Thanks for the reviews you lot. Really made me feel better since I thought that chapter sucked, anyway on with this chapter. Hope you lot enjoy it.

Chapter 4: Introduction to Auror Training.

On Monday morning James Potter was awoken from an uneasy sleep by the pecking at the window of Lily's owl.

Dear James and Sirius.

Good Luck today. Hope you guys do great. Let me know how it goes.

I Love You

Lily.

James smiled at her letter before dragging himself out of bed and into the shower, twenty minutes later he was dressed in the training robes they had to wear and he made his way into the kitchen where Sirius was already eating breakfast.

"Morning Prongs, there's tea in the pot and I got you a bacon barm from over the café over the road."

"Thanks mate," James replied biting on his breakfast. "Oh by the way Lily sent this."

Sirius scanned the letter quickly and said, "That was nice of her."

"Yeah. I tell ya mate I'm gonna marry that girl."

Sirius' head snapped up at this "What?" he exclaimed.

"I'm gonna marry her."

"What? Why? When? H-how did this happen?" Sirius seemed to be in a sense of outrage.His friend could not be getting married.

"Relax Padfoot I don't mean yet. No way, I mean I love her and everything but neither of us is ready for that kind of thing yet. Relax. Deep Cleansing Breaths."

"Thank Merlin for that." James began to frown at what Sirius was saying, "You can't marry Lily…" Seeming to notice that James was frowning at him Sirius quickly added "…yet, you're both too young."

James continued to look sceptical for a moment but then smiled at him. "Don't worry, like I said neither of us is ready for that yet."

"Good. I mean you know it's good that you both know where you are."

Sirius smiled at him nervously for a second and walked out of the kitchen to finish packing his bag for the day ahead.

James and Sirius were sat in a reception area with around 20 people many of whom they recognised from Hogwarts, some had been in their year there where a few from years above and other people. Some were talking nervously with people sat near them, others were sat looking too terrified to move and some just sat there with steely determination written all over their faces. All sat around wanting the same thing. To train as an Auror.

A short woman walked into the reception and called out.

"We're ready for you now. Please come in and sit down. Edward Williamson will be with you in a moment."

They were all seated in a classroom and James was forcibly reminded of Professor McGonagall's classroom at Hogwarts, Sirius must have been as well because he turned to James and whispered, "Where's Minnie?"

A tall broad distinguished looking man who James assumed was Edward Williamson walked into the room and everyone was immediately called to attention. He surveyed the trainees for a moment, his green eyes travelling the room; he smiled slightly when his eyes landed on a girl with dark hair, sitting in the front row. His eyes continued to survey the room for a moment before he finally spoke, when he did his voice was brusque and hard.

"So you think that you have what it takes to become an Auror?" He stopped and laughed or a moment and said in a voice that allowed no argument, "Close to half of you will not make it the duration of the training, some of you may be killed before your even qualified, some of you may lose someone close to you and feel you cannot continue, some of you will just be too weak to be able to withstand the trails and tribulations necessary for some one in this field."

He paused and looked around the room once more noting the determined expressions on people like James and Sirius to the petrified expressions on some of the others.

"Being an Auror is a noble profession, but make no mistake about it, it is the most dangerous. Even when we aren't at war." He added in a low voice.

"An Auror cannot have any kind of self doubt in their minds; if you are out in battle with someone you cannot for one second doubt your abilities. If you do…," he paused surveyed the room once again and said, "…you will die."

Sirius turned his head to James and whispered quietly, "He doesn't mince his words does he?"

But Sirius didn't whisper quietly enough because Williamson moved his eyes to Sirius.

"Stand Up." It was an order and the way he barked it; like everything he said left no room for argument.

Sirius sighed but before he could stand up two boys in the second row stood up shaking, Williamson's eyes snapped to the boys and barked "not you". His eyes moved back to Sirius and said with authority "You".

Sirius stood and the entire class was staring at him.

"What's your name?" Williamson said.

"Sirius Black sir."

"Black aye." Williamson eyed Sirius curiously for a moment before continuing "I've heard a lot about you from Harold Potter." Sirius risked a glance at James who shrugged at him. "Yes, he tells me that there is a lot of talent in you. Can I ask you a question Black?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you feel that listening to me talk is beneath you?"

"Of course not sir." Sirius replied quickly."

"Do you feel that you know more about being an Auror than I do?"

"No sir."

"Is there a viable reason for why you were speaking out of turn?"

"No sir." Sirius sighed.

"Am I boring you Black?"

"No-"

Sirius didn't finish his reply before Williamson cut him off.

"Do you know what I think Black?" He didn't wait for a response before talking again. "I think that perhaps you shouldn't be here. I think that I should ask you to leave right now."

"Hang on a minute, I don't wanna leave." Sirius exploded.

"Well now I am also starting to think that you have temper control issues."

Williamson now seemed to be enjoying the authority he was holding but Sirius looked ready to burst.

"I DO NOT HAVE TEMPER CONTROL ISSUES!"

"Well I do not think that you are proving that to me at this point in time. However," he spoke again because Sirius looked ready to start shouting again. "As I said, Harold speaks highly of you, so out of respect for a colleague and good friend of mine……I will ask you too sit down and consider you options a little more carefully before you start raising your voice and interrupting a superior."

Sirius glared at him for a moment before sitting down and saying in a stiff voice

"Thank you. Sir."

"Now as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted…" he continued casting a quick glance at Sirius, "…To be an Auror you need intelligence, you simply cannot bluff your way through anything, even the most skilled cannot; you need to be able to distinguish between the time to fight and the time to walk away. You need strength; both mentally and physically. You mind needs to be constantly aware of everything and everyone around you. Your body needs to be able to withstand attack, your reflexes must be sharp, your pain barrier…impervious."

He stopped and surveyed the room again. He watched some faces cower beneath what he was saying and others rise to the challenge.

"I want you all to leave now, perhaps make your way over to the canteen for while. At 12.00 you will begin to train in the noblest profession in the world. All who are ready for this are to be here by mid-day. All who are not……walk away. Walk out the door and find yourself a new calling in life, the Ministry is always in need of errand boys and tea ladies."

The group filed out and most went up to the canteen. James and Sirius were the last to enter and made their way to the end of the queue all the while talking about the formidable Williamson.

"Well he certainly doesn't beat around the bush." Sirius said in a huff.

"You're just angry at the way he made you stand up like that. I heard about this from my dad. Williamson likes to assert his authority with every new group.He picks on someone, in this case you, for something stupid just so that everyone knows he's not to be messed with and too be respected, or something like that anyway."

"You know who that Williamson is don't ya?"

"A very passionate Auror who cares deeply about his line of work?" James asked with a smirk on his face.

"No, he's the male version of Minnie McGonagall. That's what he is." They both laughed while ordering coffees and comparing the likeness' between the Auror trainer and their old Transfiguration Professor. Sirius however wasn't watching where he was going and spilt coffee all over the girl behind him.

"Oops. I'm sorry." He said not really sounding too sincere considering the fact that he was desperately trying not to laugh. But at least he was trying to hide it unlike James who was roaring with laughter next to him. Needless to say the girl was not amused.

"You Daft Tosser! She exclaimed making sure that the few people in the canteen who hadn't already turned around did.

"What the Hell did you do that for?" Her anger seemed to calm James down but it worked Sirius up a little.

"Look, I'm sorry alright. It was an accident. I didn't mean to pour hot coffee all over you." He said indicating toward her outer robes that were stained with the black liquid.

"Oh whatever." She pushed him into the table that was behind him and walked away.

Sirius watched her walk away in disbelief for a moment before getting himself another coffee and sitting down at a small table where James was sat waiting for him.

"Well," He said as soon and his best friend sat down, "She seems nice."

"Oh yeah, she's a real sweetheart." Sirius said sarcastically. "I'm sure she and I will be best friends in no time."

"Come on Padfoot it could be worse. Pair of us has only been here five minutes and already you're getting the attention of the girls."

Sirius smirked at that and took a sip of his coffee.

"But really Prongs, what d'ya recon about Williamson? From the way he was making it sound we can't just sit off. Looks like we might actually have to work for this."

"Yeah and that's new for us. Six months from now we could be exhausted emotional wrecks, buckling under all the pressure and stress of the workload."

"Basically, Lily around exam time then." Sirius said smirking again.

"I was going more for Peter actually but Lily works too."

With a few minutes to spare until 12.00pm the pair walked to the door of the classroom.

"Well mate this is it. Are we sure we're going to do this?" James asked as though the answer was obvious but Sirius took a moment to consider.

Was he ready to do this?

"Padfoot?"

Could he really handle this?

"Sirius?"

Then he came to his decision.

"Damn right we are mate. Hell if the coffee soaked sweetheart can do it then so can we." He said opening the door. "After all what kind of Gryffindors would we be if we backed down from a challenge? More importantly what kind of Marauders would we be if we backed down?"

"Ok. Let's do this."

That was my longest chapter yet and thats only half of it. Originally their first day at Auror Training was one chapter but I decided to break it into two; the next chapter will be along in a few days.

Love Ya

DollFace