Chapter 36 – Careers Fair
"Good morning seventh years, welcome to the Careers Fair."
McGonagall looked around at the swarm of students gathered in the Great Hall, most of whom were looking back at her with little enthusiasm and a fair amount of panic.
"I hope you've all had a good first week back and are getting back into the swing of things after the Christmas holidays. I know that most of you are still unclear about your career choice, so today is an excellent opportunity to talk to people in different careers and see which would be most suitable for you. You can ask your professors what careers their subjects are useful for - or speak to me if you're interested in teaching. It might also be helpful for you to do some networking and meet people who could aid you with getting into the field. Try to make the most of today, as it could very well influence your future."
They all simply stood there apprehensively for a moment before McGonagall added, "Honestly, even the suits of armour are more animated than you appear to be. Your careers aren't going to choose themselves so you'd best get on with it."
The group of students began to split apart. Without bothering to look around the Great Hall at the career options available, James walked straight towards the row of tables set out for the Ministry of Magic, pinpointing the one labelled 'Department of Magical Law Enforcement'. He was the first one there and began straight off the bat with, "I'm James Potter. I want to be an Auror."
"Do you now?" The witch in front of him was perhaps in her late forties or early fifties, dressed in practical muggle clothes rather than robes and wearing her hair in a neat bun. "You seem very certain about that for such a young man. Being an Auror requires extensive testing and training, plus it's a dangerous profession."
"I know, I've done all the research about it. I was worried I couldn't do it without a NEWT in potions but I read that herbology would be accepted instead. I know it'll be hard to complete the training but it'll be worth it."
"Nevertheless, I recommend you look at other options before you make up your mind for sure."
"I've already made up my mind," James said firmly. "I did consider professional Quidditch because I'm the Gryffindor team captain" - if he expected her to look impressed, he was disappointed - "but as much as I love it, it's not - not enough, you know?" She simply raised her eyebrows, giving no indication whether or not she did indeed know. James ploughed ahead. "With everything going on at the moment it just seems like it'd be wrong to bury my head in sport when I could be doing something important. Defending people."
He said this very quickly, sure of himself but also nervous under such a stern gaze.
"I see," she said. "So you want to be a hero, do you Mr Potter?"
"No." He frowned. "I mean, that's not what this is about. I want to help people. I want to do what's right." He thought of Mary getting attacked the previous year, of Lily hexing a girl who called her a mudblood and crying afterwards, of Remus barely even getting accepted into Hogwarts because of his condition let alone getting a job. "I don't want to sit around doing nothing when people I care about - good, innocent people - are in danger."
For the first time, the woman smiled. "Well then, Mr Potter, perhaps this is the job for you after all."
Sirius had never quite seen the appeal of the aurors as much as James did. Sure, they got a bit of glory when they managed to catch some bad guys, but Sirius imagined the bad-guy-catching was actually quite rare, and a lot of aurors spent their time chasing around petty thieves or doing paperwork.
Sirius headed instead to a table a few feet away from where James was. Sitting behind the table was a goblin with a long, gnarled nose and a pointed chin. There were a few other people around the desk, looking at pamphlets and asking questions now and then. Above the table was a banner that read 'Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure, and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank.'
"Danger-related treasure bonuses?" Sirius asked the goblin, who according to the plaque on the desk was called Grobbik. "I've always thought of myself as danger-related," Sirius told him. "But what kind of bonuses are these exactly?"
"Curse breaking is a very serious profession," the goblin told him, looking annoyed. "If you manage to survive the disabling of the curses and jinxes you encounter, you may be rewarded."
"Wow, that's informative," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes. "Do we get to keep some of the treasure, or what?"
"Curse breakers are paid a substantial salary," Grobbik told him, which again failed to answer Sirius' question.
"Huh, well okay you were really helpful," he said, turning away from the table, though not before he shoved one of the pamphlets into his pocket.
Looking around the rest of the great hall, he spotted Lily on the other side of the room, engrossed in a conversation with Madame Pomfrey. There was also a healer from St. Mungo's close by, who was talking to a small group about healer training.
Not seeing many better alternatives, Sirius crossed the room and stood beside Lily, listening in on their conversation.
"I could write you a letter of recommendation," Madame Pomfrey was telling her a smile. "You've been a great help this year."
"Got a job lined up already, Evans?" he interrupted. "At least you can support James while he stays at home with the mini-Potters."
"Learning to be a healer takes at least 3 years," Lily told him, ignoring the comment about James. "Even longer if you want to specialise. What are you doing here anyway?" she asked, "I didn't think you were interested in healing."
"I could be," Sirius shrugged. "I've been thinking, you know, with us leaving soon, that maybe I should learn more about healing spells."
"Because of Remus?" Madame Pomfrey asked, perceptive as ever.
Sirius looked around instinctively, making sure that no one could overhear them, before he shrugged and replied, "maybe. I thought you might be able to give me some books or something."
"I can," Madame Pomfrey replied, "but some of the magic is quite advanced."
"I'm a quick learner."
"You don't have to do that, you know," Lily said gently. She was looking at him almost sadly, as if she knew something he didn't. "I know you care a lot about Remus but you don't have to put all that responsibility on yourself."
Sirius felt suddenly uncomfortable under her gaze. He doubted she knew exactly how he cared for Remus at all. They'd been dating for two entire weeks now without telling anyone, and while it had been great it had also been a bit of a rocky start, with Sirius being unsure how exactly to make the transition from friends to boyfriends.
"I know I don't have to," he said defensively, "but I want to."
While their friends walked purposefully to different tables around the Great Hall, Peter and Remus stood aimlessly in the middle, gazing around as if hoping a plausible career would pop out at them. James had darted off straight away, Lily was already sure about healing so was chatting to Madam Pomfrey, Sirius was arguing with a goblin, Alice had tried talking to Ollivander about wand making and was now having a lively conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter, and Mary had wandered over to a member of the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team. But neither Peter nor Remus knew what they should do with their lives.
"We could talk to McGonagall about teaching?" Peter suggested without much enthusiasm.
"Sure," Remus agreed, though the idea did not fill him with hope. Dumbledore may have let him come to Hogwarts as a student, but that didn't mean he'd be allowed to teach there.
"I wasn't expecting to speak to you today, Mr Pettigrew," Professor McGonagall said, "seeing as you didn't take a NEWT in transfiguration."
"We were actually wondering about teaching," Remus said.
McGonagall pursed her lips. "I know you've been making great progress in tutoring the 5th years for their owls," she said, "but in all honesty Mr. Lupin, I'm not sure that's a possibility for you at the moment." There was sadness in her voice as she said it.
Remus shrugged. "I know. I just don't know what is a possibility."
"Perhaps we can speak about it at greater length in my office later. And as for you, Mr Pettigrew, are you sure you're not just trying to avoid going out into the big wide world?"
Peter looked slightly alarmed at this idea but agreed that might be the case.
"It might be more productive for you to speak to someone from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, since you seem to excel at Care of Magical Creatures," McGonagall suggested.
Peter nodded and Remus trailed after him to the row of Ministry tables. The man standing there asked both of them about their NEWTS and listed the different areas that his department dealt with. The final one he listed was the Division for Magical Pest Control. Peter shot a smile at Remus and tried to make him laugh by saying, "Well, I do know a lot about rats."
Remus smiled weakly as the man suggested he might be interested in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, but Remus said he didn't think that was a good idea. From what he'd heard, the Ministry did thorough background checks on all its employees, and there was no way they'd hire a werewolf.
He left Peter where he was and went to what felt like his last option: a table assigned to muggle careers. Mary was now talking to the Muggle Studies professor, and Remus hung around nearby to listen.
"There's a wide variety of jobs available in the muggle world as I'm sure you're aware. It's not conventional for wizards and witches to seek out muggle employment, but it does happen now and again and can be just as rewarding as a magical career."
The professor then moved on to talking about how the hours were usually 9-5 and Remus began to wonder how he'd explain monthly absences to muggle co-workers. Feeling distinctly hopeless, he turned on his heel before he even spoke to the professor directly, and went back the way he'd come, leaving the cheerful buzz of the Great Hall behind.
Sirius was on his way back over to James, who was still hovering around the ministry tables, when he saw Remus slip out of the door. He noticed McGonagall nearby, also watching him with a frown on her face. They weren't supposed to leave until the hour was up, but her expression wasn't the sort of frown that meant she was angry, rather the kind that she'd been wearing when she came to collect him from class to tell him his uncle had died.
Instead of going to James, Sirius changed his trajectory and followed Remus away from the great hall. He caught up with him in a hidden passage on the second floor, and Sirius almost bumped straight into him, not expecting him to be leaning against the wall directly inside the entrance of the passage.
"Ah, hello." He said, cramming himself into the small space beside Remus. He looked upset, and Sirius patted him on the arm in a gesture that was supposed to be comforting - not an easy task in the cramped passage. "All a bit much?" he asked.
"All a bit pointless, more like. We all know I can't just apply for any old job. No one will take me."
"You know," Sirius said, "I seem to recall you saying that you never thought you'd even be able to come to school. You never thought you'd have friends either. Just because it seems unlikely doesn't mean it won't happen."
Remus managed a small smile. "Maybe. Thanks, Padfoot."
He looked expectantly towards Sirius, who just nodded. For a moment, they stood in silence, and Sirius was wondering whether they should go back to the Careers Fair or head towards the Gryffindor tower when Remus said, "I'm not being funny, but do you want to kiss me or what?"
"Errr -" Sirius was rather taken aback by the question. He supposed that would be the sensible thing to do; he was dating Remus, and Remus was upset, and he's seen Lily and James kiss when one of them was upset loads of times – too many times come to think of it
"I feel crap," Remus continued, "and I think kissing would be a pretty good distraction, but my boyfriend has only kissed me twice in two whole weeks and I think it's a bit rude, really."
"Moony, I don't know how to do this," Sirius replied, embarrassed. "Of course I want to kiss you and I thought there would be more kissing to be honestly, but I don't know when you want me to kiss you and I can't just kiss you out of the blue because then you might be all 'Sirius why are you kissing me when I'm trying to eat my mashed potato' even though it's very cute when you accidentally get it on your nose so - "
"Sirius," Remus interrupted. "This is how we do this." He leant forward and pressed his lips to Sirius', which parted in surprise, but then Remus felt Sirius smile, and then the smile turned into a laugh. "What?" Remus asked.
"Nothing!" Sirius insisted, "nothing, honest!" He kissed Remus again, but after a few seconds, the laughter bubbled back up. "Merlin, sorry," he said, inches away from Remus' face. "It's just, I'm kissing Remus Lupin in a secret passage while we should be doing educational things. And I know you - I saw you trip over the bench at dinner in second year and land in the cheesecake, and now I'm kissing you. It's pretty funny."
Remus looked at him in bemusement for a moment before smiling. "I guess you're right. Up until very recently, if anyone had told us we'd be kissing in secret passages not so far in the future, I'd have thought they were mad."
"I'm glad we are though," Sirius said. He kissed him again, this time making it thirty seconds until he started giggling again because Remus put his tongue in his mouth.
"Sirius!"
"Sorry," Sirius said, grinning. "I'll get used to this soon, I swear."
"It's okay," Remus said. "It's new for both of us."