Disclaimer-See previous chapters
Thanks to jennie, britt, Kevin, gundamhardcore, hpver7, la2ur2a, AngelsDaughter, Ali Lee and TBRWGURL for reviewing the last chapter!! Y'all are the best!! :)
Chapter 19
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Harry! For the last time, GET UP! You're gonna be late for Auror testing!"
Harry groaned as his Godfathers voice cut through the dream he'd been having, for once a good dream and not a nightmare. Ginny had been in it, they'd been laughing about something...he smiled as he recalled the blurry vision of her laughing face surounded by her firey hair. He reached clumsily for his glasses on the bedstand and fumbled them onto his face. He glanced casually at the clock and almost fell off the bed when he saw what time it was. Sirius hadn't been kidding about being late. Harry vaulted out of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom.
Five minutes later he was standing in the huge kitchen, preparing to apparate. Sirius had watched him with amusement as he had been getting ready, stuffing waffles into his face and hurridly trying to read over some of the notes Remus had given him to study. "Wish me luck." Harry said, trying to joke but sounding very nervous as he raised his wand slowly, as if he was trying to drag the moment out as long as possible. "Good luck." Sirius said with a grin. "You'll do fine, Harry. If you can take on Voldemort then trust me, you can take on Walker. Don't worry about it." Sirius said in an attempt to ecourage his rattled Godson. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen." Harry sighed as he apparated out of the house.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry opened his eyes to find himself in a large, empty room with no doors or windows. He contemplated what to do for a few minutes, maybe this was part of the test? Maybe he was supposed to figure out how to get out without apparating or something. But before Harry could figure out what this had to do with being an Auror, a door opened to his left and a very tall, erect man walked in briskly. His sandy blonde hair was streaked with grey. There was a feeling of wisdom about him, not unlike Dumbledore. His intense brown eyes seemed to silently speak of the experiences this man had been through and come out of alive. There was a long dark scar across his face stretching from his chin to his hairline in a diagonal line. As soon as he was inside of the strange room the door closed and was again invisible.
"You are Mr. Potter?" The man asked in a low, gruff voice that echoed slightly around the huge room. "Uh...yes sir." Harry answered, trying to sound confidant and certain like the man did, but falling very short of anything like it. "I'm Walker. I'll be testing you today." He said as he thrust forward a tanned, calloused hand. Harry shook it tentively, wishing that he could just get this whole thing over with before he threw up his waffles.
"Dumbledore and Mr. Lupin have spoken to me about you. They seem to think that there is a possibility of you passing the test that we usually only administer at the end of two years official training. Do you agree with them?" There was a definant tone of doubt ringing in the man's voice, and this somehow gave Harry some courage. "Yes." He said, this time sounding much more like he wished to, confidant and brave. A samll smirk flashed across Walker's face before dissapearing into his usual hard straight mouth. "Well we shall see. We don't normally allow students to take the final exam until at least one year of training has been completed, but you must understand that we are going through very hard times at the moment. We are in desperate need of more Auror's, more desperate even than we were 17 years ago." At this his eyes flew quickly up to Harry's scar before coming back down again to meet his eyes.
"By now you are most likely aware that I have a bit of doubt as to you passing this exam. Don't get me wrong, Potter. I have the utmost respect for you, after all, who in the wizarding world doesn't? Only I do not believe in special treament towards certain students simply because they are more...widely known than others. I wish you luck in this exam, Merlin knows even one more Auror would be a great help right now." He finished with a deep sigh.
Harry didn't know quite how to react to Walker's statement's, should he be angry or pleased? After all, for his whole life he'd wanted people to treat him normally, like they would anyone else. Yes now that he thought about it Harry was fairly certain that Walker hadn't meant to insult him in any way.
"Are you ready to begin, Mr. Potter?" The older man asked as he took out his wand. Harry felt his new found confidence slipping slowly away and could only nod in response. Walker backed up a few steps before standing directly in front of Harry. "First lets see how you apparate." He raised his wand and aimed it at the floor to Harry's right. A small ring about 3 ft across appeared. "Go ahead." He said as he motioned to the circle. Harry swallowed hard as he took out his wand. He closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing the ring in his mind. He felt a slight rush of air and opened his eyes to find himself standing directly in the ring. He looked up to see Walker smiling at him with satisfaction.
"Very nice indeed, Mr. Potter. Most are usually a few feet off. Well then I think you have the apparition under control. Let's try some defensive manuevers." And that's the way it went for about 2 hours. Harry tried different spells on a dummy that Walker conjured up, and blocks on spells that he threw at him. After about the first ten minutes Harry actually started enjoying himself. He had no trouble doing anything Walker asked him to, and enjoyed seeing the amazed smile on his trainers face every time he completed a task correctly, which was every time.
"Well now Mr. Potter I must admit I'm impressed. We need to bring Lupin on as a trainer here, it's amazing how much he's managed to teach you at such a young age. Your level of power is extraordinary, one thing's for sure, I wouldn't want to be an enemy of yours." He finished with a grin. "Now all that's left is a short written test and you'll be done." He conjured up a thin stack of papers and handed them to Harry along with a quil. "I'll be back in about half an hour. Good luck, Mr. Potter." And with a nod of his head he turned and walked back through the door he'd come through, which once again disappeared into the wall. Harry was about to sit on the floor when he noticed a small study table standing behind him and instead sat there.
40 minutes later Harry was sitting at the table running over the completed test, looking for mistakes. It had been surprisingly easy, really. He looked up when he heard the door open and Walker strode in. Harry stood up and the table and chair disappeared instantly. Harry handed the test to Walker, who touched his wand to it. A then whisp of smoke rose from the paper and formed itself into a shaky 0. "That doesn't mean I got a zero, does it?" Harry said in a paniced voice. "No, Mr. Potter. That is the number of questions that you missed. Congratualtions, Harry. You are now officialy an Auror."
Harry didn't even notice that Walker had called him 'Harry'. He was an Auror. He couldn't believe it. Just a few hours ago he'd been so sure that he would set the record for failing the test or something. Walker held out a thick envelope. "This has all the information you'll need to go over tonight. Instructions, rules and so forth. Tomorrow at 8:00 you are to apparate here and I'll show you where you're station is. I'm sure right now
there are several people you would like to share this news with so I won't detain you any longer. Just remember Mr. Potter, being an Auror means more than just strutting around in your uniform and showing off your badge. You are expected to work just as hard every other Auror in the ministry, there is no exception for new recruits." Harry nodded as he looked up into the man's eyes. He saw a pain reflected in them, a pain that could only come from many years of loss and hardship. "You will have to make sacrifices, and it won't be easy. You will see your colleagues get killed or tortured right in front of you, you will perhaps be killed or tortured yourself. It is very important that you understand the agreement that you are about to make." The tone in his voice almost seemed to suggest that he himself regreted the decision he made many years ago, but what Harry discerned above that was the pride in his voice. This man had devoted his life to helping those around him, and he would do it again if he had the decision to make again, despite all the pain it had caused him through the years.
"I know what I'm doing." Harry said in a quiet but determined voice. Walker nodded. "You know, Harry. I trained a young man to be an Auror almost 20 years ago now. He looked a lot like you, except for the green eyes." Harry suddenly realized who Walker was talking about. This man had trained his father. "I don't think he would regret the decision he made." Harry said firmly. True, his father might still be alive today if he
hadn't chosen to become an Auror, but Harry felt somehow that a few years of saving those you cared about was better spent than a liftime of sitting by and watching as those you loved were hurt or even killed.
"I don't either." Walker said with a sad smile. "Well you'd better go now Potter. You're godfather will be wanting to see how it went." Harry pulled his wand back out and held the evelope tightly in the other hand. "Thank you, sir." Harry said, giving the words more meaning than they usually held.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as he was standing in Hogsmeade in front of The Three Broomsticks he took off running towards Hogwarts. This no-apparation thing was gonna start bugging him after a few weeks of coming to see Ginny every day, but he of all people knew the imporance of it, and he wasn't very likely to complain about it.
He stopped in the entrance hall of Hogwart's to catch his breath. It was weird to be in Hogwarts and not be a student. It no longer felt like home, but it held so many memories, good and bad, that Harry couldn't help smiling as he looked around. He decided to head to the DADA class since he knew he would find Sirius there and then he could ask him what class Ginny was in at the moment.
When he reached the DADA classroom he could hear Sirius's voice coming through the door. Harry opened the door a crack and peered inside. Sirius was teaching what looked like a group of 3rd years. Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Sirius glanced up and saw Harry standing outside. He quickly gave the students their homework and dismissed them even though there was still 15 minutes of class left. The students filed out of the classroom excitedly.
"Well?" Sirius asked expectantly. Despite his attempts to keep from giving it away a huge smile broke across Harry's face. "I knew you'd pass!" Sirius said excitedly as he hugged his Godson. "So you're an Auror now, huh?" Sirius asked happily. "Yup." Harry answered. "Hey do you know what class Ginny is in now?" He asked his Godfather. Sirius took an extremely thick file out of a drawer in his desk and flipped through it. "I have all the students schedules here. Ah here's Ginny's." He scrolled down the page with his finger. "Charms." He said and looked up to see Harry already running out the door As he yelled "Thanks, Sirius!".
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I'm SO sorry that that took so long to get up. I've been really busy what with Thanksgiving and now x-mas and everything. I'll try to get the next chap up b4 x-mas but I'll just have to see how things go.
~Katydid
Thanks to jennie, britt, Kevin, gundamhardcore, hpver7, la2ur2a, AngelsDaughter, Ali Lee and TBRWGURL for reviewing the last chapter!! Y'all are the best!! :)
Chapter 19
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Harry! For the last time, GET UP! You're gonna be late for Auror testing!"
Harry groaned as his Godfathers voice cut through the dream he'd been having, for once a good dream and not a nightmare. Ginny had been in it, they'd been laughing about something...he smiled as he recalled the blurry vision of her laughing face surounded by her firey hair. He reached clumsily for his glasses on the bedstand and fumbled them onto his face. He glanced casually at the clock and almost fell off the bed when he saw what time it was. Sirius hadn't been kidding about being late. Harry vaulted out of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom.
Five minutes later he was standing in the huge kitchen, preparing to apparate. Sirius had watched him with amusement as he had been getting ready, stuffing waffles into his face and hurridly trying to read over some of the notes Remus had given him to study. "Wish me luck." Harry said, trying to joke but sounding very nervous as he raised his wand slowly, as if he was trying to drag the moment out as long as possible. "Good luck." Sirius said with a grin. "You'll do fine, Harry. If you can take on Voldemort then trust me, you can take on Walker. Don't worry about it." Sirius said in an attempt to ecourage his rattled Godson. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen." Harry sighed as he apparated out of the house.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry opened his eyes to find himself in a large, empty room with no doors or windows. He contemplated what to do for a few minutes, maybe this was part of the test? Maybe he was supposed to figure out how to get out without apparating or something. But before Harry could figure out what this had to do with being an Auror, a door opened to his left and a very tall, erect man walked in briskly. His sandy blonde hair was streaked with grey. There was a feeling of wisdom about him, not unlike Dumbledore. His intense brown eyes seemed to silently speak of the experiences this man had been through and come out of alive. There was a long dark scar across his face stretching from his chin to his hairline in a diagonal line. As soon as he was inside of the strange room the door closed and was again invisible.
"You are Mr. Potter?" The man asked in a low, gruff voice that echoed slightly around the huge room. "Uh...yes sir." Harry answered, trying to sound confidant and certain like the man did, but falling very short of anything like it. "I'm Walker. I'll be testing you today." He said as he thrust forward a tanned, calloused hand. Harry shook it tentively, wishing that he could just get this whole thing over with before he threw up his waffles.
"Dumbledore and Mr. Lupin have spoken to me about you. They seem to think that there is a possibility of you passing the test that we usually only administer at the end of two years official training. Do you agree with them?" There was a definant tone of doubt ringing in the man's voice, and this somehow gave Harry some courage. "Yes." He said, this time sounding much more like he wished to, confidant and brave. A samll smirk flashed across Walker's face before dissapearing into his usual hard straight mouth. "Well we shall see. We don't normally allow students to take the final exam until at least one year of training has been completed, but you must understand that we are going through very hard times at the moment. We are in desperate need of more Auror's, more desperate even than we were 17 years ago." At this his eyes flew quickly up to Harry's scar before coming back down again to meet his eyes.
"By now you are most likely aware that I have a bit of doubt as to you passing this exam. Don't get me wrong, Potter. I have the utmost respect for you, after all, who in the wizarding world doesn't? Only I do not believe in special treament towards certain students simply because they are more...widely known than others. I wish you luck in this exam, Merlin knows even one more Auror would be a great help right now." He finished with a deep sigh.
Harry didn't know quite how to react to Walker's statement's, should he be angry or pleased? After all, for his whole life he'd wanted people to treat him normally, like they would anyone else. Yes now that he thought about it Harry was fairly certain that Walker hadn't meant to insult him in any way.
"Are you ready to begin, Mr. Potter?" The older man asked as he took out his wand. Harry felt his new found confidence slipping slowly away and could only nod in response. Walker backed up a few steps before standing directly in front of Harry. "First lets see how you apparate." He raised his wand and aimed it at the floor to Harry's right. A small ring about 3 ft across appeared. "Go ahead." He said as he motioned to the circle. Harry swallowed hard as he took out his wand. He closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing the ring in his mind. He felt a slight rush of air and opened his eyes to find himself standing directly in the ring. He looked up to see Walker smiling at him with satisfaction.
"Very nice indeed, Mr. Potter. Most are usually a few feet off. Well then I think you have the apparition under control. Let's try some defensive manuevers." And that's the way it went for about 2 hours. Harry tried different spells on a dummy that Walker conjured up, and blocks on spells that he threw at him. After about the first ten minutes Harry actually started enjoying himself. He had no trouble doing anything Walker asked him to, and enjoyed seeing the amazed smile on his trainers face every time he completed a task correctly, which was every time.
"Well now Mr. Potter I must admit I'm impressed. We need to bring Lupin on as a trainer here, it's amazing how much he's managed to teach you at such a young age. Your level of power is extraordinary, one thing's for sure, I wouldn't want to be an enemy of yours." He finished with a grin. "Now all that's left is a short written test and you'll be done." He conjured up a thin stack of papers and handed them to Harry along with a quil. "I'll be back in about half an hour. Good luck, Mr. Potter." And with a nod of his head he turned and walked back through the door he'd come through, which once again disappeared into the wall. Harry was about to sit on the floor when he noticed a small study table standing behind him and instead sat there.
40 minutes later Harry was sitting at the table running over the completed test, looking for mistakes. It had been surprisingly easy, really. He looked up when he heard the door open and Walker strode in. Harry stood up and the table and chair disappeared instantly. Harry handed the test to Walker, who touched his wand to it. A then whisp of smoke rose from the paper and formed itself into a shaky 0. "That doesn't mean I got a zero, does it?" Harry said in a paniced voice. "No, Mr. Potter. That is the number of questions that you missed. Congratualtions, Harry. You are now officialy an Auror."
Harry didn't even notice that Walker had called him 'Harry'. He was an Auror. He couldn't believe it. Just a few hours ago he'd been so sure that he would set the record for failing the test or something. Walker held out a thick envelope. "This has all the information you'll need to go over tonight. Instructions, rules and so forth. Tomorrow at 8:00 you are to apparate here and I'll show you where you're station is. I'm sure right now
there are several people you would like to share this news with so I won't detain you any longer. Just remember Mr. Potter, being an Auror means more than just strutting around in your uniform and showing off your badge. You are expected to work just as hard every other Auror in the ministry, there is no exception for new recruits." Harry nodded as he looked up into the man's eyes. He saw a pain reflected in them, a pain that could only come from many years of loss and hardship. "You will have to make sacrifices, and it won't be easy. You will see your colleagues get killed or tortured right in front of you, you will perhaps be killed or tortured yourself. It is very important that you understand the agreement that you are about to make." The tone in his voice almost seemed to suggest that he himself regreted the decision he made many years ago, but what Harry discerned above that was the pride in his voice. This man had devoted his life to helping those around him, and he would do it again if he had the decision to make again, despite all the pain it had caused him through the years.
"I know what I'm doing." Harry said in a quiet but determined voice. Walker nodded. "You know, Harry. I trained a young man to be an Auror almost 20 years ago now. He looked a lot like you, except for the green eyes." Harry suddenly realized who Walker was talking about. This man had trained his father. "I don't think he would regret the decision he made." Harry said firmly. True, his father might still be alive today if he
hadn't chosen to become an Auror, but Harry felt somehow that a few years of saving those you cared about was better spent than a liftime of sitting by and watching as those you loved were hurt or even killed.
"I don't either." Walker said with a sad smile. "Well you'd better go now Potter. You're godfather will be wanting to see how it went." Harry pulled his wand back out and held the evelope tightly in the other hand. "Thank you, sir." Harry said, giving the words more meaning than they usually held.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as he was standing in Hogsmeade in front of The Three Broomsticks he took off running towards Hogwarts. This no-apparation thing was gonna start bugging him after a few weeks of coming to see Ginny every day, but he of all people knew the imporance of it, and he wasn't very likely to complain about it.
He stopped in the entrance hall of Hogwart's to catch his breath. It was weird to be in Hogwarts and not be a student. It no longer felt like home, but it held so many memories, good and bad, that Harry couldn't help smiling as he looked around. He decided to head to the DADA class since he knew he would find Sirius there and then he could ask him what class Ginny was in at the moment.
When he reached the DADA classroom he could hear Sirius's voice coming through the door. Harry opened the door a crack and peered inside. Sirius was teaching what looked like a group of 3rd years. Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Sirius glanced up and saw Harry standing outside. He quickly gave the students their homework and dismissed them even though there was still 15 minutes of class left. The students filed out of the classroom excitedly.
"Well?" Sirius asked expectantly. Despite his attempts to keep from giving it away a huge smile broke across Harry's face. "I knew you'd pass!" Sirius said excitedly as he hugged his Godson. "So you're an Auror now, huh?" Sirius asked happily. "Yup." Harry answered. "Hey do you know what class Ginny is in now?" He asked his Godfather. Sirius took an extremely thick file out of a drawer in his desk and flipped through it. "I have all the students schedules here. Ah here's Ginny's." He scrolled down the page with his finger. "Charms." He said and looked up to see Harry already running out the door As he yelled "Thanks, Sirius!".
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I'm SO sorry that that took so long to get up. I've been really busy what with Thanksgiving and now x-mas and everything. I'll try to get the next chap up b4 x-mas but I'll just have to see how things go.
~Katydid