AN:While I will be toying around with minor lore details in this fic, assume that most major plot points until the moment Voldemort dies still applies to this universe. This is intended to be a sort of sequel/spin-off hybrid that follows Harry's journey to greatness post-Voldemort.

I also want to spend some time fleshing out the Wizarding World, but I don't want to re-read every book in great detail, so I hope you can forgive the slight deviations from cannon lore that are no doubt found in this fic

While I will try to keep everyone's character consistent with their cannon portrayal, I am not J.K Rowling and have no ownership over anything Harry Potter related and therefore you can expect some degree of OOCness. Also note that two years have passed since we've last seen Harry and co., and so some change in personality is expected (I think).

Ginny will be out of character and will be portrayed rather negatively because the story necessitates it, but that's not because I hate Ginny or actually view her character in the way she is written here. I'm simply being a fanfic author and playing in this magical toy-box Ms. Rowling has gifted to the world.

Thank you for giving this story a chance, and I would highly appreciate if you left some reviews.

- Wolver

Prologue: Trainee Potter

Auror trainee Harry James Potter collapsed into bed the moment he apparated into his tiny studio flat in Diagon Alley. He groaned in pain as he turned over to face the ceiling.

Harry had (rather naively) assumed that once Voldemort was gone (or had accidentally offed himself, as had been the case), life would go a lot smoother and more painlessly than it had been going before. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that it would be completely untroubled, but comparatively…

Well, that shows what Harry knew!

He considered just falling asleep and leaving his studying for the next day, but tomorrow was a Saturday, and that meant he HAD to visit the Weasleys, no ifs or buts about it.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself up and dragged himself to the bathroom. He withdrew his wand and lit a candle with nothing but a minute flick of his wand.

Harry removed his wireframe rectangular glasses and twisted the metal handle of the tap, watching the water flow out with eyes half-closed. He washed his face with the cool water and stared at himself in the mirror.

While his scar had faded and he had filled out since his Hogwarts days, he was still undeniably Harry Potter. Oh sure, his features had gotten sharper, and his hair had grown longer, but he definitely still was the "Boy-Who-Lived". Or at least he didn't feel any different from the boy floundering his way around Hogwarts. Half the time, he still felt as if he had no idea what he was doing, NEWTs be damned!

He turned the tap off and walked back to his room with the candle in hand, passing his bed in favor of the uncomfortably hard chair in front of the small pinewood desk. A groan escaped his lips as he reached for his copy of A Journeyman's Guide to Transfiguration. It wasn't that Harry disliked the book, quite the opposite in fact, he found it quite interesting, but he was tired. Dead tired to be precise.

Harry supposed he shouldn't have expected anything else, what with being an auror trainee. After all, there was a saying in Wizarding Britain; Basilisks make for a Healer's squire and Dragons that spot aurors fly higher. And the proverb existed for good reason, as both those professions had one thing in common that put those that practiced them a cut above the average wizard; they had to approach mastery in almost every branch of Magic, and had to be true Masters of at least one.

Healers had to neutralize potions, transfigure curse wounds, and charm diseases away. If one couldn't do any of those things, the patient would die. If one couldn't do those things at the exact moment one needed to, the patient died anyway. And even if the patient survived, a Healer still had to make sure that they weren't called in front of the Wizengamot for 'malpractice'. And that's without even considering the more esoteric magical maladies...

And aurors had to be able combat and detect every branch of magic that existed. Not all dangerous criminals were Dark Arts practitioners, and an auror's work didn't exactly end at the battlefield. After all, there were laws to obey, forms to fill out and clues to follow, and letting a crime boss get away because you didn't know the slightest bit about transfigured wards would be…terrible wouldn't even match the severity of the situation.

Harry shut his book closed and got up from his seat, stretching his legs and groaning at the delightful burn that traveled up to his thighs. His reddened eyes flitted over to his bed before he squared his jaw. Transfiguration exercises first, then sleep.

He withdrew his holly and phoenix feather wand from his wrist holster and a round pebble from his pocket. He swished and flicked his wand toward the pebble, and it floated a few centimeters above his hand. He directed the stone around the room, and without letting it pause, he muttered "Gemino," and suddenly there were two pebbles floating around his flat.

Harry smiled in pride. It had taken him an inordinate amount of time to duplicate objects immediately and without the characteristic spatial distortion, and a good deal more of it to do it while other spells (such as his wingardium leviosa) were active on the objects. Compensating for the arcane interference of other spells in object-based spell casting took a surprising amount of practice and study.

He narrowed his eyes in concentration and started Arslan's transfiguration drill in earnest. The twin pebbles started to orbit each other as they floated around the room and quickly (almost instantaneously and without any sort of distortion or liquefication) turned into blocks of wood. Then they became small needles. He wordlessly enlarged the needles, turning them into twin spires of death. He transfigured one of them into stone and the other into glass.

Then quick as a thought, he transfigured the glass spire into a dove (which immediately started to erratically fly around his room) and simultaneously transfigured the stone back into steel. Without a second's passing, he sent the spear flying towards the bird with a Hooding's Banisher, guiding it toward the creature with a subtle application of a Leviosa variant.

Harry quickly chained the flick of his last spell into the starting flick of his next spell that changed both objects into a swarm of bees, his last wand-motion being the only wand-motion of the last spell in Arslan's, Pan's pananimalia Imperio, which allowed Harry to control the swarm.

He directed the swarm around the room once before he split the swarm in half and transformed the bees back into the round pebbles he had originally. One popped out of existence while the other floated into his hand.

Harry looked at his steel wristwatch and grimaced when he saw the hour hand pointing to one. Normally he would go through Arslan's drill a few more times, speeding up each time he completed a cycle, but it simply was too late to do so.

Placing the rock and his wand onto his desk, he blew out the candle, undressed (tossing his clothes all over the floor in the process) and crawled into bed.

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Harry barely had enough time to brush his teeth and get dressed before he apparated over to the Burrow with a small pop. He had arrived right outside their front yard, and he couldn't help but smile a bit when he saw the tall and crooked house. He narrowly avoided stepping on a chicken as he knocked on the door.

Molly Weasley opened the door, smiled brightly, and pulled Harry into a tight hug. "Oooh Harry, how've you been? Have you been eating enough?" She asked as she pulled away and gave Harry a critical look .

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Ah Mrs. Weasley…" Mrs. Weasley's look intensified in response. "You know, with the auror training and everything, I just don't have the time-"

"Time, Harry?" she snapped, her brow furrowed "I send a box of ready-to-eat-food home with you every week!"

"And we have this conversation every week Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied with a lopsided grin. "Really I do this just so we can stick to tradition."

Despite her best efforts, a small smile made its way onto Mrs. Weasley's face. She rolled her eyes and let Harry in. "Hermione and the boys are all up in their rooms, puttering about, and Fleur is sitting outside with Teddy and Andromeda. Arthur is tinkering in his shed." Her eyes took on a distant quality, "Ginny, I think, will only be here for dinner."

Harry resisted the urge to wince. "Thank you. Speaking of dinner, you want any help?"

"Sweet of you to offer Harry, but I can handle it," she said, her soft smile firmly snapping into place, "I'll call you when lunch is ready."

Harry grinned in response, "Brilliant," he said as started walking toward the garden, "Call me if you need anything!"

He stepped out the backdoor and was greeted by the sight of two year old Teddy Lupin begging to be let on a broom.

"Grandy," he pleaded, his hair a pale yellow, "Lemme on broom!"

Andromeda's face took on an expression of fond annoyance, "No Teddy," she sighed.

Fleur's raised a dainty blonde brow as she grinned at Andromeda "Oh but he's so cute, non?"

Andromeda narrowed her steel grey eyes at her, ignoring Teddy's renewed whining. "We'll talk about cute after yours is born."

"Quite true, and after all, he simply has to ride his first broom with me," Harry joined in, sending a teasing grin over to Andromeda, "Grandy."

All three of them turned to face him, and Teddy barreled into Harry's shins in his hurry to give him a hug. "Godpa Harry!"

Harry picked him up, groaning in mock effort as he picked him up and brought him up to eye level. "My my, Teddy, You're getting big aren't you?"

Teddy, whose hair was now a brilliant orange, nodded vigorously. "Uhuh, Uhuh! But Grandy says I'm too small for broom…"His grey eyes started shifting to Harry's emerald green as he adopted a pleading expression.

Harry laughed as he let him down, "Yeah a bit too small for that, although you are getting awfully wordy." He approached Andromeda and gave the thin older woman a warm hug, "Is that normal at this age Grandy?"

She smiled fondly, "No, but he gets it from his mother." She arched a brow, "And it's bad enough Teddy calls me that ridiculous name Potter, you don't have to join in."

Fleur embraced Harry, her swollen belly making the embrace a bit awkward. "Ah, but saying Grandmuzzer Andromeda is such a hassle," she said while kissing Harry's stubbled cheek, "best to put the two together I think!"

Harry winked at her, "I find myself agreeing Fleur. It is such a charming name after all."

The adults shared a laugh while Teddy watched on in confusion. He pulled at Harry's leg, "Did you catch any bad guys?"

"No Teddy," Harry's eyes twinkled at the familiar question, "but as I tell you every week, you'll be the first to know when I do."

Teddy nodded solemnly, and Harry wondered, not for the first time, if he actually understood his answer. Teddy quickly extended a supinated palm, "Candy?" he asked with hopeful eyes.

Andromeda's brows furrowed, "Come on Harry, you do this every week, and you know how hyperactive he can ge-"

Harry knelt down, and pressed the candy that was in his pocket into Teddy's palm. "A lemon sherbet, just for you Teddy."

Andromeda glared at Harry as Teddy unwrapped the sweet and stuffed it into his mouth without preamble, her eyes promising painful retribution. "One of these days Harry, I'm going to leave him with you during one of his hyperactive episodes and then we'll see who's amused!"

Harry was about to reply when Fleur's laughter interrupted his train of thought. "Go say hi to Mr. Weasley, Harry. Before you make this situation any worse for yourself."

He ruffled Teddy's hair as he walked off, still chuckling. "I'll see you three in a bit!"

As he made his way over to the shed, he noticed a gnome quickly pop its head down into a bush near the perimeter of the property. He promised himself that he would convince Ron and the others to help him with de-gnoming the yard. Someone had to, especially now since none of the Weasley children lived in the Burrow anymore.

BANG! Harry heard an explosion coming from the shed, and he tore off towards it without a second thought. He withdrew his wand and sent a banisher at the door in a single, fluid motion, blasting it wide open. He stepped in only to find that Arthur Weasley was berating George, a thoroughly annoyed expression adorning his face.

Harry grinned as he vanished a charred piece of cardboard, watching with fond amusement as a cringing George Weasley tried to placate his father. "Really, Dad, it was an accident, you know I wouldn't d-oh look," he suddenly exclaimed, his expression suddenly shifting to one of relief, "Harry's here!"

Mr. Weasley turned his head, the curves of a soft smile forming on his visage. "Harry," He stepped forward to wrap the spectacled man in a gentle embrace. "How are you, son?"

Harry felt something warm spread out from his stomach all over his body. "I'm fine Mr. Weasley, and yourself?"

"Good, good, can't complain. I still have your gay-sette by the way."

Harry saw George cough into a closed fist. "Don't worry about the cassette. Keep it for as long as you like." He turned his head over to George and pointedly raised a brow "George, still up to no good I see."

The prankster's grin widened, "Oh auror Potter, I solemnly swear it."

Harry shook his head, a small chuckle rumbling his belly as it escaped his lips. "auror trainee actually."

"And why is that?" George said, his brows furrowed "You've been in training for the past two years. You should have been a junior auror by last year!"

"Well," said Harry, slightly uneasy with the topic "Perhaps I'm not good enough..."

"Bullocks, that is! It's unfair what they're doing to you."

Harry decided to change the topic. "I assume that explosion was you, then?"

"Err-"

Mr. Weasley quickly cut him off, "I had allowed him to look at some of the muggle board-games I have collected, provided he behaved himself." He looked at George from out the corner of his eye. "It seems my one condition was a bit too much to handle."

"Sorry.." he said, looking entirely unapologetic. "We-" George's smile took on a forced quality, before it quickly rearranged itself into his usual hyena-like smile.

Neither Harry nor Mr. Weasley commented on it.

"-I am planning on adapting a few muggle board games so that we can sell them over at the Wheezes."

"What," Harry enquired "like basilisks and brooms instead of snakes and ladders?"

"Good name Harry, mind if I steal it?"

Mr. Weasley interrupted before Harry could respond, "You can stay for as long as you want, Harry." His eyes narrowed as his gaze landed upon his son, "You on the other hand, can get out."

George placed a hand over his heart as he wobbled back and forth. "Oh dearest daddy fath-"

"Preferably before you blow something else up."

George laughed as he stepped out the shed, "I'll come back another time then. Come on Harry, let's go bother mum."

Harry waved at Mr. Weasley before he walked back over to kitchen. George switched the places of the sugar and salt jars the moment they arrived.

Shaking his head, Harry made his way upstairs, making short conversation with Bill and Percy as he passed their rooms. He eventually found himself in front of Ron's room and opened the door without bothering to knock.

He instantly regretted his decision.

Ron and Hermione jumped away from each other, their faces a matching Weasley red.

"Haven't you heard of knocking, Harry?!" Hermione hissed as she straightened her ruffled clothing.

"I wasn't expecting you to be joined at the lips, believe you me! Some self control, Ron?"

"Mate," Ron chuckled breathlessly, "She's the insatiable one, as unbelievable as that may sound."

"Ronald!" she screeched, a scandalized expression upon her face.

"It's always the quiet ones eh," Harry joked

Ron let out a booming laugh while Hermione gaped and twitched like a fish that just landed on shore.

"It's not often we leave her speechless," Harry said between sniggers.

"Harry, that might be true for you," Ron said, his blue eyes sparkling with humor, "but I often put her in situations where she can't use her mouth to talk."

Ron gave them both a minute to let his words sink in. Harry doubled over in laughter.

Hermione drew her wand.

Harry's wand was in his hand the moment he saw Hermione's in her grip, and managed to deflect all the stinging hexes aimed towards him into the ground with practiced ease. Ron, on the other hand...

"Ow, woman, that bloody hurt!" He said as he rubbed the welts that now covered every other inch of his body.

"Well maybe think before you speak then, Ron," She sniffed. She narrowed her eyes when she saw that Harry was completely unharmed. "I'm not sure if I'm a fan of your auror training."

He laughed nervously. "Not sure you would need it to be dangerous Hermione," He said, attempting to placate her. He glanced at Ron and cringed in sympathy, "How does a Ministry Barrister end up so good with her wand anyways?"

"Someone has to keep him in line," she said, jerking her head towards Ron. She watched for a moment as the ginger struggled to heal a welt on his back, the tip of his wand never exactly lining up with the inflamed patch of skin. "Oh here," she said as she got behind him. She murmured the counter curse, and Ron sighed in relief.

"You're brilliant 'Mione," Ron laughed, "Scary, but brilliant." Hermione huffed, but Harry noticed a fond smile worming its way onto her face. Harry sat down on the bed next to his friends and grinned in contentment.

The trio sat in comfortable silence for a moment, simply enjoying each other's company.

Ron finally broke it by asking about Harry's auror training.

"It's good, but tiring." Harry responded. "It's really interesting though," he added as an after thought. "How about the preschool? Are your plans going alright?"

Ron's chest puffed out. "Great! Swimmingly well in fact!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! We even got the funding and premises and a name and everything!"

Harry leaned towards him, "Go on then, tell me about it!"

Before Ron could respond, Hermione sighed in exasperation, "He's calling it the Weasley's Wizarding Womb." Ron looked as if he was about to defend himself, but Hermione quickly cut him off. "Womb, Harry, Womb! Tell him it's a ridiculous idea."

"Yeah well, a womb is nurturing and comforting and so is a nursery!" Upon seeing Harry's disbelieving expression, he quickly added "And Bill's planning on opening a private warding company called Weasley's Wizarding Wards in the future. Wouldn't want to break the pattern you know…"

Harry laughed, "Its not too terrible Ron, don't worry about it. Better than SPEW at least!" Hermione stuck her tongue out at them as Ron nudged her with his elbow. "Tell me about the funding and premises."

"The funding was mostly 'Mione actually," he shot a smile over at her direction and she preened. "Once she got her bill passed, the Wizengamot needed to execute it. I was just so lucky," he grinned roguishly, "that my plans were mostly drafted up and ready for submission when the bill was passed, before anyone else could do anything about it. Ministry practically handed the galleons over to me. Coincidence, that."

Harry whistled. "Didn't you propose that bill two weeks ago? How in Merlin's name did you get it passed so quickly?"

"It wasn't that difficult really," she said with a proud tilt of her head, "I just mentioned how allowing muggleborn magicals to enter the wizarding world at an early age would help with their integration and give them a solid foundation for their Hogwarts years,

"And I may or may not have implied that getting purebloods to interact with the muggleborn during their formative years would help with easing away the prejudices some students may have." Something deep and dark softened her brown eyes. "It really hasn't been that long since the Blood War ended after all…. Everyone wants to distance themselves from the rhetoric that sparked it…"

A solemn silence permeated the room.

"Well," Ron barked out, causing the other two thirds of the golden trio to jump, "look at my wife, barely a year as a legal-witch and already getting bills passed." He mimed wiping tears out of his eyes, "I'm so proud."

Hermione punched Ron on the arm, but Harry could clearly see the pleased expression that she wore.

Harry laughed and clapped Ron on the shoulder. Ron always could lighten up even the darkest of situations. Harry had always like that about him. "Tell me about the place you've got Ron."

His best friends smiled viciously. "I think that may be the best part!"

"Oh, do tell?"

"Well the Malfoys had to sell off a lot of property to pay off their fines-"

"Wait a minute," Harry interrupted "didn't they, you know…"

Ron looked at Harry, confusion marring his expression, while Hermione rolled her eyes. "Your speaking on their behalf did absolve them of their Azkaban worthy crimes. They still, however, had to pay for all the property damage they caused during Voldemort's reign of terror."

"Ah." Harry had always felt weird that his actions had allowed the Malfoys to get off scot-free. Knowing that they had paid for their crimes in some way, no matter how small it was, made Harry feel a bit better.

"Well," Ron said, "the place the Ministry gave us was one of the places the Malfoys used to own. A big holiday home over in Cornwall. We only need to change it up a little, and reconnect the place to the floo, and we've already got our place!"

"That's great Ron, I'm sure it'll be great," Harry said earnestly.

"It sure is! And I can only imagine Malfoy's reaction when he finds out little muggleborn kids are pawing about his old holiday home!"

The boys giggled in sadistic glee, and even Hermione snorted in amusement.

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Harry spent the morning playing with Teddy, talking to his friends, and eating Molly's wonderful food for lunch. Afterwards, he recruited a few of the male Weasley children into helping him de-gnome the garden. And he may or may not have guilted them into it by reminding that there really wasn't anyone to help out with it during the week.

And he may or may not have spent the next hour dodging hexes aimed at his back.

Before long the aroma of Molly's scrumptious cooking had diffused into every corner of the Burrow, and the Weasley matriarch's booming voice had called all those present over to the dinner table.

Harry smiled as he walked past a snoozing Teddy snoring softly in his cot.

He sat down between Andromeda and Ron, right across Fleur. His mouth watered as he looked at the various foods placed upon the table

He purposefully blocked out the significance of the empty chair on the far end of the table.

A silence descended upon the Burrow as everyone waited for it to happen. Harry bit back a grimace at Molly's hopeful expression.

A black owl tapped on the window, and Bill flicked his wand to let it in. Molly read the letter with watering eyes, and Harry couldn't help but look at the empty chair.

Harry would have felt guilty, would have worried that he was the reason that she was keeping away, if he hadn't known that simply wasn't true. She had started keeping away long before they had broken up, and that was precisely the reason why they had separated to begin with.

Still, he felt a sharp pang as he looked at the extra seat that Molly prepared every week without fail.

Arthur forced a smile onto his face. He plucked the letter from his wife's grip and vanished it with a flourish of his wand. "This all looks delicious dear. Why don't you tell us who made what?"

Molly flashed him a grateful smile and the building tension drained from the dining room. "Well the salad was made by Andromeda."

"Sorry I can't make anything else," she smiled softly "My husband always used to be the better cook between us."

"Nonsense Andi, this is more than enough!" Molly protested before continuing, "And the booola-base-"

"Bouillabaisse," Fleur cut in with a warm smile, "I thought something French would help balance out this heavy English fare."

As Molly wagged her finger at Fleur good-naturedly, Harry couldn't help but marvel at how much Molly's relationship with her daughter in law had improved ever since Fenrir Greyback had scarred Bill.

Silver linings, he thought with amusement.

"Yes well that and the soup was by our resident food snob." Molly finished with a smile.

Everyone looked at her expectantly.

"Well go on everyone, dig in!"

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Harry desperately gasped for breath, as his arms, legs, and everything really felt as if they were burning with the intensity of Fiendfyre.

He ducked under a vibrant yellow curse. Diving into the large dueling room. "Get your wand out Potter, no breaks for you!" A gruff voice called out from his front.

He quickly withdrew his wand from his wrist holster. Harry eyed senior auror Corvus Proudfoot carefully, cursing the black haired wizard's name with every other breath. He signaled three relatively young aurors to come forwards.

"Trainee Potter, you will engage these three gentlemen in combat."

Harry would have sworn if he had the energy to. I just finished running 5 kilometers, and that was right after your calisthenics training too!

"You may only use object based magic."

Harry was now thoroughly convinced that Proudfoot wanted to kill him.

He went under and over the hexes and curses sent his way as he mentally took stock of what magic he could use under his constraints.

Terrain manipulation spells, he thought as he brought his wand up, the ground beneath him folding upwards to block the spells heading towards him. He jabbed the stick of holly forward, and the earth he had brought upwards moved like a wave towards two of the aurors that were sticking a little bit too close together.

Pure transfiguration, Harry danced around the jets of light the third sent, feeling more than seeing one of the other two use blasting curses to create a gap in the earthen wave that they could safely step through.

He transfigured some of the rubble that had resulted from the blasting curses into bees. One of the auror pair had managed to burn the flying insects but not before the other had been stung into submission, his eyes swollen shut.

Harry snapped to attention the moment he noticed that the third auror had used his momentary lapse of attention to send five spells in the pattern of Mormont's cross, ensuring he could dodge no more than four.

Harry used a silent but overpowered Accio to quickly summon some of the rubble right into the path of one of the spells as he quickly dove into his newly created opening, smoothly rolling back up onto his feet as the spell's collision with the debris showered shrapnel all over him, cutting his face. He dodged around a few other spells, and noticed the second auror was almost finished healing up his fallen comrade.

Summoning, he thought as he magically dragged the rest of the rubble towards him, knocking over the second auror and interrupting his healing spell.

And banishing. He sent the rubble flying towards the third auror, who then shielded and banished it back towards Harry in one smooth motion. The moment it hit the ground, the debris coalesced into three large boa constrictors.

Harry grinned as he commanded them to attack the aurors with Parseltongue. As the snakes slithered away from Harry, his opponents froze up in momentary shock, giving Harry the opportunity to send another wave of earth, this time towards the lone auror (who Harry had deemed more dangerous).

The auror was buried under the tidal wave of dirt. Unfortunately, Harry had buried one of the snakes with the man.

The last auror had managed to transfigure the other two snakes into birds, and directed them towards Harry.

He just barely dodged one of them, while the other nicked his left shoulder with its beak. Harry couldn't help but be impressed when he noticed the birds had metallic claws and beaks.

He raised a block of earth for cover, and quickly transfigured the birds into cannon balls. "Gemino" he incanted hurriedly, and Harry suddenly found himself with four metal balls.

Harry quickly leapt out of the way of bright orange curses curving up and around his makeshift wall.

He flicked his wand twice, and two of his cannon balls flew towards the last auror, colliding with his shield with two dull thunks. Wasting no time, He transfigured the two balls into smoke.

Using his newfound cover, he flanked the auror who was too busy clearing the smoke to notice what he was doing. In the seconds it took him to succeed, Harry had summoned the remaining balls over to himself and transfigured one of them into a thick length of rope, and the other he sent careening towards his opponent, who barely managed to deflect it towards the ground.

That, however, ensured that he did not have enough time to deal with the animated rope Harry sent his way, which wrapped around him with the firmness of an anaconda.

Harry desperately gulped down air as he collapsed onto his knees, each and every one of his limbs shaking.

He noticed Proudfoot heal the swollen auror, and moved to free the one buried under the dirt.

The last snake, however, didn't seem very appreciative of being exposed as it lunged towards the decorated auror. With lightning fast reflexes, he vanished the reptile.

Once he ensured that the junior auror was relatively uninjured, he revived him with a well-practiced renervate.

"Sir…" Harry's last opponent pleaded, "This rope is really tight…"

Proudfoot rolled his eyes and freed the man with a huff. "Stand at attention." He ordered quietly.

The trio stood with backs ramrod straight, and Harry sheathed his wand as he moved to join them, his legs protesting every step of the way.

"You three lost to one wizard, what did you do wrong?" Proudfoot demanded, his severe features arranging themselves into a scowl.

There was a pregnant pause until the one with dirt in his hair lifted a shaky hand. "I used snakes against a well known parseltongue…"

"And why would you do that?" Harry's instructor bit out. Harry winced and focused on the top of Proudfoot's crew cut, finding it rather difficult to look at the unadulterated venom present on the senior auror's face.

"I panicked, sir. It was the first animal transfiguration I thought of."

"You panicked." Proudfoot's voice dropped an octave. "And you," he said, turning to face the auror on the far right, "Auror Hennessey. Why would you use a blasting curse instead of a vanishing charm when you knew that trainee Potter was specifically instructed to use object based magic exclusively?"

His voice slowly started increasing in volume. "Your mistake gave Potter all the ammunition he needed to fight you lot!"

"I-I thought- it was the first spell I thought of!"

"First spell you thought of? Pathetic" he muttered as Hennessey slowly hunched over in shame.

"And auror McLaggen, how the hell did you get taken out by a bunch of bees so quickly?!" Proudfoot was yelling now, his grey eyes narrowed in burning rage.

"I didn't have time to react sir-"

"Damn right you didn't have time to react! You were too busy going through the motions of your bunker buster hex to be anything more than utterly useless. What?" Proudfoot snarled, "did you think you could take out Potter with one flashy spell?!"

The auror looked down, his eye still a little bit swollen.

"Utterly embarrassing… I have half a mind to put you on probation and assign you to retraining."

Proudfoot paced back and forth, his arms clasped behind him as he muttered what Harry imagined were unspeakably vile things. He finally stopped and addressed the aurors. "The three of you lost to a trainee. Absolutely mortifying." He shook his head one more time before he made a shooing motion with his left hand, "Dismissed".

The three auror limped away, presumably to lick their wounds. Proudfoot waited for the door to close behind them before he addressed Harry. "I wasn't aware that Parseltongue was object based magic, trainee Potter."

Harry, who finally had recovered enough to speak, said, " Parseltongue is such a rare ability that it hasn't been classified yet. For all we know, it could be an object-based magic. Sir," he added quickly before he received yet another lecture on respecting rank.

Proudfoot raised a brow, "But that's not why you used it, is it?"

Harry knew that brutal honesty was best when dealing with Proudfoot, at least in the long term. "No sir, I just saw snakes and commanded them on instinct."

Proudfoot stared at him for a while, and Harry fought not to fidget under his scrutiny. Man's almost as terrifying as Voldemort.

The senior auror nodded, "Good thing it worked out for you then. Tell me, if Hennessey had vanished a portion of your Geb's Grumble, instead of blasting a hole into it, what would you have done?"

Harry answered immediately, "All spells damage physical substances after a certain threshold of magical exposure had been reached, meaning that there would have been some debris as a result of spells impacting the ground."

Proudfoot made a go-on motion with his hand.

"So I probably would have dodged as many of the curses as I could, summoning debris into the path of spells as required. Once enough transfiguration material had been accumulated, I would have transfigured all of it into pigeons and used the confusion to start going through the motions of Jupiter's grasp-"

"Your distraction would have approximately bought you three to five seconds of time. Can you cast Jupiter's grasp that quickly?"

Harry nodded tersely, feeling annoyance build up in "You know that I can sir, I did it last week."

"I suppose I do know that yes. I remember being most impressed. How long can you maintain the spell? It's quite draining." He was smiling, Harry noticed, the sadistic bastard was smiling!

"Around thirty seconds."

Proudfoot looked faintly impressed. "Would that be enough?"

"Yes sir."

Proudfoot nodded, an approving look upon his face for once. "A decent strategy. Last question then, why did I limit you to object manipulating spells?"

"Most object manipulating spells aren't often used by wizards because of the somewhat high level of skill they require to be used in a timely manner. You wanted to test if I could successfully integrate a rarely used, and therefore useful, part of magic into my combat style." Harry felt pretty satisfied with his answer, and allowed a small smile to work its way onto his face.

"Half-point, Potter." Harry's face fell as Proudfoot shook his head, "The other reason, is that all creatures, magical or not, can be taken out through using physical objects. A giant," he lifted a bony finger, "is resistant to magic, but an enlarged spear through its gut will kill it just about as well as anything else can."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement, silently praying that Proudfoot was almost finished so he could take a shower. His dark red Auror robes were wet and smelled of sweat and blood.

Proudfoot looked at him appraisingly, "Once you have showered, study whatever you like until I come collect you. You are dismissed Potter."

Harry walked over to the door, and just as he touched the doorknob he heard Proudfoot call his name.

Feeling cold leaden dread sink into the pit of his stomach, he turned. "Yes, sir?"

As quick as thought, Proudfoot's wand flicked out towards Harry and he spat out a "Scourgify!"

Harry hissed in pain, as the wounds on his face and shoulder were magically scrubbed raw.

"And that, Potter, is for not immediately healing your injuries once the battle was over," He flicked his wand again and the cuts on Harry's body were sealed shut. "Be grateful all I did was Scourgify your wounds, I could have done worse."

Harry quietly grumbled as he slinked off to the showers, ruing the day he had met Corvus Proudfoot.

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Harry stretched out on the sofa in the auror's lounge, groaning at the pleasurable pain he felt with every exertion of his body. He wondered if he should work on his warding theory, or if he should work on his occulemency.

After a few moments' deliberation, he decided that some occulomency practice wouldn't hurt. After all, occulomency helped one with remembering spells and maintaining a precise control over one's magic.

Just as he closed his eyes and entered a meditative trance, the door to the lounge opened with a loud bang, startling Harry back into reality.

"Potter," Proudfoot said, an uncharacteristically nervous expression adorning his face, "get up, hurry, you're on duty."

Harry's heart leaped at the thought of his first assignment. "What is it sir?"

"Diagon Alley is under attack." Proudfoot tossed a Pepper-up potion over to Harry, which he quickly downed.

There was a pregnant pause.

"Who's attacking?" Harry enquired, as they briskly walked towards the floo.

Proudfoot shifted nervously, "That's the thing, it's a what, not a who, and we have no clue what it is."

Harry gulped in anticipation.

Post-edit AN: Hopefully the chapter is actually readable now. Sorry for the inconvenience. Chapter one is coming soon!