A TEST OF FAITH
It was a cold and stormy night on the east coast of England where two young men sat side by side on a pot marked hilltop, small fire's had broken out all over the desolated field where curses has gone astray or had been blocked and both were covered in sweat and grime from the battle they had just fought.
Neither remembered being this tired before in their lives. Despite all this they were exhilarated, by surviving this "battle" they had proven not only to their instructors but also to themselves that they were ready to become part of the elite, the thin line that separated the magical and muggle world from the darkness.
Tomorrow they would become aurors but tonight they were just two friends who were sitting in companionable silence at the end of a very long day.
"Well mate it think my mum is finally going to kill me". Ron Weasley said shacking his red hair out of his eyes.
Harry looked over at his best friend thoughtfully "why's that then mate?"
"Well you remember the fuss she made about me joining the auror programme with you right? Well she figured I'd either flunk out or I'd come to my senses before to long and leave and get a desk job at the ministry like dad"
Harry snorted at the thought of his best friend running around the ministry like his father. Just the thought of Ron doing that made Harry want to laugh out loud, instead he turned and looked out at the rest of his age mates that were sprawled out in various different positions all over what was left of the auror training field. Smiling to himself he thought the magical catastrophe and repairs department had their work cut out for them after class 576 finally graduated tomorrow. After all its not everyday you see 70 of an auror programme class make it through final testing.
What had started out as a mock battle had almost turned into the real thing when the instructors found themselves under attack rather than their students, Ron's brain storm had been that if their instructors were to busy defending themselves then they wouldn't be able to attack them!
Every one had thought he was mad, but Ron held firm to his idea and broke the class down into five man "fire teams" and set them off to hunt the instructors down. The plan was simple really; when a group of trainees came across an instructor (or four) they would open up on them immediately whilst another sent green sparks into the air. The rest of the trainee's would then descend on the hapless instructors and hex them until they were unconscious or sent purple sparks into the air indicating their surrender.
This seemed to work very well for the first hour of combat but then, and Harry suspected "mad eye" was behind it, the aurors started cheating. They sent out diversionary teams with back up! The first time had been bad but it only got worse from there until Harry realised what was happening and snuck his team over to the "umpire hill" and snatched "mad eyes" mad eye from him with a perfect summoning charm (which Harry thought was very ironic as it had been the fake "mad eye" who taught him how to use it so effectively during his fourth year) and things got very interesting for both sides.
Predictable Moody went ape and had a hexing fit hitting three umpires before he realised what he'd done. By this time Harry had snuck off back to his lines and was reporting what he and his team had done to Ron.
Ron then decided it was time for the "big push" and gathered all the remaining trainees together and they charged their instructors hilltop like muggle knights of old. The gambit paid off as the instructors were stunned into inactivity by the sheer stupidity and their students having the audacity to try something like this.
It still brought a wide smile to his face when Kingsley "I never lose" Shacklebolt had to send the surrender signal into the air effectively ending the exercise. With a lot of muttered curses and some choice language from Moody the instructors had walked away to "grade" this performance.
Harry thought that if any of them failed it was probably the worst mistake the programme had every made. According to Hermione, and she was rarely wrong, only one in every 5 recruits every made it through to become fully qualified aurors.
Well Harry thought, there's a first time for everything I suppose.
Turning back to look at Ron, Harry said "well you can blame it me I suppose, after all its not like she'll hex me into next week for becoming an auror. You can say I confounded you or something. Or you could slip her some of the twins new forgetful fudges at breakfast and hope she won't remember"
Ron actually thought about for a full second before he laughed.
"Nah mate, I'd have to do it every day otherwise she'll wonder why I'm coming home at all hours and going out at them as well. Oh well time to summon up some of the gryffindor courage I suppose and take the plunge".
Getting up Ron baked out an order and the rest of the class fell in two by two and they started to march off towards where Alistair "mad eye" Moody was beckoning them over.
Marching tall and proud the trainee aurors of class 576 went off to meet their fate