5

September 1st:

They had been training for a week now. The days seemed like they were flying by. It was weird how quickly Doe fell into a routine. The ministry, and Moody now seemed much less terrifying.

The training too, seemed to be less looming. It was still one of the hardest things she had ever been asked to do, but at least she knew what was expected of her.

The magical portion of their training had begun the second day. It started easy. Moody watched them all disarm each other. Moody expected all of them to be proficient in non-verbal spells, something that Sirius, Frank and Doe were all versed in but proved to be more challenging for the other trainees.

Today they were all set up in the training room. Moody had split them into two teams of ten. He'd given their team silver cloaks to wear to make them distinguishable, and he expected them to duel. They were only allowed to use stunning spells. The object of the game to stun as many of the opposing team as possible.

Sirius was on Doe's team, but Frank was on the other.

They were all darting around the room casting stunning spells, trying desperately to both stun as many players as well as avoid their spells.

Doe darted to the left avoiding a spell that a brutish looking trainee named Gordon had sent her way. He had not yet mastered non-verbal spells and had had to say it aloud, giving her ample time to get out of the way.

Doe silently shot a stunning spell at him. The flash of blue light hitting him square in the chest as he fell down stunned.

" Good one Meadowes" Sirius called as he passed behind her stunning two of the Beauxbatons girls at once.

" Back at you, Black" she said with a grin, darting another spell.

Some of the other trainees were actually very good. There was a Hogwarts ravenclaw named Piers who had graduated the year before them, who had quite the skill with dueling. He, having also been well versed in nonverbal spells at Hogwarts, cast spells quickly and before you noticed.

Doe darted to the right, missing his spell by inches.

A large grin appeared on his face as he sent another one towards her. She darted again and sent one back at him. He jumped to the left, also missing it.

She frowned and sent another.

Somehow, they both became haunted by the idea of conceding and began sending spells back at one another. Making it more of a duel between the two of them, rather than joining everyone else.

Doe noticed Moody eyeing them carefully.

Not wanting to disappoint him, she shot another spell at him and frowned as he once again darted it.

She hardly had time to react before he shot another one at her.

She had to physically duck to avoid this one. Still crouching, she shot another one at him and watched as he was too late to dart from it. It hit him in the right shoulder, paralyzing him momentarily.

Smiling, she joined the others of her team. They were in the lead still having six players to the other teams four.

The durmstrang boy on their team had been too cocky. He turned to one of the Beauxbatons girls smiling widely after having just stunned and opposite team player, and took a stunning spell to the chest.

Sirius shook his head disapprovingly and shot a stunning spell at one of the other players.

Doe dodged another spell, and sent two.

There were only two players left on the other team. Doe watched Sirius take down one of the Durmstrang boys and the other was momentarily distracted as his friend fell to his feet.

She shot a stunning spell at him, watching his expression turn to bewilderment as he was stunned.

A huge grin spread across her face as she realized they had won. She was a mixture of excitement and exhaustion.

Sirius walked over and clapped her hand happily, " We did it Doe" he said with a wide smile.

Doe noticed Moody's expression held a certain look of surprise as he took in the remaining four players on their team.

Those who had been stunned were still lying motionless on the floor.

" Well congratulations to you lot" Moody said as he eyed the clock. It was well after five, and they had been practicing dueling for hours.

" You can all go, I'll have some Healer Trainees restore the rest of them" Moody said.

Doe began to walk out with Sirius at her heels.

" Hold on a minute, Meadowes" Moody called.

Doe stopped in the doorway, and nodded to Sirius who said he'd wait for her outside of the office.

" That was some dueling I saw today" Moody commented.

A small smile crept onto her face, " Thank you, Sir"

Moody shook his head, " No sir here, you call me Moody". It came out very harshly.

" Okay, Thank you Moody" she corrected herself.

" You've got some talent" Moody added, " keep working, at the rate you're going you'll make a good auror"

Doe smiled brightly and Moody raised an angry eyebrow.

" I didn't tell you that for you to rest on your laurels" he snapped, " don't screw up"

Doe shook her head, " I won't" she promised.

He nodded back, " Alright, get out of here".

Doe left quickly, not wanting to give Moody any reason to be unhappy with her. Sjhe found Sirius waiting for her outside of the office.

" There you are" he said as she came out, " what did Moody want?"

Doe shook her head, " Nothing, important, just told me I did well today"

Sirius and Doe started to walk, " Well you did" he pointed out.

" So did you" she told him, " you took down two of those Beauxbaton girls at once!"

Sirius grinned roughisly, " Well I do have a talent for getting girls to fall at my feet"

She rolled her eyes at him and watched him laugh.

They walked to the Atrium, and headed towards the outside of the ministry where it was safe to apparate in and out.

" You going home?" Sirius asked when they were safely on the muggle street.

" Yeah Remus is waiting for me" She told him.

Sirius grinned widely and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, " Oh is he? What are you to going to do, Chat about the weather?"

She shoved him hard in the shoulder, " Don't be a git".

He laughed, " You don't know what you would do without me".

" Don't make me forced to find out" she warned.

He laughed, " I'll see you tomorrow, be careful getting home"

" You too" She told him and with a quick pop she apparated to her front door.

She was shocked to find Remus waiting there for her already.

" Rem" she said quickly, " I'm sorry were you waiting long?" she asked opening her front door so he could get in.

He shook his head, " No I just got here, don't worry".

It was empty. Lily had told her this morning she was going to Sirius' apartment to hang out with James tonight.

Once inside the apartment, Doe wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her.

He smiled and found her waist bringing her forward to kiss him.

" How was work today?" she asked when they broke apart, keeping her arms around his neck.

" It was good, I met the head of my Department" Remus said running his hands up and down her sides.

" What about you?" he asked, one of his hands holding her hips.

" We spent all day dueling. Moody worked us to exhaustion" she told him.

" You may want to get used to it" Remus said , " somehow I think Aurors may have to duel quite often"

Doe grinned, " Somehow I'll manage" she said.

" Today's September firs, you knowt" She said sadly thinking about how a year ago they were all sitting in the Great Hall enjoying the feast.

It was the first time in 7 years she hadn't spent her September first on the Hogwarts Express and enjoying being back at Hogwarts.

" I know," Remus said, " At Eleven all I could think was 'there goes the Hogwarts Express'"

" And the feast" Remus added, " I'll miss that"

Doe smiled widely remembering what she had done yesterday.

" Wait here," she told him and dashing into the kitchen.

" Doe?" he called slightly concerned, staying in the living room where she left him.

" Hold on" she called back.

She opened the fridge and took out the chocolate cupcake she had picked up from the bakery yesterday. For the past three years, she had given Remus a chocolate cupcake on this day, even before they were even dating.

" Close your eyes and put your hands out" she ordered before leaving the kitchen.

She heard him sigh, but follow her directions.

She came out of the kitchen and placed the cupcake in his outstretched hands.

" Okay open" She told him.

He opened his eyes and looked down at the cupcake in his hand. A wide smile appeared on his face.

" To feed your chocolate habit" She told him happily.

He grabbed her and pulled her towards him.

" I don't know what I love better, you or this cupcake?" he said taking a small bite.

She raised an eyebrow at him and leaned over to kiss him passionately.

" Definitely you" he whispered in her ear.

He kissed her again, and she led him over to the couch, pulling him on top of her.

" You know, we couldn't do this at Hogwarts" Remus said a few hours later. He was sitting against the arm of our couch, and Doe was leaning against him, in his arms.

" This is true" she told him reaching up and kissing his jaw.

" If you keep doing that, I'm not going to want to leave" Remus told her shifting so that she was slightly underneath him.

" So, don't" she told him, " stay here tonight"

Remus raised his eyebrow, " Really?"

She nodded quickly, " Please" she begged, " I promise to wake you up early and everything so you can still go to work"

Remus smiled, " You don't have to ask me twice"

She grinned and leaned up to kiss him.

They were interrupted by Lily and James walking through the door. They tried to shift quickly, but they had already seen them.

" Don't mind us" Lily said with a quick giggle, dragging James behind her, a sheepish grin on her face.

James winked at them, " Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt Moony".

They disappeared into Lily's room.

Doe turned back to Remus, both of their faces bright red.

" Come on" she told him and led him back to her bedroom.