DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the recognizable characters, ideas, places and so on.

Chapter 6: A Day In The Life Of…

Song: 5 O'Clock World

By: The Vogues

-Sirius' POV-

It was now mid-October, and Auror Training was no easy task. Sirius lay in bed contemplating his life at present. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it wasn't this. They had to be at the Ministry at 5:00 every day for their classes and they only got off one day a week; Saturday. It was brilliant and all, learning all there is about being an Auror, but it was hard and exhausting. They had 14-hour days. Most nights, they ate on the go. There were some good things though; Sirius thought to himself, I get to spend the whole day with my best mate and my girlfriend. The wedding planning had been going swimmingly, as far as Sirius was concerned anyway. He wasn't quite sure how Rose found the time to plan a wedding on such a tight schedule, but she managed and made it look damn easy in the process. He wasn't fooled though; she was growing tired, and fast. Ah well. It was three months until he would be married; she'd planned the wedding for January 17th.

Sirius rolled over and looked at the clock on the table. It read 3:15; he still had fifteen minutes before he had to wake up and get going. He was up earlier than all the others because he had to make breakfast. He rolled back over and wrapped his arms around Rose, kissing the top of her head gently so as not to disturb her sleep. He got restless and got up to get ready. He began his routine with a shower and brushing his teeth. After that he put on his 'Auror in Training' robes that were to be worn by everyone who was training to be an Auror. They were black, made just the same as regular Auror robes, but instead of the wands crossing it had a patch with one wand. It changed as one progressed with their training. After every two months, which is how long it would take to complete a stage of training, it would change direction. It started out pointing to the right, then it went down, then to the left, and then up to the top. When training had been completed, it would point diagonally and another would join it making the crossing wand symbol that identified the Aurors. Sirius', as well as his friends', were all still pointing to the right; but they were only two weeks from moving on to the next level of training.

He went down to the kitchen and began making breakfast for 9. Remus, Rina and Holly also had to be at work at five. It was an un-godly hour, if you were to ask anyone living in that particular flat, but one that was gotten used to after the first three weeks of not having time to shower or eat. Sirius began the pancakes he loved to make. He put on some waffles as well; James and Remus loved those but didn't much care for pancakes. It was about 4:15 when everyone came down to eat, and about 4:45 when they left for their various classes.

They were working on stealth. Their current teacher was Alastor Moody. He was a paranoid man sometimes, but he had a right to be. He had recently been attacked whilst off duty and he had lost a large chunk of his nose and his right leg. He was back on the job in three days time, though he had a wooden leg.

They got there about five minutes early, as they'd been taught by Moody, so that they could 'examine the scene' and 'get a proper hold on their surroundings'. Honestly, you'd think they were all first years eager to find the best spot for flying class. Sirius sat down in the middle, as usual, and James sat on his right. Rose sat on his left and Lily sat on James right. Alice sat to Rose's left, and Frank to the left of Alice. Peter sat in front of Frank as there was no more room left in that row. This was how they sat every day, and every day they waited for Moody to enter. He came in differently every day, trying to catch them off guard. He had to, the first week, then they'd come to expect it and they had a bet going as to who could guess his next entrance. For today, Sirius bet that he would transfigure himself into a piece of furniture and have had someone put a time delayed re-transfiguration on him so that he would turn back in time to teach the class. He was wrong though, but only just. Moody had transfigured himself into a black owl and flown into the room, and since he had a mind he could transfigure himself back. Lily had won the days bet, as she had guessed an animal transfiguration as it made more sense.

And, as he did every ten minutes, he shouted first thing "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" It was his motto, and one that he had proved very intelligent. "Today we will begin a two week lesson on non-verbal and wandless spells." He went on in his gruff voice, "The first week here, your skills in non-verbal spell casting were tested and proved to be lacking in many areas. It gives you an advantage, your enemy wont' be able to decipher you next move as easily if they don't see you doing wand movements and hear you saying a spell. You will be expected to use all spells non-verbally at all times from this point forward. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! If you can't cast a shield charm non-verbally, then you'd best get good at dodging spells until you can because if I hear even the beginnings of a spell you'll be dueling with me wandlessly and non-verbally. Now then, into pairs; Potter, Black, Evans, Pearl, Longbottom, Smith, and Pettigrew…I want you seven to mix it up today, none of the usual pairs. Today it'll be Potter and Longbottom, Black, Smith and Evans, and Pearl and Pettigrew. Got it?" they all nodded their heads in understanding of his orders. "Good, get to it.

Sirius, Alice and Lily went off to a portion of the room not in use by any of the others. They began with one on one, Lily vs. Alice, and Sirius would critique while waiting his turn. Lily began with a stinging hex that Alice blocked with a flick of her wand. Alice reciprocated with what Sirius guessed to be a temporary blinding curse. Lily still had her other senses though, and she put them to good use firing off a stunning spell that caught Alice unawares, knocking her out cold.

"Good job Lily," Sirius said while walking over to Alice. "Ennervate."

"BLACK!" Moody said, walking over to the three friends.

"Oh shit. I said that out loud, didn't I?" Sirius asked, turning to Lily who nodded her head gravely.

"Black, I told you no verbal spells. Up front and hand your wand off to save temptation."

Sirius complied, handing his wand over to Alice as he walked up to the front. Everyone had stopped dueling and had turned to watch as Sirius prepared for the duel to come. Sirius and Moody stood ten feet apart and bowed. Sirius felt like he was completely screwed. He could barely do wandless magic, and that was verbally! He decided to take this as a chance to practice, and maybe, if he got lucky, he could beat Moody. Yeah, right.

The duel began. Sirius saw Moody looking at him, waiting. Moody cast something that came out purple. It must have been the tickling curse, Sirius thought, but he never found out as he dodged it. He preferred dodging to blocking anyway, less magic to focus on maintaining. Sirius set off the leg-locker curse, curious to see what it would do to Moody. It hit him, but it only made his left leg stiffen. Sirius chuckled in spite of himself at the effect of the curse. Moody sent off something that Sirius blocked, unable to identify he thought it best to shield from it instead of just dodging. Sirius cast a Stupefy; it missed Moody by inches though. He cast three more consecutive curses; Incarcerous, Impedimenta and Stupefy again. They all diverted to just inches away from hitting Moody. He began to wonder what the hell was making his curses and spells miss Moody, but couldn't quite pin-point it. Moody tried to hit him with a spell that came out red, probably a stunner. Then he remembered James' dad telling him once that Aurors learned a spell to make the ones coming their way go off course. He'd also read about it in one of Lily's many books, there was no counter to it. Moody cast a blue looking thing that had to be the leg-locker he'd tried earlier. He had no choice but to move up a bit, as the diversion spell lost its effect at a closer range. He went up to point-blank range and shot off another stunner that hit Moody in the chest.

When Moody fell, he didn't know what to do, so he went over to look at his teacher's prone form lying on the ground. The class began to clap and James walked over to him to clap him on the back. Lily went up and ennervated Moody, who got up and immediately started criticizing Sirius' form. He didn't care; he knew it was Moody's way of losing that was shining through now. He listened patiently and he took some of Moody's advice, that about not pausing to think while in a duel and to just cast whatever came to mind first.

They were dismissed to lunch after Sirius and Moody were done. The group of friends went down to the cafeteria to get some food. They talked about the recent murders and disappearances. There had been more of the dark 'disappearances' as well as some they believed to be genuine. There had been three deaths recently, one of them was Dawlish. He had been taken out by some Death Eaters during a raid on Wiltshire. They were having a wake for him before the Order meeting the next evening. It began at 7:45, so they had to high-tail it home rather quickly as Sirius and Lily were responsible for the food again…even though Molly always brought some bread pudding. Minerva, as she made them call her, always brought some treacle tart as well.

After eating they went to their afternoon class, again Moody was their teacher, but this time it was a lesson on silent apparition. It had only three lessons to it, but they were to be long lessons. Nobody was expecting an odd entrance as this was not a regular class, but he scared the shit out of everyone when he changed from a desk back into himself. Sirius grinned; he had been partially right about Moody's entrances today.

Moody, of course, began with another lecture. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE! How many times do I have to tell you! You could be killed by an enemy in that moment of surprise they gain by you all dithering on about your dinner for the evening!" There was a sudden silence as everyone in the room stared at their newly transfigured professor. "Silent apparition is a great advantage in battle," Moody began. "You gain a split second of surprise that will confuse your enemy. To apparate silently, it's the same theory as regular apparition; Destination, Determination, Deliberation. The only difference is you also focus on keeping quiet. You think about yourself moving through the air and reappearing silently, that's the theory. Since Black is so good with not making sound…" Lily, Rose and Alice all snorted at this, even though Moody was obviously being sarcastic. "…he'll come up and demonstrating silent apparition for us. If he fails we'll move on through the ranks. Black, get your arse up here and go; apparate from the window to the door."

Sirius thought he could do that, it was only twenty feet after all. He walked over to the window and began concentrating. He thought about the door and he thought about arriving there silently. He did a graceful spin and apparated to the door.

"Close but no cigar Black. You made a noise, although it was diminished from the usual sound, it was still there. Potter, you're up. Same spot, same technique…just do it right."

James walked over to the window. He stood there with his eyes closed for a minute, and then did a similar spin to the one Sirius did and reappeared by the door. Sirius hadn't heard anything, but he waited for Moody's deliberation.

"Excellent work Potter. You nailed it. Potter, you teach Black how it's done," James snickered. "Everyone else, line up behind Evans and begin to practice. If you can get it the first time…do it twice more then go over and give Black some pointers. If not, get to the back of the line and go at it until you get it five times."

Sirius assumed this was Moody's way of getting even for this morning, even though he'd already lectured him on flaws. Ah well, character building exercises and what-not. Maybe he'd be a better person for it; doubtful.

They practiced their silent apparition for the next four hours but nobody else got it on their first try, and only Lily and Alice managed on the second. Sirius hadn't yet gotten it, though you could barely hear him. Nobody finished on the first day, so they'd still be working on just managing the silence part of it for the next class as well. They got done a couple hours early because Moody had gotten fed-up with their incomprehension at this 'simple' task. The group, sans Peter, apparated home. James got there last and, just to show off in Sirius' opinion, he did it silently.

"Where'd you learn that?" Lily asked James. "It's not that I don't think your good at magic or anything, but how'd you do it the first try?"

"My dad taught me when I first got my license. Sirius was, of course, still asleep. This was during his Christmas hibernation, so he didn't learn it. Dad helped me manage it in record time, according to him. He's a great teacher."

"Not fair, you knew beforehand." Sirius said, slightly miffed at himself for sleeping so damn much on his holiday.

"Oh get over it. If you want, we can pop in tonight and you can ask him for a few pointers. I'm sure they won't mind, mum loves seeing you guys."

"Let's," said the ever knowledge thirsty Lily.

That night they did go to Potter Manor. Lily managed to sweet-talk her future father-in-law into some pointers by complimenting him all night. She was helped along by Alice and Rose, who caught on rather quickly. Sirius eventually caught on as well and offered Henry some firewhisky. They got their pointers and went home. The next day, they all managed it on their first attempt. Their training went on and they progressed well in dueling tactics, defensive spells and much more.

-Remus' POV-

Remus woke up one morning to Rina's singing in the shower. It was late November and they were well used to their schedule by now, as would be expected of two people doing the same thing every day for three months. Rina would wake up and shower, towards the end she would start singing and would wake up Remus. He would then use the shower; there were charms on all the showers to keep hot water running in them while in use. They'd go down and have breakfast with everyone and then leave for the Ministry's Obliviator department for their lessons. They had to be there at five every day, so they woke up rather early.

Rina was now finished in the bathroom, so Remus got up to take his turn at the shower. When finished he dressed in his Obliviator Trainee robes. They were bale blue with the picture of a brain on the front right. When they completed their training, the patch would be added to by way of fog floating around the now silver-shining brain. It all looked very mysterious. He went down to get some breakfast before he and Rina would apparate to work. They had some eggs and toast, Sirius' choice this morning.

The full-moon had passed the week before, rather a boring evening if one analyzed it. Lily had brewed him the Wolfsbane Potion so that he could keep his mind while transformed. He had taken it and went to the Marauder's room in the flat with the other guys. They had all transformed, him not having an option, and stayed in the room all night. Sirius had gotten bored in five minutes. He began howling different songs at his leisure. The others had eventually joined in; James stomped his hooves, Remus also howled, and Frank made that weird screeching/cawing noise that eagles make. They were drumming out a pretty good beat. They had discussed it and had decided to put some expansion charms on the room and to make a track in there so that they could race on the next full moon. Peter and Regulus weren't their as Peter had to visit home and Regulus was at Hogwarts for another couple weeks until break, but Regulus would be there for the next full-moon and was looking forward to running with them according to his letters.

Remus and Rina ate and then cleaned up, as was part of their morning routine. When they were done, they left for the Ministry. They got there at about five to five. Their class of the day was with Obliviator Johnson. He was teaching them about handling frantic people when trying obliviate.

"You must keep in mind that these people have probably just been through a traumatic situation. They are to be treated just as you would treat a magical person in the same situation. What you do is comfort them until they are calm enough to have their memories modified. You cannot obliviate an overly-emotional muggle because they would have a bad reaction to the magic, unlike wizards who can be obliviated in any mindset; though it will be a mite harder if they're upset." He said this last with a contemplative look on his face, as if he were remembering a past incident. "In fact, I have a memory to show you and a story to tell you. They should give you an understanding of just how much you have got to be careful in modifying someone's memory." Obliviator Johnson pulled out a pensieve that was used to store memories. He took his wand and placed the tip to his temple. He pulled a thin silvery strand from his head, a memory, and placed it in the swirling stone basin. "Now, this memory is of when I was new to the job. I was sent out to Aberdeen to modify a memory after some wizards pranked a muggle." He tapped the pensieve and the memory began playing as a movie in the front of the room.

-Memory-

Johnson was walking down a dirt lane to a group of houses. Some could be called cottages, others would be deemed hovels. He went up to one of the cottages and knocked on the door.

"Good day, sir. I am here to talk to you about an incident taking place earlier this morning. I am a Ministry of Magic employee, here to help you understand what happened earlier. Sir, you were attacked by wizards."

"By what?"

"Wizards. From what I hear, they came upon you and made you hover above the ground while setting huge jets of water at you. Now, understandably this is not-"

"Get the HELL off of my land you bastard!"

"Now, there's no reason for name-calling. I'm only trying to help you. If you would just calm down, I'm sure-"

"Don't you come to my house and tell me to calm down! Go, out of my yard. I don't want you here. GET OUT!"

"Sir, yelling is unnecessary. If you will just cooperate we can sort this all out and it will become a non-issue. We can discuss this in a calm and rational manner. Now then, let's just go inside and sort this out." Johnson began walking toward the door but was punched right in the nose. He staggered for a moment before stunning the angry man. He then went into his pocket and pulled out a potion which he poured down the man's throat. He then woke up the 'victim' and tried to talk to him again. "Sir, I have just given you a calming draught as I believed you to be a danger to myself. Now, can we please enter and discuss what has undoubtedly been a horrific experience for you?"

"I guess," the man said grudgingly, with a faint glaze to his eyes.

"Wonderful."

-End Memory-

"From there, we proceeded to talk about what had happened for all of two minutes. It was a short story to tell on his part so we didn't dally. After he told me, I modified his memory and returned to the Ministry to file the report. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong there? Or what could have been done differently?"

"Well," began Rina, "you could have just modified his memory after inquiring about the attack. You didn't have to tell him where you were from. You could have made an alias, say as a reporter or some-such."

"Good Ms. Stone. I could have handled to approach of the questioning much better. Now then, this story is from about a year ago when a man tried to modify his brother's memory. The man, we'll call him Johnny, had been having an affair with his brother's, we'll call the brother Bob, wife, we'll call her Betty. Betty had gotten tired of sneaking around and so she told Bob of the affair. He obviously got pissed at his wife and brother, but decided to go for Johnny first. When Johnny was confronted by his brother he decided it would be best to modify his memory. Remus, what do you think he tried to modify?"

"Well," Remus began to answer, "I would guess the fact that Betty had told Bob."

"Close. He tried to modify his brother's memory so that he believed Johnny had married Betty, not himself. As one could guess, things went badly. Bob is now in St. Mungo's recovering from the memory loss. So, what can be learned from this? Yes, Mr. Lupin."

"It's dangerous to modify someone's memory when they're in any heightened state of emotional distress, such as anger. It is also unwise to try and change someone's memory to encompass a long time-span, probably of more than the past day. If one were to try and modify the memory of an existing marriage, to change all the memories of those two people spending time together, they could ruin a mind. You have to know the details of the memory to be able to modify it, that's why we must question the victims before changing their memories."

"Very good Mr. Lupin. You are correct, you would have to go through memory by memory and erase them one by one to get rid of a person's knowledge of another; and even then there would remain traces of the memories to be found, say a favorite color or a way of taking coffee. Another point you brought up is the amount of time to change a memory effectively. A day is about how long the changing of a memory should be left if one wishes to make the change a permanent one. Now then, I believe it is lunch-time. Go enjoy yourselves and be back by noon."

They left and ate in the cafeteria at the Ministry. They almost never got to eat with the others because of the different time schedules. After they ate they walked around the atrium for a while to pass the time. At ten to noon, they set off for the second half of their class for that day. That afternoon was spent learning different techniques for calming the seemingly insensible.

After class, they went out to eat as they had probably missed dinner. They began to talk of plans for their wedding, and decided on early to mid May. They weren't going to set anything indefinitely yet, though, just in case something was to change. They would start more definite planning in a month or so. They finished dinner and apparated home to watch some evening T.V. with the others before going to bed. Their training continued and they progressed rather well, as both seemed to have an aptitude for memory modifying.

-Holly's POV-

Holly woke up at the sound of her alarm clock. It was 4:00 and she had to get ready. She never took that long to get ready for the day. About twenty minutes to shower and get dressed. She wore bright green Trainee Healer robes that had a skull on them. When she finished her training two crossed wands would be added on top of the skull, signifying her position as a Healer for St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. She went down to a warm bowl of porridge and some toast on the cold December morning. It was early in the month and Regulus would be home for a while on his winter break in a week's time. She was so looking forward to seeing him; she missed him terribly. After breakfast she apparated to the hospital and went to meet her new teacher.

They were finishing up their month on the fourth floor, next month they would be on the third. They spent about a month on each ward, and the entire fourth floor was devoted to Spell Damage. They were to study the goings on of the ward for three weeks, then work as an assistant to a healer for the last week. This way, they got the theory and the practical for each ward all done rather quickly. There were five wards, which meant five months. When they had first begun in September, they spent the first three months learning about the various healing spells and about how to use them properly. Things such as what spell to use when were also taught during this time. They got hands on experience for crisis control, as the healers believed this the best method of learning how to handle difficult situations. Though they were taught the spells, they weren't supposed to use them unless told to by a superior or it was a dire situation and they had no other option. The second to the last month would include reviewing and testing. The very last month was to be spent on the ward that one wishes to continue working on. Holly had not worked on the other four wards yet, but she was sure she didn't want to work on the spell damage ward.

There had to be at least fifty commonly used healing spells and another large group of uncommon spells that, to Holly, seemed to have an infinite number. She learned them all though, by hard work and a lot of studying. She was well able to perform them as well, though not given the chance to put them into practice. Today she would begin to shadow Healer Thompson. She would learn everything she could about the ward from her new teacher, and then move on to the next floor with her classmates. In January they would be down to the third floor and learning about the Potion and Plant Poisoning ward. She was eager to work on that floor.

She got to the fourth floor and met up with Healer Thompson. She showed Holly around, even though Holly had been there for the better part of a month, and showed her the area where they kept charts and paperwork. She then brought Holly on her rounds of the part of the ward she was charged with. Holly saw several people who looked extremely unhappy; though many were still asleep it was the people who'd recently been brought in who were causing scenes. One man had been hit with a stray tickling charm that had been performed in an ill-manner. He was trying to yell at the nurse, but the effect was ruined by his obnoxious laughter. Healer Thompson began questioning her on how to remedy this situation.

"Well, I'd first try the counter-charm. If that didn't work then I'd try a calming draught and perhaps a temporary numbing charm; this would depend upon how the patient reacted to the draught."

"Very good, we'll have the nurse try those immediately; now then, on to the next patient. He was hit with a jinx that, as of now, has been unidentifiable. He has sustained cuts upon his abdomen that have not yet been able to be healed. We have been supplying him with a steady dose of blood-replenishing potion and have kept his wounds clean. How would you go about trying to discover the jinx and its counter?"

"I'd start by asking the patient if they had any memory of what the caster said. If not, I'd then inquire as to the nature of the spell; this meaning, its coloring and the speed with which it approached as well as how it first affected him/her. I would then try to deduce the spell and if I couldn't from memory, I'd go to book searching until I found the solution."

"And what if it wasn't in any book? What if you couldn't find it and you could not heal it? What would you do with the patient?"

"I would do as you have; bed-rest and a steady supply of blood replenishing potion. I would also make sure that minimal pain was occurring, supply a pain-killing potion. I would continue my research, both by book and by interviewing others."

"Excellent, I believe you have it down to a science. As it is, we haven't yet found this spells origin and as such have no counter to it. The patient does not remember the spell or its details. We have begun to research the possibilities that exist for such results but have so far been unsuccessful. Would you happen to know what caused this?"

"May I see the wounds?" Thompson nodded. Holly examined the cut marks across the man's abdomen. They were thin cuts, each several inches in length. They bled slowly but surely and steadily and had little coloring around the edges. "Would it be possible that someone combined a hex with a spell? Because it looks to me like a Diffindo put under a repetitive spell to make the cuts continually reopen and bleed."

"Why do you say that?" asked Healer Thompson, sounding intrigued.

"Well, the cuts are bleeding at a steady pace. They don't bleed all at once then stop. Plus, the cuts have very little coloring about them which leads me to think that they are simply being reopened and new cuts not being added."

"That sounds plausible. Why don't you try the anti-repetitive and see what comes of it."

"Antiro Resumo." The bleeding slowed and stopped. The cuts sat there, looking even less pink than before. Thompson nodded for Holly to continue with the healing. "Redintegro." The cuts healed over and the scars began to vanish slowly.

"Excellent, excellent. You know, you have a future in healing. With your sharp wit, I wouldn't be surprised if one day you became Head Healer. Take your lunch and be back in an hour, it's well deserved."

Holly left and found some of the others from her group in the cafeteria on the fifth floor. She sat and ate with them and told them of her morning, receiving many an awed look. After lunch she returned to the ward and solved two more cases before leaving for home. On her way out the building, Holly thought about her day and decided that maybe the Spell Damage Ward wasn't all that bad. She went home to have dinner with the others and watch 'The Wizard of Oz' with her friends. Lily said it was a great movie, but everyone laughed at the part where the 'wizard' was behind the curtain and pretending to do magic. She couldn't wait to go to work tomorrow, but even more she couldn't wait for Regulus to come home for winter break.

A/N: Alright. Another oldie for the song, but I thought it fit. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I tried my best to keep the business about St. Mungo's wards as close to the fifth book as possible. Next chapter will have some more of the training, Christmas and some other stuff. More romance to, but not a sickening amount…just enough to satisfy the romantic streak in some people. I don't want to focus on their love lives too much. Anyway, reviews and suggestions are welcome as always!