Part Five- Emotion Most Evanescent
The beginning of October neared, coloring the trees with red, yellow and brown. Hagrid's set of pumpkins were growing huge and Madam Sprout's fall plants had ripened with great care from the sixth and seventh year N.E.W.T.S class.
"Nepenthe is a most peculiar plant, white leafed and yellow buds that give off no scent. In Ancient Greece it was the official remedy for depression. Nepenthe is also the essential ingredient in several mind controlling potions." Madam Sprout lectured as the class dug up the roots, the strongest part, of the nepenthe plants around the greenhouse.
Ginny was hard at work with her partner, Barry.
"Hey Ginny, I was thinking maybe next Saturday when we all go to Hogsmeade, you and I could go together." Barry tied off his pile of roots and set to tie the bundles Ginny was finished with.
"Probably not, Draco and I were going to do something together. Sorry." Luckily Draco Malfoy was probably the smoothest liar and easy on the uptake, cause Barry would probably say something. Although he was a little terrified of the "tame" Slytherin.
The Hufflepuff boy was quiet throughout the rest of the Herbology lesson and Ginny's luck furthered when he immediately left the greenhouse.
In the Great Hall during lunch, Harry was a little late with a look on his face that was barely readable. There was something of excitement and fear; everything else was a jumble.
"What happened?" Ginny looked up from her half-eaten shepherd's pie.
"My Auror interview is next Saturday, McGonagall just told me. I'm nervous. Damnit..." Harry sat down and ran his hands through his hair.
"What's to be worried about?" Hermione looked on the verge of giggles at her friend's nervousness.
"I have a million different worries. Too many things to think about." He pushed lunch away and ran his hands through naturally messy hair again.
"Well eat, don't go all hypocritical on me now." Ginny shoved a pie over his way and moved her own.
"Yeah, wouldn't want that now would we?" Harry's eyes gave the mischievous look that they usually gave nowadays. "So, that means you and I won't be going to Hogsmeade together."
Ginny shrugged pushing her half-eaten pie away. "I'll ask someone else." Ron looked from Harry to his sister then back again. She looked up at him and smiled with a bright grin.
"Have I been missing something?"
"Ron." Hermione said with her firm don't-push-anything tone.
"All I'm gonna saying Herm, is that you two," he pointed at Ginny and looked at Harry, "have been acting strange for a while now. So, get it out in the open. Harry, Ginny has finally charmed you."
"No." Harry took a long sip from his drink. "I finally wooed her." Ron raised an eyebrow, the confusion in his eyes didn't match the anger on his face."
"Don't worry Ron, you'll understand it when you're older." Hermione grabbed her Arithmacy book and began reading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Draco stood at the open doors of the Great Hall waiting for Ginny. Barry had already passed with another girl on his arm and gave Draco a look of jealousy the likes of which no man has seen before.
"Who are you waiting for Mr. Malfoy?" Percy's voice made Draco jump a bit.
"Ginny if you must know, Professor," he snapped, adding "professor" with as much cynicism he could muster.
"Watch your words Draco, you don't want to be put on suspension from your position." The new professor eyed him with cynicism.
"I'm well aware of how far I can go with my words, Professor." Draco returned the glare.
Out of the corner of his eye Ginny was rushing down a flight of stairs. She was wearing a black sweater and a scarlet skirt that barely brushed her knees.
"Hey, Per...Professor Weasley. Ready Draco?" Draco held out his arm.
"Ready." Ginny laughed and took it. "Bye." She waved to Percy he acknowledged her gesture with a slight wave of his hand.
As soon as they were out of earshot from the crowd and Percy they started to talk freely.
"He threatened to suspend you from your Head Boy position, just for talking to him in a wrong tone? Jeez, I hate my own brother." Ginny sighed, exasperation eminent.
"I heard Ron is getting suspicious of you and Harry." Draco smiled slyly.
Ginny smiled back, grabbed for Draco's hand, and interlaced her fingers with his. "We mustn't cause rumors to fly, wouldn't want that." They laughed and walked onward. After a few minutes Draco spoke again.
"I wonder how the interview will go?" That made Ginny laugh again.
"Harry's great and all under pressure, but who knows? So what about you?"
"Pardon?"
"What are you going to do when you grow up Mr. Malfoy?" Ginny giggled as they passed the group of friends she used to spend her free time with, and they looked at her and her companion with shock.
"The Department of Mysteries wants to see what I got. The head of the department and I talked when I was at Diagon Alley earlier in the summer, looking for more books to read" He gave a small snort. "Reading that's all I did over the summer, read. I finished Finale of Farrigon, it was about the invention of the time-turner."
"And you wrote letters." The redhead smiled, but there was something in the smile that wasn't whole.
There was something about Ginny that was colder? No, she was just paler than usual, although she had been tanning from her daily excursions with Harry over the summer. That's it, her tan's just fading. Draco told himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry sat outside Professor McGonagall's classroom shaking with nervousness. The first of several interviews on the journey to become an Auror, unless this would be the only one. The door opened after an eternity and out stepped Sally-Anne Perks. She was a Ravenclaw that seemed to always have a cheery expression about her thin face framed by soft brown hair.
"Harry! Wow! I didn't know you were going into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, since you always seem to be in trouble." She smiled wide.
"Yeah, suppose I should get the real troublemakers off the streets."
She laughed. "Good luck." Sally-Anne hopped away.
A fairly loud, feminine voice came from within the office, "Harry Potter!" Harry jumped up and nearly charged into the room.
A woman sat at the table in the front of the classroom. She looked young, but streaks of gray flashed through her auburn hair in its tight bun. She was also missing a finger on her left hand, her pinkie. At the table she was thumbing through a folder, his folder. A knot caught in his Adam's apple, caught on what to say.
"Hello, Mr. Potter." She offered her hand, Harry took it and was amazed at the many calluses he felt underneath his fingers, and how strong the grip was for a small hand. "My name's Kez Byron; sit down."
Harry sat as Kez did. She gave a small "hmmm," and then looked at him with deep gray eyes. She had the look and lines of a woman in her 40's, though there were no laugh lines to speak of.
"We both know why you are here. You wish to join the rest of us Aurors in the Ministry of Magic. You have quite an impressive record Mr. Potter. About Defense Against the Dark Arts, your teachers have been less than satisfactory, yet you scored the highest "O" on the O.W.L.s that's been seen in quite a while. Professor Marley even commented that you could teach 'her' a few things. Though Defense Against the Dark Arts is the root of much of the work we do as Aurors, it is not all of it of course. Your Potions marks were horrible, until after your O.W.L.s. You pulled them up to between an "A" and "E." Though Professor Snape has anything but nice things to say about you." She gave a short laugh. "You'll need to show you're more than satisfactory at Potions, later on. Charms marks always at an "E" average. You've excelled in Transfiguration the last few semesters.
Your Quidditch skills are amazing. Believe it or not that is going to give you an edge in a few tests. Being a Seeker teaches you to seek, for lack of a better term. Stealth, speed, you already have many qualities that some Aurors are still developing. The written test you took earlier this summer proves that.
The written also shows us you have qualities that we especially look for in a youth. May I point out Mr. Potter, there were only three in the school this year that we would have even looked at for Auror training even, before the test."
"Ma'am, I have a question."
"Speak."
"How long does the training last, before actual tracking down and being a real Auror?"
Ms. Byron, Kez, stopped for a moment. Harry thought he saw her resisting a smile. "Three years usually, some field work starts towards the beginning of your third year, that is after most of the tests are completed. But it's dedication that is a major key. You have to be dedicated. Mr. Potter I will be very blunt with you. If you have any ideas of being a hero to the damsel in your life, give her up now. This career path is hard going. It leaves no time for love."
Harry looked into her eyes. Poor woman, a spinster. It made Harry take a few years off her predicted age. She had to be only 35-ish. "I have no serious romantic attachments." He lied through his teeth.
She flipped through the papers in his folder again. Then slipped in the piece of parchment she'd been taking notes on during the interview. "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be an Auror. Congratulations, Mr. Potter. You will be interviewed again by another of my associates, most likely by the Head of the Department. Then after Hogwarts, it's on to training." Kez Byron stood and offered her hand, this time with less formality and more welcoming. Harry took the callused, strong grip again.
He then tried to hide a nervous laughter as well, one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of how the relationship of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy would be discovered.