirius, and James before returning home. Eventually, the three of them set off through the crowded streets to get some lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.

********

James was halfway through the handbook Crouch had given them all when an owl flew into his bedroom window. Glad for the interruption, as the guidelines were not only detailed but incredibly boring, he removed the letter dangling from its talons and offered it a drink of water, which it accepted before flying back into the nearly black sky. He recognized the handwriting on the envelope immediately, and tore it open.

James, it began,

I see you haven't bothered to write. It's been nearly two weeks! I heard all of you were accepted--except for Peter. How's he doing about it? I can imagine how disappointed he is. Tell him I'm sorry if you see him before I do, will you? Speaking of seeing all of you, I have a feeling we'll be hearing from Dumbledore before long, like we talked about at the end of term.

Petunia's wedding went well. She looked absolutely radiant. I feel sorry for her, though. I can't imagine spending that much time with Vernon. As I said before, though, I suppose she must see something in him, and I'm probably being too judgmental. Still...no, it's none of my business, really.

I've started work at St. Mungo's. It's absolutely wonderful, even though I've only got the small jobs for now. I suppose that's where everyone starts. How are your training sessions going? They must have started by now. Weren't they supposed to begin today? Write back and tell me. I'm expecting your letter soon, mind.

Lily

That left him feeling rather guilty. He had promised to write Lily soon and it had been nearly two weeks. James stood up from the armchair and stepped out of his room, letter still in hand, and made his way downstairs. His mother were reading in the sitting room, curled up on the couch. She smiled up at him as he entered the room.

The Potters had been a very unusual couple, by all accounts. James had quite obviously gotten his hair from his mother. Vivian Potter had long black hair that she almost always wore pulled loosely back from her face, though stray strands were constantly pulling away from the rest. She had taught Astronomy for several years at Hogwarts before retiring when James had been born. Even now, she would spend hours outside at night with her magically enhanced telescope, staring up at the stars and planets and making notes. Although she didn't pretend to see the future through them, as did centaurs, her careful studies had other uses. For instance, the movement of the stars and planets had a lot to do with Herbology and the way certain magical plants grew--or so James had been told. He'd never managed to have a deep interest in her field of study.

Her husband, Dorian Potter, on the other hand, had been a physicist. Not many wizards bothered to learn much about physics--Muggle or magical--but Dorian had found the subject fascinating. After Hogwarts, he had studied for a short time at a Muggle university, and then gone to a specialized school that taught magical theory and the physics behind it. James knew even less about this than he knew about his mother's work, but apparently the study of Muggle physics and magical theory were closely related. His father had set off on a crusade to prove to the wizarding community that magical laws were closely related to the Muggle laws of physics--despite all former beliefs to the contrary--and to encourage training in these studies as well as their wizarding counterparts. His ideas had raised great controversy, but before they could begin to take hold, he had been killed in a completely unexpected Death Eater attack, which had taken place at a Ministry building where Dorian was delivering a lecture. James had been thirteen at the time. His mother had been devastated, but had managed to take care of herself and James as a single mother for the past four years. She had only recently begun to continue her work, and was currently in the middle of writing a book on the effects of the phases of the moon on the growth of certain species of magical legumes. Apparently, a wizarding publishing company was extremely enthused about this book, which it expected to receive rave reviews from the leading scientific magazines of the wizarding world.

"Aren't you asleep yet? It's after midnight."

James shook his head. "I've been reading through that handbook Crouch gave us. It's really long, and just as boring. I'm almost done, though."

His mother glanced down at the letter in his hand. "Who's that from?"

"Lily--I was just going to write back, actually, but I've run out of ink."

"I've got plenty in the cabinet next to the broom cupboard, if you want to check there."

He went out into the hallway and began rummaging through the drawers in the cabinet. "What are you reading?" James called back in to her.

"The Amateur's Guide to Gardening--I need to figure out what's wrong with those silverroot plants I've got in the back. They're withering away, but they're supposed to last until mid August, and watering doesn't seem to help," she answered, a slight frown carrying through to her voice. "How's Lily doing?"

"Fine, as far as I can tell. She's started work at St. Mungo's."

"Really?" He returned to the sitting room, where his mother had set down her book and was sitting up. "Good for her. Does it sound like she's enjoying it?"

"A lot," James assured her.

"All right. I'm going to bed, I've found what I needed. Don't stay up too much longer, will you? Just because you've graduated doesn't mean you're excused from sleeping."

"I won't, Mum. Good night."

"Good night, James."