I am SO SO SO sorry that I haven't updated this story in half a year!!!! I keep on meaning to update, but stuff keeps on coming up (like finals), and I've had major writer's block on this story, but hopefully I'm rid of it now and I hope this chapter isn't crap. Okay, enough of my ranting . . . here's (finally) chapter seventeen.

...

Lily's heart pounded with anticipation as she and the other Auror-trainees filed into the huge training facility shielded by magic.

Except . . . it was nothing special. It was just a rickety old warehouse.

A witch in a traditional black, pointy hat stood in the middle of the room as they gathered around her. She wore half moon glasses very similar to Dumbledore's, and she cleared her throat, her voice empowered with authority.

"Welcome to your first day at Auror training. Now, you do understand that this career you're choosing is a dangerous one . . . and once you start, there is no turning back. That is, if you make the cut. Some are just not emotionally or physically ready to be an Auror. If that is true of you, I'm sorry, but you'll have to pursue another career. We have enough deaths already; we do not need to sacrifice anymore unnecessary offerings. If you do not think you have what it takes, leave now."

Nobody budged.

"In that case, welcome to the Auror Academy!"

With a wave of her wand, the entire warehouse illuminated gold, almost blinding them. James squinted his eyes and Lily raised her arms up to protect herself. When the light subsided, they opened their eyes and saw a transformed place.

Now the walls were marble, Dark Wizard Detectors covered the walls. Several other wizards could be seen standing in a circle, watching this year's newest interns.

"These are your professors. You will all be separated into groups and go around the room for today. Today will be easy-it will concern the basics. It will also give you a chance to get to know your professors."

Lily reached for James's hand. "Let's stick together," She whispered to James. He nodded.

Slowly, students migrated over to different stations. Some had to be sent to different stations so the groups would be even. Luckily for them, Lily and James were able to stick together.

They were standing in front of a stage.

"James . . . what do you think that's for?" Lily asked her boyfriend, unsure about this part of the magical community, her being raised as a Muggle and all.

"Don't you recognize it? It's a dueling stage." James answered a matter-of- factly.

"Oh."

An older wizard was their professor for this station. He smiled mischievously at the crowd, and then cleared his throat.

"Hi. My name's Alastar Moody. You can just call me Moody. Today, we will be refreshing your memory on the basics of dueling. We will only be disarming today. No spells that could possibly cause mortal wounds. Now . . . who shall be the first?" He glanced around, his watchful eye scanning the crowd. "How about you. The redhead."

He was staring straight at Lily. "Me?" She gulped. Damn. She hated being first.

"Yes, you. And how about the one over there?"

A young man stared at the finger pointing at him, gulped, then climbed onto the stage.

"Bow," Moody growled. They did so.

"Now, introduce yourself," Moody ordered.

Lily cleared her throat, sending a quick nervous smile to James, "I'm Lily Evans."

"Thomas Morgan," Lily's opponent said while reaching his hand out. She took Thomas's hand and shook it.

"Wands at the ready," Moody instructed. He himself took out his own wand.

Lily and Thomas simultaneously whipped out their wands. She stared at Thomas suspiciously as he flashed a grin at a girl in the crowd, who was giggling mischievously.

They raised their wands and silently counted to three.

"Exper-" Lily began, but Thomas blurted out a spell while Lily was still on "two".

"Hornificus!" Thomas yelled as a jet of red light sped straight for Lily's head. Her head suddenly felt extremely heavy. She fell down onto the floor.

Lily groaned and slowly got up, clutching her head painfully. But then, her hand came across something hard. Her fingers trailed up until it reached a pointy end. Only then did she notice everyone laughing hard.

"Lily!" James pushed past the laughing students to reach his girlfriend. Lily was furious to see that his face was red and he was trying very hard to stop from bursting into laughter.

"James! What the bloody hell is on my head?!" Lily demanded.

James couldn't hold it anymore. He burst into laughter. In between gasps for breath, he managed to croak, "Horns!"

Lily's face flushed to the color of her hair. She felt humiliated. Why her?

"All right, all right." Moody growled as he pushed his way past and onto the stage. "Are you okay?" He asked Lily. Lily couldn't help whimpering, but she nodded. Then, Moody rounded on Thomas. "Didn't I specifically say disarm only?!"

"Yes?" Thomas tried weakly.

Moody loomed over the boy. "Is that a question or a statement?"

"Yes." Thomas repeated.

"Yes to what?"

"Yes to the question," Thomas blinked, slightly confused.

"It doesn't tell me if it's a question or a statement," Moody growled.

"Statement . . . sir," Thomas added for good measure.

"Evans, take somebody to the nurse in that corner," Moody instructed, pointing a grimy finger. "As for you . . ." He picked Thomas up by the collar and started reprimanding him.

Lily jumped down from the stage; her face was flushed red, and she started towards the nurse. James followed her.

"Seriously, are you okay?" James asked with concern in his voice at Lily's silence.

Sighing, Lily turned to James. "Trust me; the only wounded thing is my pride,"

"Great first class, huh?" James said cheerfully.

Lily glared at him, who smiled. "Cheer up, Lily. It was pretty funny."

James's smile was still plastered on his face at Lily's suspicious glare. He tried to reach his hand towards Lily's butt, but she saw the movement and slapped his hand away. Doing this caused her to have to take her hand off her heavy head, and she fell over, leaving James laughing even harder.

...

Lily was grumbling all the way home. I really have to learn how to Apparate. She thought to herself as she splashed through the wet sidewalk.

She thrust the key into the lock and stepped in out of the rain. Lily quickly shook the umbrella dry before coming into her parent's house (horn less).

Tiptoeing as to not wake up anybody, Lily slowly closed the door and made her way up to her room. But Lily paused at a small scoff in a nearby room. She poked her head around the corner to see Petunia sitting on the couch, a fat young man asleep with his arm around her bony shoulder.

Lily was surprised when she recognized the man. It was Vernon Dursley; the boy that Petunia had said pined after her. Lily didn't remember ever seeing him at the house . . . but then, she had just graduated from Hogwarts. Maybe 'Tuna had given in?

"Back from freak training?" Petunia asked quietly, glancing down to make sure Vernon was still sleeping.

"Yeah," Lily decided to humor her. "I thought you hated him," She added, pointing at Dursley.

Petunia gritted her teeth, her long nose flaring, "Are you dense? He's right here! No one else needs to know about your . . . abnormality! And where exactly were you all night?"

"What are you now, my mother?" Lily retorted sarcastically.

"If I were your mother, I wouldn't allow you to go to that freak school."

"Good night, 'Tuna."

...

The next day, Thomas approached Lily with a slight blush in his face. He started to speak, but closed his mouth. But by an elbow in the ribs by a girl beside him, he spoke shamefully, "Sorry about yesterday. I was just fooling around,"

"It's fine," Lily accepted, her good heart immediately feeling his discomfort.

"Oh, and this is my girlfriend Cordelia." Thomas added, gesturing to the pretty girl beside him.

Cordelia's bright blue eyes twinkled at them. "Hi. My boyfriend's definitely a troublemaker . . . sometimes you've got to keep him in line, right?" She poked Thomas's shoulder with affection.

Lily grinned at James, who was amused by this. "So was James . . . oh, and this is James Potter."

Thomas opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the same witch who spoke yesterday.

"Day Two of Auror training! Yesterday went quite well, except for that one little mishap," Lily glanced at Thomas, and the witch went on, "Today, you will be in different groups than before with a different teacher." She went on and then separated in different groups. This time, Lily wasn't with James.

But she was with Thomas. He whispered into her ear, "Don't worry, I won't try anything funny this time around," and laughed a little.

Lily merely smiled, not quite trusting him. He was nice . . . but very slippery.

But then she saw two people who caught her eye. She began making her way towards them, Thomas following with a confused expression on his face. Lily made her way towards the couple and recognized them.

"Alice?" Lily asked uncertainly.

A plump but pretty woman turned around. But when her eyes locked with Lily's green ones, a smile spread across her face. "Lily Evans from Hogwarts?!" She shrieked with joy.

"Yeah!" Lily replied as she and Alice embraced tightly. Then, Lily noticed a gold ring on a certain finger.

Alice caught her looking at it and her grin became even wider. "We got married after we graduated," Alice explained, "It was a nice little ceremony with our families."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Lily asked, already knowing the answer.

"Frank Longbottom," Alice answered happily, grabbing her husband's arm and pulling him forward.

Frank smiled at Lily, his eyes twinkling. "So, how's Potter? Becoming a rising Quidditch star?"

"Actually, he's here, training with another group. Didn't you know he was going for the Auror career?"

Frank looked surprised. "Oh. He was such a damn good Seeker; I thought he would have tried out for the national team!"

"Recent things happening . . . and with Voldemort on the loose . . ." Lily trailed off.

Alice, Frank, and Thomas all winced at the name "Voldemort" but didn't say anything.

"Things got too dangerous." Alice supplied.

Thomas was listening in at a distance, looking very intrigued with this conversation.

"And with Celia . . ." Lily stopped, the horrific memory of her best friend being killed in front of her very eyes playing in her mind.

Alice's eyes were downcast, and she grabbed Frank's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I heard about that. I'm sorry for bringing it up . . ."

"No, I brought it up. Besides, I guess she's the reason we both wanted to become Aurors." Lily said sadly.

Suddenly, a young wizard stepped in front of the crowd. He was standing in front of a variety of gadgets, including mirrors with shadows in them, a weird small telescope, and more. "Today you will be learning about Dark Wizard catching devices. This right here is a very common one; most tourist shops have weaker ones. It's called a Sneakoscope. When it detects someone doing something untrustworthy—"

The Sneakoscope in his hand began to whirl and spin, emitting a loud noise.

"—it does that. Looks like someone's been bad."

All of the students in the group looked at each other, looking for the guilty one. Lily's stomach had an odd feeling in it, like butterflies were inside them. A dark wizard here . . . out to kill more.

The wizard looked at the frightened expressions on their faces and laughed. "Don't worry, it's extremely sensitive. It detects ANY kind of untrustworthy acts, like promising to call your mother but never calling. That's one problem with this device; it's sometimes too sensitive to really work. Now, this is called a Dark Mirror . . ."

Lily sighed in relief, but that cold feeling in her gut still remained.

...

After today's training, about a dozen of witches and wizards sat around a long rectangular table. The same wizard who taught Dark Wizard Catching Devices began to speak.

"I think we may have some deception within this year's students," He said.

The Head Witch moved her half moon spectacles higher up her nose before speaking, "Charles, do you really think so? Sneakoscopes are extremely sensitive. It could be responding to anything!"

Several other witches and wizards nodded in agreement.

Charles shook his head. "No, with all due respect Miranda, it wasn't just the Sneakoscope. The Dark Mirror, the Sneakoscope . . . every single Dark Wizard detector I had was reacting! And with times as dark as these . . . I wouldn't be surprised if You-Know-Who had some spy here with us."

Miranda closed her eyes. When she opened them, they had become serious and cold. "Then I guess we'll have to keep a sharp eye out for traitors in our midst."