First Day…

"Sorry, Sir" the witch said as she stared in horror at knocking down the much older wizard.

"No harm done" the man shrugged as he carefully got to his feet. "Do you often bump into Aurors on your way to work? Report – name and rank"

"Susan Smith… Sorry, Sir – first day after graduation" the witch stammered. As the man looked her up and down, she noticed that his Auror uniform was different than that of her own and every other Auror she knew of. Whilst the robes were the standard red like everybody else, they had a gold trim and sported a multi-coloured edge to the pockets which her own lacked. In addition, they also had a thick white trim to the cuffs which seemed almost out of place.

"Ah, I take it you are ready to be paired up with an experienced Auror for your six months post-graduation… Well, Auror, lets us ride to Camelot!" and the man took her by the hand and led her away. As they walked, Susan could feel that she would be safe no matter what happened to her so long as this man was around. They walked into the Auror Department and saw how busy it was with the others either going out on patrol or otherwise waiting for pairing up.

"Is it always this busy?" Susan asked.

"It is when we get fresh meat" the wizard chuckled and looked around to find a flustered man with a clipboard. "Oi, Richardson… I found your missing nugget"

"Late on your first day…? That is not going to look good on your record" the man said, sizing her up as if working out how she got into the Auror Corp. "How can we trust you if you do this before you even really start?"

"Richardson, shut up if you know what is good for you – I'm taking her"

"Sir?" Richardson blinked.

"Are you deaf? Do you need to visit the Duty Healer?"

"No, Sir… It is just that…"

"What?"

"I thought you might be past doing this"

"I'm not retired, you fool, and I'll do as I damn well please whilst I still can"

"Even with a Mudblo…" and Richardson suddenly was silenced by the wizard point to point apparating and pressing his wand under his chin and allowing magic to roll off him.

"Finish that sentence and you will not live to see the end of this day – get out of here… You're fired"

"You can't do this!"

"Oh yes I can…" the wizard looked over to the nearest Aurors. "Get this bastard out of my sight and kick him out the Ministry"

"Sir!"

"As for you…" the wizard turned to look directly at Susan.

"Sir?"

"I apologise for his poor behaviour – I will not tolerate it in my department and he was on a final warning anyway. Introduce yourself to your new co-workers and see me in my office in a few minutes… Oh, and bring some tea – we're going to have a nice little chat" and he walked off towards the offices at the far end.

"Well, I never thought he'd take on a new recruit to mentor" a wizard a few years older than Susan chuckled from the desk nearest to her.

"Why does he have a different style uniform compared to other Aurors?" Susan's burning question was asked.

"He's a survivor of the Battle of Hogwarts – the last survivor in the Auror Corp. He and two of his friends went on the run when Voldemort took over, were hounded from one end of the country to the other, rescued hostages, broke into Gringotts and then tricked Voldemort and his Death Eaters into coming to Hogwarts for a final showdown. Voldemort assumed that he'd face him, his friends, a few of the older pupils and the staff. Instead, he called for everybody that owed him a favour from Slytherin to Hufflepuff, from low life to Wizengamot member – that man, still a boy, assembled an army the likes of which had never been seen before or since and defeated the dark forces once and for all. The gold trim is actual gold hand stitched by the Goblins after they realised what he had done for them and as for the coloured threads… Well, the main colours represent the four great Houses of Hogwarts while the white symbolises the courage, determination and sacrifices he had to make in his life" the wizard took a moment to catch their breath. "People say they lost a lot, but the boss…? The boss lost it all – his parents, his grandparents, family, friends, loved ones… And then, about ten years after, he found out his wife had been cheating on him with at least one of his supposed children. He demanded a test be done and it turned out none of the three were his – broke his heart and he divorced her and threw himself into his work protecting the country and ended up married to three different women"

"Isn't that…" Susan paused before her jaw dropped comically and she turned to look at the door the older wizard had gone through.

"Yep…" the man chuckled, "Your new boss and mentor is Harry Potter"