AN: Here's everyone's reaction to Harry's job. Thanks a bunch to
reviewers! :) I know it took me a while to update, but I was busy with a
marine biology course in the Florida Keys.
"HE'S WHAT?"
This seemed to be the reaction of everyone within hearing distance. Harry looked around at their stunned faces, halfway annoyed with his boss, halfway wishing for a camera. Minerva looked confused and very shocked at the same time. Ron's jaw had dropped and he was stuttering wordlessly. Snape looked better than most of the professors, but even the older man was staring at Harry with somewhat of a surprised look. Hermione looked over at him, awed, but not shocked. It seemed like she had heard something before hand.
Harry had to hold in a laugh at Toombs' expression. The woman had a look on her face of utter disbelief and shock. She seemed to come to her senses, and looked at the large man that was Harry's boss.
"I don't know how much he paid you to come here and do this, but we don't believe a word of it. I would suggest you leave now. You don't need to waste anymore time here," she said, in a very condescending manner. Instead of being offended, Harry's boss just grinned at the woman, making him look a bit crazy. He didn't usually smile very often.
"Well, I'll go, so long as I can talk to Potter. Don't really wanna spend anymore time around you than I've got to. Too much of a snooping bitch for my tastes. Need to keep your over-large nose in your own business," he said. McGonagall snorted at this, and Hermione tried (and failed) to contain a huge grin. Ron, however, was not so subtle, and burst out loud with laughter. Toombs looked too shocked for words. Harry imagined it had been a while since someone had dared to insult her-at least to her face.
Rich's glare returned as he turned to speak to Harry. "Let's go, Potter."
Suddenly Maggie (yeah, that was her name) stepped in.
"Sir, Mr. er-Rich. You may use our side room here, if you'd like. I'm afraid we don't need Mr. Potter running off on us again," she said patronizingly, pointing to the side room. Hermione sent her a glare that would have fazed Malfoy (back in the day), but the girl didn't pay any attention to Hermione.
Richard seemed fine to discuss whatever he needed to in the side room, so Harry followed him into the same room that he was led into during the Triwizard tournament.
As soon as he shut the door, the whispers started.
"That is just absolutely bogus. I won't believe it!" Three guesses as to who that was.
"The ALA? Was Harry even in America?" someone asked.
"How in the world did Potter become the head Auror for the ALA?" Malfoy asked Ron. Ron just shrugged.
"I dunno, he always talked about being an Auror after school, but I never really thought he would. It's hard to be an Auror when every Death Eater is after your blood, you know?" Ron said.
"Yeah, but how did he do it? He wasn't that good in school, and then even during those Death Eater attacks..." Malfoy trailed off, confused. "I mean, how did he get into the top Auror branch in the world? Probably used his name," he said, grumbling. "He is the famous 'boy-who-lived',"
Hermione butt into their conversation. "Don't you remember the Death Eater attacks?"
Malfoy shook his head 'no'. "Don't you remember them, Granger? Potter was stuck in the castle the whole time. He just sat there beside Dumbledore doing nothing," he said, a bit bitterly.
Ron was the one to contradict Malfoy this time. "Er-actually, Malfoy, he did a lot more then just 'sit around'," he said. "We weren't actually supposed to tell anyone, for his safety reasons, but now....I guess it won't hurt. Hmmm, how do I start..."
"As you know, Harry has dreams," Hermione started.
"Dreams that are more like visions," Ron said, interrupting her. "He's had them ever since you-know-who-"
"Voldemort, Ron, his name is Voldemort," Hermione interrupted him. "Ever since Voldemort got his powers back in our fourth year, he's had these visions. And they often are true. Either he dreams about a meeting that's going on right at that moment or-"
"You mean Potter could see Death Eater meetings?" Malfoy asked incredulously.
"Yes, but he also had visions of what was going to happen. Like an attack," she said. "Eventually, they became too much for him, and he started taking Dreamless Sleep potion so he could get some rest. He-"
"If he had visions of attacks, why didn't he see the Hogesmade attack?" Malfoy asked.
"If you would stop interrupting me, I could finish, Malfoy," she said testily. "Like I was going to say, the reason he didn't see some of the attacks was because he had to take the potion. He couldn't predict all of the attacks because he didn't dream about them. After the first couple of surprise Death Eater attacks, which started in our seventh year, Harry decided he wanted to help out. The only problem with him helping the Order was that he was the most known person in the whole wizarding world. If the Death Eaters found out he was helping the Auror raids, he could have been in very serious danger."
"Well, more danger than he already was, Hermione," Ron said. "Dumbledore wanted to keep him safe, but Harry wouldn't hear of it. Eventually Dumbledore agreed, but it was only because we desperately needed help. Harry had to go undercover, with a Glamour and everything. To keep up appearances, Dumbledore had someone take Polyjuice potion and pose as Harry during the attacks."
"We worked as a team, the three of us. Harry, Ron and I brought in a lot of Death Eaters, you know. I assume that's why everyone was so excited when we came back to Hogwarts." Here she paused for a moment, before continuing, as if something had just occurred to her.
"It seems a bit odd that everyone greeted us like that, though, because our names were never released. We never told anyone who we were-well, we couldn't, for Harry's sake," she said, frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder how the public found out?"
Her wonderings were brought to a halt when Harry walked out-no, correction- stormed out of the small room. The room fell quiet. His boss, Rich, had followed him out, looking just as angry as Harry.
"Now Potter, you see here-this wasn't my idea. You screwed up, and now you gotta pay for it."
"I was not the one who left it at the headquarters, was I? No, I was in Albania, tracking down some stupid Death Eaters because you couldn't get your lazy, sorry excuse for an assistant to get me the message in time! And now, after two months, you come here telling me *I* screwed up? I've never...completely rash....stupid, bloody idiot.." Harry seemed to be too angry to form a complete sentence.
"Potter, you listen to me-I'm not gonna take no for an answer- either you do it or you can find yourself hunting down Cornish pixies in the Arctic for the rest of your life. It's your choice."
With that, Harry's boss walked out the door, leaving a stunned group of teachers and a very angry Harry Potter.
~~~Before~~~
When Harry closed the door to the small room, Rich wasted no time with small talk.
"Potter, the Death Eaters got a hold of the list of all the Aurors you've got working under you," he said grimly.
Harry stared in shock. "How? It wasn't really ever recorded, was it?"
Rich sighed, and looked a bit angry. "Yes, Potter, it was and unfortunately the list was found missing from Corbin's desk about two days after you took off. He tried to contact you, but you weren't available. I'm here to tell you that you need to repair the damage you've done."
"Damage I've done? Do you know what I've been doing these past two months?" he said lividly.
"Yes, don't think I didn't recognize your fighting style. However; helpful as you may be, you still need to fix the situation in America," Rich responded.
"It's not my situation to fix, Rich. I would not leave something like that just laying around!" Harry was starting to get angry. He was being accused of something he hadn't done.
"Potter-listen to me. The last person to see it before the break in was you. That leaves you responsible."
"I DIDN'T SCREW UP! I DID NOT LEAVE THE LIST ON CORBIN'S DESK, AND I WILL NOT LEAVE HOGWARTS WHEN THEY NEED ME TO FIX YOUR STUPID SECRETARY'S MISTAKE!"
With that he stormed out of the room, too angry to care what his boss had to say.
~~~~~~
Hermione walked to the portrait that guarded the entrance to Harry's rooms. The portrait oddly reminded her of Dumbledore, but the man in the painting was very young, maybe late thirties. The things that had caught her eye when she first saw the painting were the twinkling, blue eyes. This portrait, unlike the rest of the paintings in the school, did not talk.
She had looked all over the school for him-her and Ron. They'd tried the Quidditch Pitch, Hagrid's hut, even the Forbidden Forrest. Why they had chosen to search his rooms last was a mystery to Hermione.
"Harry? Are you there?" she called.
No response.
"Harry? Come on, I know you're there."
Still no response.
She started knocking on the portrait again, getting a bit agitated.
"Harry Potter! I know you're in there and I'm not moving until you answer me!"
"Attempting to break into my rooms, Mione?" a voice asked behind her. She whirled around, half surprised, half embarrassed. She cleared her throat.
"Er, well, I was looking for you-"
"Yes, that much is evident," he said, with a small grin on her face. She scowled at him.
"Don't you laugh at me," she said sternly. "You stormed out of the Great Hall so fast I thought your knickers were on fire!"
He frowned at the mention of the Great Hall.
"Well, I wasn't too happy with Rich, right then," he said, sarcastically. "He really knows how to piss someone off."
He tapped the portrait guarding his rooms two times with his wand and muttered, "Padfoot". The portrait swung open to reveal his messy rooms. There were robes all over the floor, covered in what suspiciously looked like blood. A dozen books lay open on the floor, which appeared to be the books that couldn't fit on the small desk in the corner.
Parchment was lying everywhere. She caught part of the writing on one piece ('third list of reformed Death Eaters') before Harry waved his wand, and everything disappeared with a 'pop', leaving his room spotless.
"Come on in," he said.
Hermione frowned, but entered. Why was his room so messy? Wasn't she just here hours ago? It hadn't been this messy before.
"Harry, what happened to your room?" she asked.
Harry glanced at her. "Er, sorry about that. I came back here right after the meeting with Rich. I was looking for-um, something."
She looked at where the robes had been.
"Harry, what about the robes? Was that your blood on them?" she asked.
~*~*~
"Er--" Harry cursed his messy habits. He'd forgotten about the robes. "Yeah, I had an encounter with some vicious scorpions earlier," he said. Well, it wasn't a lie.
She looked at him suspiciously. "And one can find loads of scorpions around here, can they?" she said sarcastically. "And unless Hagrid kept his blast-ended skrewts, which I know he didn't, there isn't a scorpion big enough to do that kind of damage. Well, except for the fire scorpions, but I've read they only live in Albania, and you haven't..." she trailed off. "Wait a minute! Harry!"
Harry groaned. She that gaze in her eye-the look she got when she had just figured out something.
"You were-Daily Profit reported-I knew that it sounded like your-wait 'til I tell Ron-"
"Hermione-now, just hold on. You need to slow down. I can't follow you when you babble like that," he said. She sent him a *look*, but continued on in a more logical manner. Logical for her, anyway.
"Harry, it all makes sense! Well, most of it. The staff meetings, the scorpions, Albania and what you said earlier in the Great Hall-hey!" she interrupted herself with another thought. "I asked Minerva if you were an Auror earlier. I was right!"
*~*~*
"I won't believe it! Just look at him! Too scrawny, not powerful enough, take your pick. There is absolutely no way he could become the head Auror for the ALA!"
Sarah Toombs was livid. That large cow of a man had walked in, proclaimed the most unbelievable of statements, and insulted her, and everyone was ready to believe him over her.
She and several other professors were in Sarah's private quarters discussing Harry Potter. Most of the same professors that had decided earlier that Harry should duel Maggie were included in this little group discussion. The man (who claimed to be 'Rich') had caused mixed feelings about their clever 'plan'.
"Listen, if Harry really is the head Auror, he'd have no trouble beating Maggie. And if he isn't, we can expose him for the fraud he is." However impersonal this had started out to be, Sarah Toombs now felt it her life goal to show the public the 'true' Harry Potter.
Maggie, of course, was starting to dislike the plan. If Harry really was the head Auror, he could blow her to smithereens. Of course, this could be a plea for attention, she mused. She agreed to keep her part in this little scheme. They agreed to inform Harry a day before the duel was to take place, so he wouldn't have too much time to prepare. If he truly was an Auror, Sara explained, he wouldn't need any preparation time at all.
AN: Not much happening in this chapter, I know, but wait for the next one: Unexpected Defeat
"HE'S WHAT?"
This seemed to be the reaction of everyone within hearing distance. Harry looked around at their stunned faces, halfway annoyed with his boss, halfway wishing for a camera. Minerva looked confused and very shocked at the same time. Ron's jaw had dropped and he was stuttering wordlessly. Snape looked better than most of the professors, but even the older man was staring at Harry with somewhat of a surprised look. Hermione looked over at him, awed, but not shocked. It seemed like she had heard something before hand.
Harry had to hold in a laugh at Toombs' expression. The woman had a look on her face of utter disbelief and shock. She seemed to come to her senses, and looked at the large man that was Harry's boss.
"I don't know how much he paid you to come here and do this, but we don't believe a word of it. I would suggest you leave now. You don't need to waste anymore time here," she said, in a very condescending manner. Instead of being offended, Harry's boss just grinned at the woman, making him look a bit crazy. He didn't usually smile very often.
"Well, I'll go, so long as I can talk to Potter. Don't really wanna spend anymore time around you than I've got to. Too much of a snooping bitch for my tastes. Need to keep your over-large nose in your own business," he said. McGonagall snorted at this, and Hermione tried (and failed) to contain a huge grin. Ron, however, was not so subtle, and burst out loud with laughter. Toombs looked too shocked for words. Harry imagined it had been a while since someone had dared to insult her-at least to her face.
Rich's glare returned as he turned to speak to Harry. "Let's go, Potter."
Suddenly Maggie (yeah, that was her name) stepped in.
"Sir, Mr. er-Rich. You may use our side room here, if you'd like. I'm afraid we don't need Mr. Potter running off on us again," she said patronizingly, pointing to the side room. Hermione sent her a glare that would have fazed Malfoy (back in the day), but the girl didn't pay any attention to Hermione.
Richard seemed fine to discuss whatever he needed to in the side room, so Harry followed him into the same room that he was led into during the Triwizard tournament.
As soon as he shut the door, the whispers started.
"That is just absolutely bogus. I won't believe it!" Three guesses as to who that was.
"The ALA? Was Harry even in America?" someone asked.
"How in the world did Potter become the head Auror for the ALA?" Malfoy asked Ron. Ron just shrugged.
"I dunno, he always talked about being an Auror after school, but I never really thought he would. It's hard to be an Auror when every Death Eater is after your blood, you know?" Ron said.
"Yeah, but how did he do it? He wasn't that good in school, and then even during those Death Eater attacks..." Malfoy trailed off, confused. "I mean, how did he get into the top Auror branch in the world? Probably used his name," he said, grumbling. "He is the famous 'boy-who-lived',"
Hermione butt into their conversation. "Don't you remember the Death Eater attacks?"
Malfoy shook his head 'no'. "Don't you remember them, Granger? Potter was stuck in the castle the whole time. He just sat there beside Dumbledore doing nothing," he said, a bit bitterly.
Ron was the one to contradict Malfoy this time. "Er-actually, Malfoy, he did a lot more then just 'sit around'," he said. "We weren't actually supposed to tell anyone, for his safety reasons, but now....I guess it won't hurt. Hmmm, how do I start..."
"As you know, Harry has dreams," Hermione started.
"Dreams that are more like visions," Ron said, interrupting her. "He's had them ever since you-know-who-"
"Voldemort, Ron, his name is Voldemort," Hermione interrupted him. "Ever since Voldemort got his powers back in our fourth year, he's had these visions. And they often are true. Either he dreams about a meeting that's going on right at that moment or-"
"You mean Potter could see Death Eater meetings?" Malfoy asked incredulously.
"Yes, but he also had visions of what was going to happen. Like an attack," she said. "Eventually, they became too much for him, and he started taking Dreamless Sleep potion so he could get some rest. He-"
"If he had visions of attacks, why didn't he see the Hogesmade attack?" Malfoy asked.
"If you would stop interrupting me, I could finish, Malfoy," she said testily. "Like I was going to say, the reason he didn't see some of the attacks was because he had to take the potion. He couldn't predict all of the attacks because he didn't dream about them. After the first couple of surprise Death Eater attacks, which started in our seventh year, Harry decided he wanted to help out. The only problem with him helping the Order was that he was the most known person in the whole wizarding world. If the Death Eaters found out he was helping the Auror raids, he could have been in very serious danger."
"Well, more danger than he already was, Hermione," Ron said. "Dumbledore wanted to keep him safe, but Harry wouldn't hear of it. Eventually Dumbledore agreed, but it was only because we desperately needed help. Harry had to go undercover, with a Glamour and everything. To keep up appearances, Dumbledore had someone take Polyjuice potion and pose as Harry during the attacks."
"We worked as a team, the three of us. Harry, Ron and I brought in a lot of Death Eaters, you know. I assume that's why everyone was so excited when we came back to Hogwarts." Here she paused for a moment, before continuing, as if something had just occurred to her.
"It seems a bit odd that everyone greeted us like that, though, because our names were never released. We never told anyone who we were-well, we couldn't, for Harry's sake," she said, frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder how the public found out?"
Her wonderings were brought to a halt when Harry walked out-no, correction- stormed out of the small room. The room fell quiet. His boss, Rich, had followed him out, looking just as angry as Harry.
"Now Potter, you see here-this wasn't my idea. You screwed up, and now you gotta pay for it."
"I was not the one who left it at the headquarters, was I? No, I was in Albania, tracking down some stupid Death Eaters because you couldn't get your lazy, sorry excuse for an assistant to get me the message in time! And now, after two months, you come here telling me *I* screwed up? I've never...completely rash....stupid, bloody idiot.." Harry seemed to be too angry to form a complete sentence.
"Potter, you listen to me-I'm not gonna take no for an answer- either you do it or you can find yourself hunting down Cornish pixies in the Arctic for the rest of your life. It's your choice."
With that, Harry's boss walked out the door, leaving a stunned group of teachers and a very angry Harry Potter.
~~~Before~~~
When Harry closed the door to the small room, Rich wasted no time with small talk.
"Potter, the Death Eaters got a hold of the list of all the Aurors you've got working under you," he said grimly.
Harry stared in shock. "How? It wasn't really ever recorded, was it?"
Rich sighed, and looked a bit angry. "Yes, Potter, it was and unfortunately the list was found missing from Corbin's desk about two days after you took off. He tried to contact you, but you weren't available. I'm here to tell you that you need to repair the damage you've done."
"Damage I've done? Do you know what I've been doing these past two months?" he said lividly.
"Yes, don't think I didn't recognize your fighting style. However; helpful as you may be, you still need to fix the situation in America," Rich responded.
"It's not my situation to fix, Rich. I would not leave something like that just laying around!" Harry was starting to get angry. He was being accused of something he hadn't done.
"Potter-listen to me. The last person to see it before the break in was you. That leaves you responsible."
"I DIDN'T SCREW UP! I DID NOT LEAVE THE LIST ON CORBIN'S DESK, AND I WILL NOT LEAVE HOGWARTS WHEN THEY NEED ME TO FIX YOUR STUPID SECRETARY'S MISTAKE!"
With that he stormed out of the room, too angry to care what his boss had to say.
~~~~~~
Hermione walked to the portrait that guarded the entrance to Harry's rooms. The portrait oddly reminded her of Dumbledore, but the man in the painting was very young, maybe late thirties. The things that had caught her eye when she first saw the painting were the twinkling, blue eyes. This portrait, unlike the rest of the paintings in the school, did not talk.
She had looked all over the school for him-her and Ron. They'd tried the Quidditch Pitch, Hagrid's hut, even the Forbidden Forrest. Why they had chosen to search his rooms last was a mystery to Hermione.
"Harry? Are you there?" she called.
No response.
"Harry? Come on, I know you're there."
Still no response.
She started knocking on the portrait again, getting a bit agitated.
"Harry Potter! I know you're in there and I'm not moving until you answer me!"
"Attempting to break into my rooms, Mione?" a voice asked behind her. She whirled around, half surprised, half embarrassed. She cleared her throat.
"Er, well, I was looking for you-"
"Yes, that much is evident," he said, with a small grin on her face. She scowled at him.
"Don't you laugh at me," she said sternly. "You stormed out of the Great Hall so fast I thought your knickers were on fire!"
He frowned at the mention of the Great Hall.
"Well, I wasn't too happy with Rich, right then," he said, sarcastically. "He really knows how to piss someone off."
He tapped the portrait guarding his rooms two times with his wand and muttered, "Padfoot". The portrait swung open to reveal his messy rooms. There were robes all over the floor, covered in what suspiciously looked like blood. A dozen books lay open on the floor, which appeared to be the books that couldn't fit on the small desk in the corner.
Parchment was lying everywhere. She caught part of the writing on one piece ('third list of reformed Death Eaters') before Harry waved his wand, and everything disappeared with a 'pop', leaving his room spotless.
"Come on in," he said.
Hermione frowned, but entered. Why was his room so messy? Wasn't she just here hours ago? It hadn't been this messy before.
"Harry, what happened to your room?" she asked.
Harry glanced at her. "Er, sorry about that. I came back here right after the meeting with Rich. I was looking for-um, something."
She looked at where the robes had been.
"Harry, what about the robes? Was that your blood on them?" she asked.
~*~*~
"Er--" Harry cursed his messy habits. He'd forgotten about the robes. "Yeah, I had an encounter with some vicious scorpions earlier," he said. Well, it wasn't a lie.
She looked at him suspiciously. "And one can find loads of scorpions around here, can they?" she said sarcastically. "And unless Hagrid kept his blast-ended skrewts, which I know he didn't, there isn't a scorpion big enough to do that kind of damage. Well, except for the fire scorpions, but I've read they only live in Albania, and you haven't..." she trailed off. "Wait a minute! Harry!"
Harry groaned. She that gaze in her eye-the look she got when she had just figured out something.
"You were-Daily Profit reported-I knew that it sounded like your-wait 'til I tell Ron-"
"Hermione-now, just hold on. You need to slow down. I can't follow you when you babble like that," he said. She sent him a *look*, but continued on in a more logical manner. Logical for her, anyway.
"Harry, it all makes sense! Well, most of it. The staff meetings, the scorpions, Albania and what you said earlier in the Great Hall-hey!" she interrupted herself with another thought. "I asked Minerva if you were an Auror earlier. I was right!"
*~*~*
"I won't believe it! Just look at him! Too scrawny, not powerful enough, take your pick. There is absolutely no way he could become the head Auror for the ALA!"
Sarah Toombs was livid. That large cow of a man had walked in, proclaimed the most unbelievable of statements, and insulted her, and everyone was ready to believe him over her.
She and several other professors were in Sarah's private quarters discussing Harry Potter. Most of the same professors that had decided earlier that Harry should duel Maggie were included in this little group discussion. The man (who claimed to be 'Rich') had caused mixed feelings about their clever 'plan'.
"Listen, if Harry really is the head Auror, he'd have no trouble beating Maggie. And if he isn't, we can expose him for the fraud he is." However impersonal this had started out to be, Sarah Toombs now felt it her life goal to show the public the 'true' Harry Potter.
Maggie, of course, was starting to dislike the plan. If Harry really was the head Auror, he could blow her to smithereens. Of course, this could be a plea for attention, she mused. She agreed to keep her part in this little scheme. They agreed to inform Harry a day before the duel was to take place, so he wouldn't have too much time to prepare. If he truly was an Auror, Sara explained, he wouldn't need any preparation time at all.
AN: Not much happening in this chapter, I know, but wait for the next one: Unexpected Defeat