Sorry for the late post. I got back late yesterday from my trip when we were supposed to return early on Monday.
May 5th, 1996
It was with great pleasure that Kingsley Shacklebolt reported the victory at Lyons to the Order at large. It had been a hard fight, but they were successful. They had been lost some of their comrades to the Death Eaters, but the enemy had suffered even more casualties. Seven Death Eaters had been taken prisoner, and thirteen had been taken out of the fight permanently.
-o-
June 17th, 1996
Alastor Moody,
I hereby request you teach a seminar to the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, so as to improve their ability to combat the threat posed by the terrorist organization known as 'Death Eaters.' The sessions, should you consent to teach them, will be hosted every Wednesday in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's training room from three o'clock to five o'clock in the afternoon.
Sincerely,
Harrison Emilson
Head of the DMLE
The letter had sat on Moody's desk for several days now. Finally, he had reached a decision. He sent off an owl to the Department. He would be there.
-o-
August 24th, 1996
Nathan grumbled angrily. "Of course Emilson is dead. Just when we get everything set up to get the Aurors the training they need to actually be effective, the only supporter of that action in the office is killed!"
After a moment more quiet fuming, Nathan adjusted his expression to hide his anger. "Alright. Daphne, who is on the books to replace the guy?"
It took a moment to find the right documents. "Well, it seems there are only two candidates, neither of whom are very proactive –"
"Of course not," Nathan proclaimed.
"-but at least Scrimgeour doesn't appear to be a closed Death Eater sympathizer, working to undo everything Minister Bones has done."
"Thicknesse?"
"Right in one."
"Damn."
"How do we respond to this?" Hermione asked with a sigh.
"Ron shuffled his papers thoughtfully. "If Scrimgeour is elected, we can perhaps salvage some of this. Scrimgeour has a history of being very stingy with his money, true, but what if it's not him paying for the training?"
"That... might work. Daphne, do we have the funds for that?"
"...Yes. We'd have to put some projects on hold, like that rune trap, but we could manage until the seminars are over."
"Do it. We can't keep relying on mercenaries to protect people, not if Voldemort is branching out of Britain with his targets."
Greengrass made a note on a piece of parchment. "Done. By the way, my network is reporting that Voldemort is stepping up his recruitment efforts, forgoing secrecy in the process." She smirked. "If that's the case, we can eliminate them at a time of our choosing."
"Get Ron a list. We don't want it to look too methodical, now do we?"
-o-
Moody cursed. What was that fool thinking? If he couldn't work with the Aurors on schedule, how could he teach them? Sure, some of what he taught was probably overkill, but when dealing with enemies who would almost always aim to kill, it was far better to be safe than sorry. Despite this, the idiot was cutting the allocated training time in half! At least he hadn't cancelled the program entirely.
"I swear, Scrimgeour will be the death of me," Moody thought to himself.
Congratulations to Philosophize and "Kittens" (Guest reviewer) for the correct answer. Virtual cookies for you.