4
The Start:
The next few weeks had been the happiest Doe had ever felt outside of Hogwarts. As the summer went on, Lily and De grew very fond of living on their own. However, they spent much of their time in Sirius' flat.
Much to James' prediction, Sirius had found a truly amazing apartment. It was lavish four bedroom apartment with a towering fireplace. Sirius had transformed it into an amazing place to live. So much so that they all spent a majority of their time there.
You could see that it made Sirius extremely happy to finally have a place that he could be himself.
There were touches of him everywhere. From the large Gryffindor Tapestry that hung from the wall in the living room, to the collection of empty butterbeer bottles in the kitchen.
Before any of them knew it, the summer slipped away and they all received notices detailing when they would begin reporting to the ministry. They all began on August 24th.
Sirius and Doe were supposed to report to the auror office at 8:30 in the morning.
They decided we would go together, so the morning of August 24th, she woke early and got dressed. Putting on a pot of tea for both Lily and herself, she sat in the kitchen feeling extremely nervous.
She knew she shouldn't be, but she realized today was the first time, she would be walking into the Ministry with a purpose.
Lily came out of her room, drying her hair in a towel.
" Good Morning" she said taking a seat at the table and sipping from the tea Doe had left out.
" Morning, Lilypad" Doe said sitting down next to her.
She took a few quick sips of her own tea, hoping it would calm down both her excitement and her nerves.
" Today's the big day huh?" Lily asked, " were starting our jobs".
" I know, it doesn't feel real" Doe commented.
Lily gave her a knowing look, " You're nervous aren't you?".
Doe bit her lip and nodded solemnly. It's what she had wanted for so long, but she hated to admit how nervous she was.
" You'll be fine, in fact you'll be great. You're going to be the best auror that that department has ever seen!" Lily said happily.
She didn't know if it was just or nature or the fact that she had spent the last 6 years of her life doing it, but Lily always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better.
Doe smiled at her, " Thank you, Lil. I needed that".
" No problem, Dorykins" she said with a wide smile.
She glanced back at the large clock on the wall. She had to go to meet Sirius at his apartment.
" I've gotta go, but have a great first day of work, Lily" She said kissing the top of her head and leaving the apartment.
Once outside of the constraints of our anti-apparition charm, She closed her eyes and apparated to Sirius apartment.
She knocked on the door, and a very tired looking James opened the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
" Oh hi Doe, SIRIUS DOE'S HERE, come in" James said opening the door so she could come in.
She followed James into the apartment. James slumped down onto the couch. Peter was also sitting on it, looking extremely exhausted as well.
" Late night?" Doe asked James.
James nodded glumly, Peter yawned in response.
" They didn't listen to me" Remus said walking out of his room, fully dressed, and looking much more awake than his roommates.
" Morning" Doe said kissing Remus quickly when he walked over to her.
He smiled at her happily, holding her hand tightly, " Excited to be a ministry employee?"
" Beyond so" She said, her excitement evident on her face.
" You're going to do great" he assured her.
" And what about you, Mr. Lupin?" She asked, " you are going to be the best Magical Cooperation Intern that they have ever had"
Remus smiled appreciatively and pulled her towards him so that she was leaning against his chest.
" It's far too early for that kind of public display of affection" James moaned from the couch.
" What did you guys do last night?" Doe asked in horror, never having heard James condemn PDA before.
Sirius walked out of his room and slipped a jacket on over his t-shirt, " We just had a little 'last night before we become adults' celebration, right kids?".
Peter groaned from the corner he had wedged himself in, clutching his head.
" Do you need something, Peter?" Doe asked him, she had never seen him like that before.
Sirius shook his head, " He's fine. Wormtail just can't hold his firewhiskey. You ready?"
He slipped his wand in his pocket and waited for her.
" Yup, let's go" Doe told him.
She turned back to Remus, " Have a good day" she told him kissing him quickly.
He held her there for a minute, his hand on the small of her back, " You too, good luck".
She gave him one last smile before disappearing out the front door with Sirius.
" Come on, beautiful. We've got training to start" Sirius said happily as he closed the door.
" Let's walk" she urged him. Sirius lived so close to the ministry that it would be just as quick and Doe figured the fresh air would help her clear her head and prepare her for what was waiting for them.
" Okay" Sirius said eyeing her strangely.
She walked out of his building and down the gray cement London streets, taking it all in. It still all felt like a dream.
" Meadowes, you're practically silent. You wouldn't shut up last week, what's wrong?" Sirius asked when they were a block away from the ministry.
" Im fine" Doe lied quickly.
Sirius stopped in the street with one of his eyebrows raised in a way to suggest that he didn't believe her at all. She sighed, It had gotten to the point where Sirius could read her so well, she couldn't lie to him.
" What if I suck at it?" she asked.
Sirius rolled his eyes, " Doe, you won't suck at it. You're a Gryffindor"
" But-" she started. Sirius cut her off,
" And, I'll be there too, I'll force you to be good at it, okay? So stop bloody worrying and enjoy it" he added.
A small smile crept onto her face ,and Sirius rolled his eyes at her.
She stopped Sirius when they approached the Ministry entrance.
" What are you doing?" Sirius asked.
" It's the entrance" she said pointing to the Mens and Womens Restrooms entrances on the street.
" No it's not the telephone booth is the entrance" Sirius said.
Doe shook her head, " Sirius that's the visitors entrance, this is the employee entrance"
Sirius wrinkled his nose, " A bathroom? How do you even get in?"
She suppressed a giggle, entertained by the fact that she would have to be the one to tell him this.
" Well you flush yourself in" she explained to him.
Sirius' face fell slightly, " That's bloody disgusting".
She laughed at his obvious disgust, " It'll all be worth it" she told him heading towards the women's entrance.
Sirius made another disgusted face before disappearing into the Mens room.
She stood in line behind the other women who worked at the ministry waiting for a stall to open up. While she waited, she looked at the corner of the robes, looking at all the different departments that were being represented in the bathroom.
The stall in front of her opened up and she walked in and stood on the toilet, doing exactly what her father had detailed many years ago.
It seemed ludicrous. And she could understand Sirius' discomfort. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world.
She sighed and flushed, feeling herself get sucked into it. There was a quick second where she felt like she was being shoved through a tube before she found herself on her feet in the Atrium of the ministry.
Oddly, she was completely dry, like nothing had happened.
She turned around to see Sirius observing himself in the same state of confusion that she was.
He just shook his head, " so bloody gross".
She laughed as they walked over towards the large marble front desk.
A blonde, hoarse looking witch sat there, scribbling away on a large piece of parchment.
" Excuse me?"
The witch down at her with a look of annoyance and exhaustion.
" Yes?" she asked.
" I was wondering if you knew where the Auror training orientation was?" she asked her.
She sighed and opened the map closest to her.
" You're on level 8 in the Atrium, " She said, " you want to go to level 2 Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that's where the auror office is"
Braced with the directions she gave us, Sirius and Doe made their way to the elevators and selected the button for the second level. The elevator shot down quickly, leading her to believe it was not a series of cables that propelled it.
The doors sprung open on the second level and practically knocked them out of the cart.
They walked down the different departments, each one held offices accessed through a glass door and stopped when they got to the glass door that read 'Auror HeadQuarters".
" This is it" Sirius said encouragingly as he opened the door.
Doe took a deep breath as she took it all in. She had never been inside before. She had only pressed her nose against the door on the days when she visited her dad's office.
It consisted of a huge open floor with 50 open cubicles. There were private offices lining one wall and a hallway full of doors in the other.
" Are you here for training?" A stern looking wizard in the black Auror robes asked Sirius.
Sirius nodded at him.
" It's in room 8, down the hallway on the left" he said before walking back to one of the cubicles. She and Sirius walked down the hallway and stopped when they got to the door marked 8.
She took a deep breath before opening it.
The room was very white. White walls, White floors, and no windows. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling made the whole room look very sterile and clean.
In the middle of the room, twenty folding chairs were sat.
There were people gathered around the room huddled in clusters.
In one corner was a group of boys who looked about their age, wearing moleskin caps and speaking fluent bulgarian. Those must be the Durmstrang applicants, and in the other corner she saw a small collection of girls all speaking quick french. The girls of Beauxbatons.
Besides the obvious two schools, everyone else in the room was a random assortment.
Sirius and Doe spied Frank standing off to the side. He waved happily when he saw them and strode over.
" Hi Doe, Sirius. Good to see you. Exciting huh?" He said quickly.
" Very" Doe agreed.
Frank and Sirius launched into a discussion about the recent win for Finland at last Sunday's match, while Doe continued to look around the room. She recognized a few students from Hogwarts, They had all graduated a couple years before them.
It was an odd assortment of people, houses and schools. 20 of them in all.
She wondered how many would make it to the actual study.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Alastor Moody strode in through the door, and towards the front of the room.
Everyone moved to take a seat. Doe sat squarely in between Sirius and Frank.
Moody looked like he was severely agitated. The expression he wore suggested he would rather pull out his own teeth than be here, and his throaty growl of a voice did little to argue with it.
" So, you are the assembly of individuals that the auror department thinks is capable of capturing this generation of dark wizards" Moody said, his eyes running over the crowd of them. He made a noise that sounded like a combination of a grown and a laugh.
" Well I hate to be the one who crushes your dreams but this job is not for everyone. And about half of you will not make past training to even get to the study of it".
Several people in the crowd gasped. Somehow Doe had expected this. They had very limited spots, and too many applicants.
Moody continued speaking, " To weed out which of you are not capable of handling the job, the four week training session will be a sort of test. You will be tested for both your magical and physical ability. As both are important in a good auror. Starting tomorrow, and every weekday for the next month, you all will report here at 9:00 a.m. We will begin the training and I warn you know, it is not easy and it is not fun. So if you are of the weak willed, or have a low pain tolerance, I recommend you leave now"
A particularly frail looking Beauxbatons girls got up from her chair and left the room.
Moody laughed, " Better she know now".
He reached into a box from the table behind him and with a flick of his wand, a set of back outfits were beginning delivered to each seated person.
Doe looked through it. Everyone had received a black jacket with a large AIT written on the back, outlined underneath to mean 'Auror in Training'.
" Now you need to wear those everyday, so you are distinguishable from the other aurors" Moody said harshly.
Doe figured their complete lack of knowledge and youthful appearance would probably contribute to their identification more than the jacket.
She looked to Sirius, who was listening intently to everything Moody was saying, he looked completely relaxed, his expression still casual.
His outstanding confidence never ceased to amaze her, nothing challenged him.
" So today," Moody grumbled, " I'll give you a tour and see if I can intimidate anymore of of you out of here".
His comment was met with laughter from some and looks of fear from others. He laughed again, obviously amused.
They spent the next few hours get a tour of the auror office and related ministry facilities they would be using. The 'training rooms' were a series of large mirrored rooms with padded floors. The cushion floor comforted some and frightened others.
Moody discussed the various things they would asked to perform during the training. The magical portion didnt scare her. Most of it she had learned at Hogwarts, but what did frighten her was the physical portion.
They would be fighting against the other applicants. Moody said it was designed to make sure that every trainee inducted into the program was capable of defending themselves with a wand or not.
" You wouldn't believe how many gifted dueling wizards I've met who can't throw a punch when their wand is taken away" Moody said as they left the room.
The tour lasted for several hours, around noon Moody released them to lunch telling them that in the next hour they would be going over the procedures and rules for the training session.
Frank, Sirius and Doe made their way down to the Ministry cafeteria. It was a large intimidating room. Doe noticed it was full of Ministry employees from every age group. All dressed in the different colored and emblemed department robes.
" Come on" Sirius said leading her over to the counters for food. They bought food and scoured the room looking for an open seat.
" There's James!" Frank said pointing to a table in the corner, " and look Remus too!"
Relieved, they headed over to the table where they sat. They both looked excited, dressed in jackets talking quickly about their mornings.
" Look at you three" James said when they walked over, looking at their jackets.
" Your neighborhood auror trainees" Sirius grinned sitting down next to James.
Doe sat down next to Remus.
" How'd it go?" he asked excitedly.
She smiled, " Good. He was just explaining the training and how it would go"
" We're in for a treat" Sirius said sarcastically.
" What about you guys, what did you do?" Doe asked Remus and James.
Turns out their jobs were mostly officelike. They all had shared desks in the office and were being trained on all of the processes that their departments were responsible for. It was very different from the atmosphere of the auror office, where they were thrown headfirst into everything.
They spent the rest of the lunch hour chatting happily. Neither Lily or Peter appeared. Their lunch must have been different.
When they got back to the Auror Office, all twenty of the trainees were much more focused and listened intently to Moody's instructions on 'How to Survive the training'.
" Do as I say, perform your best, and don't hurt anyone else" Moody finished, " and you should be fine"
Doe took a deep breath, hoping she would be able to all of it.