Pansy clicks her tongue impatiently. She's been waiting forfucking -EVER in this stuffy waiting room, and that old guy sitting across from her, wearing a trench coat with mysterious stains on it, he's leering at her. And she can only see one of his hands.
She crosses and uncrosses her legs, pulling her short skirt down, watching the trench coat perv watch her do it. She checks her watch again and sighs loudly. If she doesn't get out of here soon, she won't be able to buy those new pink heels she's had her eye on. She knew she should've gone to the shoe store first! If that damn helpwitch doesn't hurry up with those stupid-
"You'll need to sign these, Ms. Parkinson."
Pansy looks up, over towards the reception window and at the helpwitch, who's holding out a pen and a thick wad of papers, and gives her a sceptical look. The helpwitch rolls her eyes and says impatiently, "They're just the standard wavers and forms, Ms. Parkinson. All trainee aurors have to sign them."
Pansy gets up from her seat, grabs the pen and papers from the witch and sits back down in the waiting room. She tongues the top of the pen and scrunches up her nose as she skims through the introduction. She flips through half of the papers, all of them written in legal mumbo-jumbo.
On the very last page, there's this whole clause, with words like... Temporary loss of freedom. Unconventional psychological testing. She ponders the importance of this for a few seconds, then scribbles a hasty signature on the bottom of the page, not even bothering to finish reading through it. Standard wavers and forms, right? And now she'll make it to the shoe store on time! To celebrate how great it is that everything just came together, time wise, she thinks she'll go see that new Brad Pitt movie too. And stock up on candy.
Her head filled with shoes, and Brad Pitt, and candy (in that order), she gets up, strolls over to the reception window (and making sure to coldly ignore Mr. Trench coat deviant perv guy as she does), slides the signed papers over the desk, and says goodbye to the helpwitch with a rarely seen, sincere smile, because she can just feel that this day - it's going to be great. She just KNOWS it.
What she doesn't know is that even before they sign that waver, all trainee aurors are tested on psychological strength.
As soon as they sign up as potential trainee candidates, the testing begins. It starts as someone who's hired to bother them. That noisy neighbour - he could be a field agent, testing how long it takes until you lose your temper and set a bag of dog shit on fire outside of his front door. That lady in front of you in the grocery store that doesn't put a divider between your items - field agent. The bus driver who gives you the wrong change - field agent. That old guy sitting across from you, wearing a trench coat with mysterious stains on it, and leers at you - Field agent, field agent, field agent.
Then, when you sign the waver - the real testing starts. Which is why, at the very moment Parkinson, Pansy A, walked out of that waiting room, her head filled with fancy-free thoughts of new shoes and Brad Pitt, instructions for a mission plan concerning her, and one Potter, Harry J, were being printed up.
…
MISSION PLAN - INSTRUCTIONS
The goal of your mission is to learn to strategize, cooperate and defend yourselves without the use of wands or magic. By learning these valuable skills, a great deal is expected to be learned about you, your abilities to follow and give instructions, which will be used as references in your future assignments.
Microphones and further instructions are included with your mission plan, in the black box. The microphones are unbreakable, water-resistant, and once turned on, must stay on. A personal GPS tracker, and a CCD camera are included in your microphones. The information derived from these devices will provide essential information for the Ministry on your progress which will be valuable to the final results of your evaluation.
For the 30
days during which you will remain isolated, the principle objective is
to observe and document your progress, if any. Individual updates must
take place daily, during which you will evaluate yourself and your
partner. Please remember to keep your microphones on or near you at all
times.
...
