And on we go.
A few days passed. On Wednesday morning, Harry woke up with a strange feeling that he was missing something. What was it? He rolled over and then realised.
He was eighteen today.
He sat up and checked the time. Ten am. They must've given him time to sleep in. Harry got dressed and meandered downstairs.
"Happy birthday Harry!" Remus, Tonks and Andi called from their positions around the table. Teddy gurgled, waving his arms at him. Harry grinned.
Remus cleared his throat and indicated his usual seat, which had a few presents in front of it. "Your presents from us, Harry." he said, "The others you'll get later, at your party."
Harry opened his presents. From Andromeda, he'd received a wand-holster. "Going into Auror training, hopefully this will help keep that wand of yours a bit safer. It has anti-disarming and anti-summoning runes on it, as well as a few protective runes." She said, with a slightly secretive smile which Harry returned.
From Tonks, he received a small book, Surviving Your Trainee Years...Without Getting Too Paranoid! "It's a humorous take on what to expect as an Auror Trainee." She said as Harry thanked her.
Remus, somewhat hesitantly, gave a bundle of vials full of memories. He said, with a slightly sad smile, "I was rummaging around in the storeroom the other day and I came across these. According to my journals, it's a...a Marauder tradition. It was originally Lily who started it. She wanted to give you memories of us...in case the worst happened. She corralled the rest of us into it, apparently. I haven't looked at them. They're all yours." he paused.
Harry smiled tremulously. "Remus, thank you." he said hoarsely. Memories of his parents and Sirius...
Around lunchtime, just past one o'clock, the others descended. The rest of the presents were given. From Ginny he received a Shield Scarf with brooch attached. "If you're in trouble, the brooch will let me know." She said, pecking him on the lips.
George had given him a 24/7 yearly pass to WWW. "Now you have to accept free merchandise!" George crowed, if not quite as loudly as before, "When we get it back up to scratch, that is."
Percy gave a book. Rules & Fools in the Auror Corps – a biographical account of some of the biggest names in the Force. Harry laughed and thanked him.
Molly and Arthur gave him a long thin package with a pointy end. When Harry opened it he could only stare. It was a Weasley Clock Hand.
Molly accepted his hug and said, "Andromeda and I will need all of you to get out of the kitchen soon, after we've had a quick lunch. Go play Quidditch and work up an appetite!"
The rest of the afternoon was spent out in the orchard, playing Quidditch and other games to pass the time. Remus commentated from the ground, sitting with Tonks and Teddy who acted as spectators. The other guests started arriving at three, in the form of Sam, who joined in their game, and Neville and Luna, who joined the spectators. Then Charlie, Bill and Fleur turned up. The boys joined in while Fleur went to help Molly and Andromeda. They stopped playing when the final guests arrived in the form of Kingsley and Hestia.
At about four-thirty, Molly brought out a cake shaped like a gigantic badge...an Auror badge. They cut the cake and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Molly had as usual outdone herself. Then it was time for the second round of presents.
These included Sirius' motorbike, newly repaired and a new broom — a Firebolt 360. Harry's old Firebolt had, of course, been lost in the Escape from Surrey last year.
Kingsley and Hestia gave a combined present of some old work files of James'. Kingsley had worked briefly in the Auror Corps with him.
Neville gave him several packets of different herbs with healing properties; Luna a 12-month free subscription to The Quibbler.
Dudley (through Hestia) had given him a book on Muggle "War Heroes". Harry laughed at that.
Then Molly, Arthur, Andromeda, Kingsley and Neville stepped up. "Harry, Remus told us of his gift a week or so ago," Andromeda began, "And we decided to...contribute. All of us have got a few vials of memories to share for you – Neville is standing in for his Grandmother."
Harry stared, then carefully collected the vials to store them with the rest. "Thank you." he whispered. Sam, and some of the others who hadn't known about Remus' gift, asked. Harry and Remus explained.
Upon hearing that it was a Marauder tradition, of sorts, Sam asked, "Does that mean Dad an' Mum did some for me?"
Remus nodded. "Yes, definitely."
Sam asked, "Did you do one?"
Remus and Tonks nodded. "Yes. I'll show it to Teddy when he's older and we can laugh about things I suppose." Remus said, with a little shrug.
"Would anyone else like more cake?" Molly asked.
On August 5th, Ron, Sam and Harry started their Auror training at the Academy. With the rest of the new recruits, they would spend Monday to Friday at the Academy and weekends home. This would continue until December at least; more probably June next year.
The training area was a group of rooms seemingly in the MLE Department, accessible via a door near the Head Auror's (Gawain Robards') office. The door itself was almost invisible unless you knew where to look; closing it would transport the person to an undisclosed location. Harry and the others had been shown the right spot by Kingsley. They walked through, experienced the strange dislocation feeling, then signed their names off on a list.
They took their seats and waited. Other Trainees began filtering in. Out of the new arrivals, Harry recognised perhaps one or two by sight as being from his year. A minute passed, then two. The group relaxed slightly, wandering around to meet those who they didn't know.
Harry kept his hand near his wand though. The hairs on his neck were standing up. Something wasn't quite right...
Three spells shot out from different corners of the room. Harry dropped into a crouch, wand in hand, eyes searching. Ron put up a total Shield Charm over himself and Sam, who he'd been talking to.
Three others were hit by the spells. A girl with dark brown hair sheltered behind a desk and fired off some sort of revealing charm at the walls. Another round of spells dissolved the Shield Charm and sent Sam and Ron ducking for cover. Then Harry understood. This was the next test.
He signalled to the others and they met at the girl's desk. "We need to see who's doing this," she said.
Harry nodded. "Yeah — but how about I revive the others? That way we'll have more help."
The others agreed, so Harry woke the others up. Ron and the girl — Harry overheard her introduce herself as Helena — sent revealing charms at the walls while Sam maintained a shield.
A group of dark shapes were revealed. They duelled back and forth for a few minutes, using their numbers and the objects around them. Whenever someone went down, someone else would undo the damage.
Then suddenly someone clapped their hands loudly. The furniture righted itself and three people stepped into the light.
"Hello Auror Cadets! Hello and welcome to your training." said the one in the centre. "Glad to see you all got here on time!" he smiled. "My name is Head Instructor Xavier Henderson. I'm the one in charge of training all Aurors and that doesn't just mean you lot. It means everyone." he said, "On my left is Instructor Carrie Ackerman."
A short woman with blonde hair raised a hand. "I'm in charge of your field training — the practical side of things. By the looks of it I'll have my hands full." she shot a look at them.
H. I. Henderson continued, "Finally, on my right is Instructor Alan Vickers."
Instructor Vickers smiled. "In case you hadn't guessed, I'm your Theory Instructor, though I can help out Carrie from time to time." he said, smiling slightly. "Don't worry — I promise to be better than Professor Binns."
Some of the trainees laughed or smiled nervously. Harry shifted uneasily. This guy made the hairs on his neck stand up. He forced himself to relax. Ron and Sam weren't affected, after all.
Henderson clapped his hands. "Right! Let's get to it then!" he barked. They were put through their paces. Theory would be in the mornings. Physical and Magical training in the afternoon. It was also the time Harry was taught how to swim. He'd never known the Aurors had access to a pool.
In this way the week progressed.
At the end of the week, it was Ginny's seventeenth birthday on the 11th of August. The Saturday lunch gathering moved to Sunday and was transformed into a party.
Harry got her a protective necklace. "If you're in danger, grab the pendant — it's a peridot, your birthstone — and say my name. It'll alert me and take you to a safe place." Harry said, with a kiss. George and Percy made noises, so Ginny had quite a bit of fun bewitching things to chase them around. Ginny had also been given "Grandma Prewett's" old watch and other things.
Training continued to progress.
One day, a few weeks in, Instructor Ackerman said, "Right. We've been focusing on spells and things so far. Today, I want to see how you go against something else."
The trainees exchanged glances.
She pulled out a chest from behind her desk. It was rattling. Harry's insides froze. A Boggart. Ackerman said, "Now don't be too confident. Sometimes they change after a war or stressful time."
Helena and others went up. Nothing unusual happened. Helena and Sam disposed of theirs quickly. Then it was Ron's turn.
Instead of an acromantula, Ron was suddenly confronted by the dead body of Hermione.
The entire room froze. Ackerman cursed softly and began muttering under her breath, but Ron ignored her. "It's supposed to be an acromantula." he croaked. "Why has it changed? It's supposed to be an acromantula."
A leather strap on Ron's wrist began to glow. Harry saw Ron clench his fists to try to stop himself shaking. It wasn't real. Hermione was safe at Blossom Burrow...wasn't she?
The not-Hermione's mouth began spurting blood. Her lifeless eyes turned to stare at Ron. Why couldn't you save me? They seemed to say. It was a scene plucked directly from nightmares; Harry knew that sooner or later, the Boggart would cycle through other similar situations with others Ron (and himself cared about.
"RIDICKULUS!" Ron bellowed. The Boggart-Hermione at long last turned into an acromantula. Ron forced out a great "HA!" of bitter laughter. The Boggart shattered.
Ron turned to the rest of the class. Ackerman sighed. "Sorry about that, Weasley. I should've warned you all properly. After a war or during it, secondary fears can become major and vice versa. The trick is to force your Boggart into your secondary fear, by concentrating hard on it. It takes time and practice, but eventually you can do it quickly."
The door burst open. All turned. "Oi, Miss, you can't –" a voice shouted. Then Ron saw who it was. "Hermione!" he gasped, bounding forward to wrap his arms around her. The leather bracelet had called her to him.
Ron explained the circumstances and Hermione was quite relieved, but still worried. "Well... I'll see you in a couple of days then." she said, embarrassed.
Ron smiled. "Yes. Thanks." he replied quietly. She just gave him a look and left.
After that, Ackerman worked through the process of using secondary fears to fight Boggarts. After all, some things just weren't funny – and never will be.
At the next Saturday lunch, about two weeks after Ginny's birthday, Harry and Ginny stuck together like glue. As did Ron and Hermione. Harry had spoken to Remus the night before; he knew Ron, Ginny and Hermione had spoken to Arthur and Molly. They had decided to get proper counselling.
Ron's boggart changes, rather than Harry's, as I felt after some deliberation (and a lot of back-and-forth) that Harry's boggart would stay the same. After all, Harry's "greatest fear is fear" – all fear, in my opinion, which could encompass fear of loss, failure, etc. – even death. So it wouldn't change; in fact it would grow worse.
This marks the end of the revamped chapters. While you may recognise a section from time to time, from now on everything will be done out of my head again...