CHAPTER FIVE
Creed of Solace
"My, my," the mirror whistled. "You're looking sharp, dearie."
Harry grinned as he examined his reflection again, silently promising that it would be the last time.
Turning this way and that, he studied his new clothes from every angle, checking to see if he looked as professional as he felt. It was standard Auror winter gear: a high-collared tunic, surcoat, loose ankle-length hose, long buckled boots, a thin pair of gloves, bracers that stretched from his wrists to his elbows, light dragonhide armour over his torso and joints, a fully stocked utility belt and a Puffskein lined cloak.
All black with silver trim. The colours of the Auror Corps.
What he admired most were his two new favourite items. The first was his Auror badge. A silver disc the size of a child's palm, emblazoned with the image of a rising sun and used to clasp his cloak shut. The second, clasped on his left wrist and over the bracer, was his Ouroboros. Rudimentary alchemy had shifted the composition of the one his parents had given him. It was now made of onyx and the runes were etched in bronze.
It wasn't just the new gear that made him feel different. Even after a month, he was still a little surprised at how much basic training had changed him. Months of strict training and bland meals had left their mark on him. This, coupled with his most recent growth spurt, had taken a slight boy and turned him lean. But that wasn't what he found curious. It was his face.
His surly resting expression had become stern and his watchful eyes had turned harsh. For the first time, he thought he looked more like a man than he did a boy.
While Harry had survived a multitude of threats over the last couple of years, he had always felt out of his depth. But he'd taken the worst Solace had to offer and come out stronger. By her own admission, he was as prepared as any Auror. There was almost nothing left in the world that could frighten him now.
"Now if you would only get a haircut," the mirror mused. "I just think it hides your face!" It defended when Harry scowled at it. "You have such striking features. You should show them off!"
"Whatever," Harry muttered, a little self-conscious now. His hair had grown even longer during training, almost reaching the top of his shoulders. He had the Automaton trim it before he went back to school, but only to its usual length. More than long enough to hide his scar.
As he was running a finger across the edges of the badge, tracing the words of the Corps, he heard Remus call his name for the third time. "HARRY POTTER! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" If Remus had resorted to shouting then he must be late. Harry hurried from his room and down the stairs to the kitchen where his whole family was waiting.
"What took you so long?" Remus asked from where he was working at the stove. "You're normally the first one up." Harry shrugged. He was about to come up with some kind of lie before Maia exposed him.
"He was busy admiring himself," she said airily. Her smirk told him that she had been waiting for him to come down before dropping that embarrassing tidbit. "I was going to wake him earlier, but I saw him standing in front of the mirror flexing his muscles and thought I had best leave him to it."
Harry scowled. "I wasn't flexing my muscles! I just wanted to make sure my uniform fit."
Nicolas snorted into his tea. "Good, because you hardly have anything to flex. Unlike me." He proceeded to tense up in a gorilla-like pose.
Maia's smile dropped as she gagged. "Stop before you put me off my breakfast."
Remus sighed. "Look, you want some of this or not?" He walked over to the table with two full plates of scrambled eggs, sausages and toast.
"You didn't have to make this yourself, you know," Harry said, but he picked up his knife and fork anyway.
"I wanted to do something nice for your first day," Remus said warmly. "You're gonna have to get the Automaton to do it from now on, though. I can't wake up that early every morning."
"What about me?" Maia asked, staring at both of their plates. "Where's my breakfast?"
Remus shrugged. "You're not going anywhere today. Make it yourself." Maia mumbled something rude under her breath and went to fetch the Automaton.
"Does no one else find it funny that the child is the only one with a job to go to?" Nicolas asked, glancing up from today's edition of Wizarding World News.
"I have a job." Remus pointed out.
Nicolas smirked. "Does no one else find it funny that the child is the only one with a real job to go to?"
Remus scowled at him. "You're hilarious."
Nicolas shrugged. "I thought you were making breakfast for me too."
Maia returned with the Automaton, who immediately went to the stove, and took her seat before addressing Harry. "Listen, first missions are always a bit grim as you get adjusted, but just keep your head on a swivel and you should be alright."
Harry paused his chewing, thinking on that. He guessed her experience had something to do with his mother and the incident she had referred to in her letter. Nicolas spoke before he could ask.
"Your luck is the worst I've ever seen, so you'll probably end up fighting Voldemort for your first mission." He paused then, lowering his paper to look Harry in the eye. "If that happens, call me."
"I don't think that's standard procedure." Harry pointed out but backed down at the glare he got in return. "Fine, if it's Voldemort, I'll call you. Happy?" Nicolas nodded before returning his attention to the newspaper. "You guys worry too much. I'll be back tonight, safe and sound."
That turned out to be painfully accurate.
Christmas had come and gone in a whirlwind that year, and he and his friends had spent it going back and forth from each other's houses. Neither the Boots nor Harry's guardians minded the adolescent mayhem in their homes and Director Bones was too busy to care.
Hagrid had come over on Christmas Day, still gushing about the four of them becoming Cadets. His jubilation made Harry feel guilty for not making time for the first wizard friend he'd ever made. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have any time to rectify this in the near future as his squad had a full schedule.
The last week of the year was the most popular time to take a holiday for many Aurors around the world. As such, these dreaded shifts were mostly given to the lowest-ranked squads: fresh Sentries and Cadets.
Harry knew he should be upset about this treatment, but he was far too excited about his first day on the job to care about the date it fell upon. He apparated to Hyde Park and approached the Citadel as quickly as he could without losing the professional air he was going for. He hardly paused at the gate as the Sentries on duty waved him in when they caught sight of his badge, which left him with a silly little smile.
"Someone's excited," Anthony said the moment he stepped into the entrance foyer.
"Is it that obvious?" Harry asked.
Anthony nodded. "Oh yeah. You're smiling for no reason, which by your grumpy standards is practically bouncing off the walls for anyone else."
Harry rolled his eyes but couldn't deny the fact that he could be quite sullen sometimes. "Where are the others?"
"Terry's still getting ready, and Michael is-"
"-right here," Michael finished as he walked in through the doors. "You two are just early."
"I live right upstairs." Anthony defended.
Michael glanced at Harry. "What's your excuse?"
Harry smiled. "I'm always early."
Michael raised his eyebrows at Anthony. "He's smiling for no reason. I've never seen him this excited."
Anthony grinned. "I said the same thing. It's adorable, isn't it?" He made to pinch Harry's cheek, but he smacked his hand away.
"Piss off. I'm not letting you lot ruin this for me." He glanced up the stairs. "And neither is Terry being late-"
"I'm not late." Terry appeared, but instead of arriving from the stairs to his family home, he came from within the Citadel proper, bowl of cereal in hand.
"I thought you were in your room," Anthony said accusingly.
"I was, but we ran out of milk, so I went to get some from the mess hall."
"Wait, wait, wait." Michael waved his hands as though stemming the flow of information. "We get paid, and we get free food?" He looked as though he might tear up. "This is the best job in the world."
"Your expectations continue to be disturbingly low, Michael," Captain Solace said as she entered the entrance foyer from outside. "You're all early. That's good. Follow me and we can get started with the tour." She breezed right past them towards the double doors Terry had come from and led them inside.
Anthony and Terry didn't look all that enthused to be getting a tour of their home, but Harry didn't mind. He had only been in the room beyond once before and back then it had been refitted as a ballroom for Wizarding Britain's most wealthy and influential. Now it was being used as intended: a loud, bustling bullpen.
Organised neatly in rows along the walls were dozens of sleek silver cubicles that provided a semblance of privacy for the inhabitants within. At the very centre of the room was a large table, on top of which lay an interactive map of London and its surrounding counties. The map was dark, with London only being visible due to its outline, but it had pinpricks of light as though it was viewed from space. However, due to the congregation of light on Charing Cross and Hyde Park, Harry guessed that the lights represented all the magic in the capital rather than electricity.
Captain Solace led them to an unoccupied cubicle by the windows and closest to the doors. "This cubicle is yours to share." There was obvious spatial magic at play; the inside of the cubicle was much larger than what the outside would have an observer believe. There was enough space for four reasonably sized desks and chairs to fit in each corner without feeling cramped.
It was Harry's turn to be surprised. "We get desks?"
Solace glanced back at him. "Are you taking the mickey?" Harry quickly shook his head. "Why would you enlist if your standards for the Corps are so low?" She asked rhetorically. "Yes, you get desks, salaries, food, quarters if you ever need it, and holiday time. You're also getting paid overtime for working on Boxing Day and New Year's. Happy?" She moved on with the tour before they could respond. "You can decorate your desk and the inside of your cubicle however you like but remember that there's no such thing as privacy on Citadel grounds."
Solace continued the tour, showing them the way to the library, infirmary, greenhouse, potions lab, evidence lockup, mess hall, bathrooms, changing rooms and various training halls before ending it at her office. "You'll only ever need to come to my office, so don't ever disturb the other squad captains and lieutenants." She gestured up and down the corridor at the other offices. "Not unless they ask you to meet them. Which shouldn't happen without me being present anyway." She added.
Harry then tensed, knowing the moment he had been waiting for was swiftly approaching. But he was disappointed when she guided them back to their desks and gave them essential paperwork to fill out. Worst of all, most of the questions were regarding his medical history and emergency contact which left him stumped. Finally, after his friends turned theirs in, he scrawled Hestia Jones as his Healer and Nicolas Flamel as his emergency contact. Maia was likely to get agitated if anything happened to him and most people didn't know that Remus was a Werewolf. Harry didn't want to bring him undue attention.
His hope was tentative the second time around, but he still felt crushed when Solace simply told them to wait until something presented itself. "Feel free to leave your desks," she told them before heading to her office. "But if you use the training hall, make sure you don't wear yourselves out."
Later, Harry would wonder if she had said that in jest. They were hardly likely to wear themselves out doing nothing all day.
"This is so not what I signed up for." Harry groaned three hours later, spinning around in his chair.
"I know. Can you believe Sentries get individual cubicles?" Terry asked. He was busy decorating his desk with knickknacks he'd fetched from his bedroom. "Where's the justice in that?"
"That's not what I meant." Harry sighed. "I thought we'd be so busy that we wouldn't even need desks."
"Didn't you pay attention in training?" Michael asked, startling them. He was leaning back in his chair with his eyes shut, so they all thought he'd been napping. "Most of what we do is reactive. We're going to do a lot of waiting around."
"Well, at least now I know how Cedric always got his homework done." Anthony pointed out from where he was working on his Charms essay. "I used to think he was crunched for time."
"I am crunched for time," Cedric said as he poked his head into their cubicle. "Oh, this is terrible." He chuckled as he examined their workspace. "I thought I had it bad, but I only have to share my cubicle with Eliza."
"How do you deal with the boredom?" Harry demanded to know.
"Homework, reading, practising spells." Cedric listed off with a shrug. "Anyway, you better get used to it because First Year Cadets rarely get missions."
Anthony narrowed his eyes at him. "You're here doing nothing, same as us."
Cedric smirked as he backed out of the cubicle. "Nah, Captain Moody is on his way to track down a potion supplier with suspected Death Eater ties, so we get to assist. I just thought I'd say hello before I leave." He chuckled at their envious expressions. "Have fun, kids!"
Harry groaned in despair.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The rest of the week followed in a similar vein and they fell into a routine. After personalising their desks (Harry didn't do anything to his at all, as he didn't feel comfortable giving strangers a window into his life) and getting more familiar with the Citadel and its grounds (for Harry and Michael anyway) they all did what they could to stave off boredom.
They divided their time between the library, training halls and potions lab, both to entertain themselves and to keep their skills sharp. But whatever they did they made sure to do it together. If they were needed for a mission, they wanted Captain Solace to find them as a group so that none of them were left behind.
It made bathroom breaks rather awkward.
The only reprieve was when Solace would take breaks from her backlog of paperwork and join them in their cubicle to conduct a round of Covert Intelligence Retention Training. This wasn't nearly as serious as it sounded and was surprisingly fun.
Solace would present one of them with a conjured wooden box in full view of the others but would only allow the one holding it to peek inside. The other Cadets were each given the chance to ask one question which The Box Holder had to answer before figuring out if they were telling the truth or not.
When Solace had first told them the premise, they hadn't been all that impressed, but she insisted on its usefulness. "We have the Spooks to go undercover for us, but who knows?" She shrugged. "You might have to operate covertly within plain sight one day. Best to practice for it now." Harry didn't buy it, but his reluctance to participate slowly melted during the first few rounds when he realised how much fun it was.
Anthony was too confident with his lies, Michael would have won his round if he hadn't taken so long to decide whether to lie or not, but Terry was awful.
"What colour is it?" Anthony asked once Terry had taken a quick peek inside his box.
"Rainbow!" Terry said immediately before his face crumpled. To his credit, he stuck with it. "It's multi-coloured."
"What's the texture?" Harry asked quickly, wanting to prey upon his nerves.
"Wet? Soggy!" Terry nodded firmly as though that made up for the way he stared at the closed box instead of meeting their eyes.
Michael had to lean against the arm of his desk chair for balance, he was laughing so hard. "This is too easy!" He chortled, but when Captain Solace raised an eyebrow at him, he hiccoughed and sat up before asking the final question. "Is it alive?"
"Yes." Credit where it was due, Terry didn't hesitate at all with his answers even if they were obvious fibs.
"So, it's a soggy, rainbow-coloured animal?" Anthony asked slowly.
"You're only allowed three questions." Solace reminded him and he shrugged apologetically.
Michael ignored her. "It could be a plant?" When she frowned at him, he defensively added, "I was speaking to Anthony!"
"Just put him out of his misery." Harry sighed. "You're lying," he told Terry flatly.
"Drat." Terry tutted as though he'd ever stood a chance of winning. "It was a packet of Jelly Snakes if anyone still cares."
The other boys all stared at him, wondering how he could have fumbled with such an easy box. Anthony said as much. "I had a cat in mine," he complained. "I thought it was going to meow and give the game away."
"At least you didn't think it was going to attack you." Michael gave Solace a sour look, still sore over being tricked by the stuffed toy in the shape of a baby Acromantula. He had thrown the box to the floor and drawn his wand on it, so he'd needed a second box for his turn.
"Harry?" Solace asked, her wand already twirling as she conjured another box from thin air. "Do you want a go?"
He nodded and rose from his chair to take a look inside the box. It was only his carefully developed skill with the Mind Arts that kept him from recoiling back. Solace would not be as reckless as to put a fully grown Mandrake in the box. No, this was just another one of her deceptions.
With his face kept perfectly blank, Harry turned to face his friends. "Ask away."
Seemingly determined for revenge, Terry got the most obvious question out of the way first. "Is it alive?"
Harry felt that question coupled with the likely future question of colour would give the game away, so he decided to go with a lie. "No."
"What colour is it?" Michael asked predictably.
"Red." The pleasure he felt in their frustration was not apparent on his face, though that changed when he saw Anthony smirk. Each of his friends was gifted and talented in their own way, but Anthony had always been the best at reading people. Harry suddenly wished he had given him more credit.
In a tone that suggested he'd already won, Anthony asked, "What's the texture like?"
"Metallic." Harry had taken special care to stick to one-word answers, fearing that a sudden change in his responsive style would expose him. Anthony didn't seem to care.
"You're lying," he said immediately. He ignored the protests of the other two for forgoing the usual debate that followed, though they quieted when Harry slumped.
"How could you even tell?" Harry demanded to know. "I was careful to not let anything slip through."
"You always get really calm when you're lying and want to get away with it." Anthony leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "Occlumency isn't all it's cracked up to be, I guess." Harry rolled his eyes when he heard that, but it did make sense. Solace had taken the other three through the rudimentary steps to Occlumency during Basic Training, so Anthony would be able to connect Harry's impassive exterior with the Emotion Withdrawing Technique she had taught them.
"You're all being too hard on yourselves," Solace said consolingly once Harry had retaken his seat. "The people you'll be asked to lie to won't know you as well as you four know each other. Actually," she added sounding a little impressed, "I was hard-pressed to detect any tics that gave you away. Well," she paused, consideringly, "for most of you." Terry groaned and Michael snickered at his expense. "Don't worry, the whole point of this exercise is to teach you how to lie convincingly."
Harry frowned and raised his hand. "But Captain, how can we do better but suppress our tics?"
"He was right." She nodded at Anthony who looked far too pleased with himself. "The absence of emotion, even of nerves or fear, can be just as much of a giveaway as anything else. I served three years in the Auror Covert Intelligence Division, and I learned that slipping into a convincing role, one suitable for your situation, can work wonders."
"I didn't know you were in ACID." Anthony sounded impressed. "It wasn't in your public record."
"It was classified to protect my safety." Solace shrugged.
Harry's brow furrowed. The Auror's Enchiridion had explained that with all the spells and potions available for disguise, classifying an Auror's service into ACID was unnecessary. "That goes against standard procedure," he said slowly before blinking. "You're lying right now!" He accused.
"I am." Solace admitted with ease. "Even though I took care to make it obvious, three of you bought it." When Harry looked smug, she added, "And you only figured it out because I made you memorise the handbook." He flushed but she smiled kindly at him, as though letting him know he hadn't failed a secret test. "I did learn from an ACID operative. I required her assistance on a case I was working on, but no, I was never a Spook."
"So, it's like putting on a mask?" Harry asked slowly. "Slipping into disguise to tell a lie?"
"I prefer to think of it as playing a role." Solace shrugged. "Whichever is necessary to get people to believe what I want them to believe."
Harry nodded consideringly. "Can I try again?" He asked, half expecting her to deny him.
To his surprise, Solace stood straighter and conjured another box for him. "By all means." She spoke as though she had been hoping for this outcome.
Harry glanced into the box but when Solace closed it this time around, he waited a moment instead of turning to face the others. I'm like Michael, he thought. I'm a fair liar but can take too long to respond. He turned back to face the others, pausing only to glance briefly at Solace as though he were nervous to imitate her. That was something he knew Anthony's sharp eyes would pick up. "Ask away," he said with the same calm confidence as before.
Perhaps nervous at not being able to immediately pick him apart, Anthony spoke first. "What's the size of it?" He asked, clearly trying to throw Harry off with a question none of them had thought to ask before.
Harry glanced down at his hands before holding them approximately a foot apart from each other. "About this big," he finally said, holding that position so they all got a good look before dropping his hands. Anthony's expression was pinched, and Harry had to avert his gaze to prevent any amusement from breaking through his mask.
"What colour is it?" Michael asked, leaning forward in his seat as though searching for any sign of nervousness.
He didn't have to look very hard, as Harry's eyes flickered around the cubicle before settling on, "Burgundy."
"Burgundy?" As predicted, that answer flummoxed the inaesthetic Michael. "What the Bedlam is burgundy?"
"Language," Solace said warningly. Michael sank back into his chair.
Terry seemed to take a page out of Anthony's book and asked an unexpected question in the hopes of tripping him up. Unfortunately, he had missed the memo on making said question even slightly useful to his team. "Can I keep it as a pet?" Michael and Anthony immediately groaned. Harry made a face of confusion that he didn't even have to fake.
"Yes, I think," he responded haltingly. "If you were weird or something."
"Why would you ask that?" Anthony demanded, looking more invested in the game than Harry would have thought. "You could have just if it were alive or something! At least that way we would have known if he wanted us to believe it was alive or not, instead of leaving us with a non-answer."
"My question is far more revealing!" Terry protested. "There's only a certain number of things you could keep as a pet."
"Didn't you hear his response?" Michael slumped even further back into his chair. "His opinion on what's weird could range from a rabid Kneazle to a pet rock."
Terry made a face. "A burgundy rock?"
Michael whirled around to face him. "You know what burgundy is?"
"You don't?" Terry swished his wand and Michael's hair turned an awful wine-red. "Take a look."
Michael pulled out his compact communication mirror and his eyes immediately lit up. "Something burgundy about this big?" He made the same shape with his hands that Harry had earlier. "It's a Quaffle!"
"No, that's too obvious." As he knew what burgundy was, Anthony had already considered and dismissed the idea. "He knows you'd pick up on it in a heartbeat if it were. He has to be lying." His eyes had been fixed on Harry for a while now as though he could pull the truth out from him through will alone.
Michael waved him off. "That's why he used a fancy word for maroon. He knew I'd figure it out."
If he'd been using his normal method for lying, Harry would have taken the opportunity to mock Michael's new shade of hair to provoke him. However, that didn't match the poorly hidden nerves his character should have, so he kept his mouth shut and shifted his feet instead. He felt a jolt of triumph shoot through him when Anthony's eyes picked up on it.
"He's lying," Anthony said with more conviction this time. "He just wants you to think it's a Quaffle."
When Michael looked set on arguing, Solace stepped in. "It's not fair if you go back and forth forever. Terry, you have the deciding vote."
Terry looked displeased at being the centre of attention. It was clear he was even more uncertain than the others. His eyes scanned Harry as though searching for a clue he'd previously missed- of which there were an obvious few- before deciding. "You're lying."
Harry finally relaxed and opened the box so that they could all see the Quaffle within. As Michael began to berate the others for ever doubting him, Harry smiled at Solace. "That was somehow both easy and difficult."
"How'd you pick it up so fast?" She asked, curious.
Harry shrugged. "I did what I normally do with Occlumency, hiding what I truly feel, then I put on whatever revealing tic I felt was needed." He smirked at Anthony. "I figured Anthony would pick up on all of them and get confused. But it hardly worked on Michael."
Michael looked proud until Solace explained why. "He couldn't see any of your deliberate tics." She determined. "You were telling the truth and he took you at your word."
"That's a nice way of saying you're an idiot." Terry pointed out helpfully. Michael responded with an insult so rude that Solace was forced to punish him with twenty laps around the Citadel.
They continued with the lying game for the rest of the week. Harry became so adept at hiding his true thoughts that even Solace admitted she only knew if he was lying or not by conjuring the box and the contents within herself. Still, as fun as it was, they knew it was just a distraction from their lack of actual work and began to feel restless as more and more monotonous days passed.
For better or worse, that all changed on New Year's Eve.
They had been there since noon after relieving a Sentry squad. Harry was only just beginning to regret turning down Solace's offer to let them skive off and go to Tonks' annual party upstairs when the Anemoi signal began to blare and flash red.
Harry leapt to his feet and made his way to the interactive map. "Get the captain!"
"I already know." Captain Solace jogged into the room and approached the centre table. "Where is it?"
Anthony tapped the map with his wand. "Anemoi Revelio!" The red distress beacon was usually easy to see, but when the spell zeroed in on its origin, it became clear why it had been so difficult to see.
"Diagon Alley?" Terry looked baffled. "Who'd be stupid enough to try and pull something there?" Harry felt a thrill go through him. He could think of only one organisation that would dare to pull such a stunt. Rogues were too cautious and Dark Creatures didn't have access so that only left one option:
Death Eaters.
Judging by her harsh expression, Solace had come to the same conclusion. "Let's find out," she said, before touching her Ouroboros with her wand and turning on the spot. The boys did the same, disapparating from the Citadel, one by one.
Harry was the last to appear at Diagon Alley's North Apparition Point, quickly moving just in case the next person landed right on top of him. Solace was already jogging to where the distress signal had originated from, and the others followed in their preassigned positions: Terry and Michael to either side and Harry and Anthony at the rear. Their wands were already out, and they kept their heads on a swivel just in case the Anemoi was an ambush, which had been a favourite trick of the Death Eaters during the Sixth Great Wizarding War.
However, it quickly became clear that it was no trick as many shoppers were congregating around the scene up ahead. Solace didn't have to shove her way through the crowd; they made room for her as soon as they caught sight of her badge. The rest of them followed her, ready to do crowd control while she worked.
They heard the disturbance before they saw it. Two wizards stood in front of the café, Rosa's Teabag. A father and son. Judging by his apron, the father worked in the kitchen. Harry was less concerned with that and more with the fact that he recognised the boy: Fredricks.
Both had their wands out, but it was only Fredricks who looked ready to attack, which was what made the happiness he exhibited at seeing Aurors arrive on the scene so bizarre.
"Thank Thoth you're here!" Fredricks greeted them desperately. It was such a strange welcome that even Solace paused. "He's trying to kill me!"
"Would you stop telling people that?" His father demanded, looking mortified. He turned to Solace and began to explain his side of things. "I just asked him to clean under the stove-"
"He's a Death Eater!" Fredricks screamed this for all the world to hear. Harry, busy on crowd control, braced himself for an attack before realising the moron was just being dramatic. "A Dark Wizard! Arrest him!"
There were mutterings and awkward laughter among the crowd. Mr Fredricks looked utterly appalled at his son's conduct.
"He's lying," Harry muttered lowly to Solace. "I know him." She gave him a warning look before approaching Fredricks Senior and Junior with a patient expression. Even though it now looked unlikely for the situation to turn into anything dire, the Cadets still ordered the crowd to move on as they didn't want to deal with her reprimands later.
"Gentlemen, this is a matter for the Custodians." Solace began, her irritation well concealed. "A false Anemoi can lead to fines, even jail time-"
"He's the one who'll be dealing with the fallout, mark my words." The father was now beyond embarrassment and was moving towards anger. "Fines, jail time, he's of age and old enough to take the consequences of his actions."
Fredricks quickly dropped his terrified act. "What? Dad, you can't mean that!"
"Yes, I can!" He pointed up the street. "Out! Out of my house! I am sick to death of your antics!"
Fredricks looked betrayed, but only for a moment, as it quickly turned to genuine anger. He levelled his wand at his father, and Harry reacted without thought.
"Nullus Resparito!" Fredricks spat and a pale silver spell was shot out the end of his wand.
Protego Duo! The Battle Partner's Shield Charm was cast without much effort, but it still rebounded the curse back onto its caster without fracturing in the least. Fredricks- caught off guard- was knocked onto his back when it struck him in the chest. He began loudly thrashing on the ground, fingers scrabbling at his throat, suffocating under the effects of his rebounded curse.
The people who hadn't dispersed yet gasped and screamed as though they had never seen Dark Magic in action before. Fredricks the Senior bellowed, "OI!"
Everything got a little chaotic from that point onward. The father, now furious at them, tried to approach Harry but was restrained by Solace. Meanwhile, Anthony and Michael held the crowd back, allowing him to undo the curse and restrain the gasping Fredricks in invisible cords. It could have been five minutes or five hours before the Custodians finally answered Terry's Floo call and relieved them from the domestic dispute.
Harry thought that was the end of it, but Captain Solace rounded on him when they finally apparated back to Hyde Park. "My office. Now." After a nervous glance at his equally confused friends, he quickly followed her, struggling to keep pace until they reached her office. It was a bare room that reminded him of his corner of their cubicle; it was free of any clutter and contained only a desk, chair, filing cabinets and a window with a decent view of the grounds. Even with how little there was, he didn't have much time to take it in as Solace spoke the moment her door was closed. "What on earth were you thinking?" She demanded.
Harry resisted the urge to take a step back. "What?"
"You escalated the situation." She clarified.
"I followed procedure!" Harry defended himself. "He raised his wand at his dad, and you taught us to always nullify the threat."
"I also taught you restraint relevant to the situation at hand. You should have used a Disarming Charm, an Arm-Locking Curse or if you absolutely had to incapacitate him, a Stunning Spell!" Solace paused breathing deeply before speaking in a calmer tone. "You knew that boy and let your previous knowledge of him cloud your judgement."
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You don't know that guy. He's a-" he just about managed to hold himself back from saying a "complete prick", but Solace seemed to get the gist of it.
"For all you know, he could have been the victim there." Solace pointed out. "Didn't his father seem a little too quick to kick him out?" She frowned when he scoffed. "Why would the boy call the Aurors if he didn't think it necessary?"
Harry shrugged, not as certain in his judgement as he'd been a moment ago. "He hangs around kids who have Death Eaters in their families." When Solace looked unimpressed at that, he added, "He's a bully. He spouts off pureblood supremacy nonsense and goes after kids whose families are against that. Or were against that. Kids like me."
"So, you did let a personal grudge get in the way." She sighed. "Harry, you're a member of the Corps now, not a child that can do whatever he wants to deal with the problem at hand. That time has passed. As long as you wear the Auror crest," she jabbed a finger at the badge that kept his cloak clasped, "you have both a moral and legal obligation to be more upstanding than the average citizen, not less. You're not just a student anymore, you're an extension of the Magister's will. It's time you rose to that standard."
"Yes, Captain," Harry said dully, chafing at being told off like a child.
Solace frowned even deeper. "We wear these badges to protect people. There's no other reason for all of this." She made a circular wave with her hand as if to gesture at the Citadel all around them. "If we do anything that gets in the way of that- if even a single person is harmed after we've arrived on the scene- then we've failed. Remember that."
She looked at Harry then as though beseeching him to understand.
Harry just stared right back. He felt like he understood her less and less the longer he knew her.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The rest of their shift was awkward. Aside from the paperwork from the distress call they'd answered, there was no work to be done, so the boys brought their dinners from the mess hall to their desks and discussed their lacklustre first mission.
"If I wanted to get in the middle of two people loudly arguing about personal matters, I would have stayed with the Hillards," Michael grumbled. His mood wasn't enough to stop him from tucking into his fish and chips.
"That was so awkward." Terry chuckled uncomfortably. "I mean, how are they supposed to come back from that?"
Anthony rolled his eyes. "Who cares? What?" He asked when Terry gave him a reproachful look. "It's not our problem. We're here to save people's lives, not care about what goes on in them."
"I don't think Solace would agree." Harry finally put his fork down, giving up on the idea of eating. "I think she would want us to do everything we can for image's sake or something." His mind was still focused on her words from earlier. He was unable to make sense of them.
"You're not still worried about what she said, are you?" Anthony demanded. When Harry said nothing, he made a noise of frustration. "All you did was take the idiot down. He'll walk away with a few bruises if he landed wrong, but even that is unlikely. You didn't do anything wrong."
"He's right," Michael said through a mouthful of chips. "You followed her training. Non-lethal takedown, the response of which should be judged on the damage the threat is capable of at that moment. You had no idea what spell he was gonna use on his dad."
Harry nodded. Even though he believed the same, he felt like he was missing something obvious, otherwise Solace would have stated it outright. She did have a point about one thing though; he was callous when it came to the lives of strangers. During his flights from the Rogues that had been hunting him last year, Harry had caused untold damage to people's health and livelihoods. It wasn't as though he'd had much of a choice, but it also wasn't something he bothered thinking about when it was all over either.
Maybe Solace has a point, Harry thought. The more powerful I become, the more options I have available to me. I'm not an overwhelmed First Year anymore. I didn't have to attack Fredricks like that.
Harry's train of thought was brought to a screeching halt by the blaring of another alarm.
"Again with this thing?" Terry asked. As petulant as it sounded, it was a reasonable complaint. The Anemoi signal only went off a few times a day and rarely more than once on the same shift. Typically, the Custodians would simply send the Aurors a report if they felt something was out of their jurisdiction. It was bizarre to have the emergency alarm go off twice on such a slow shift.
Captain Solace appeared in the bullpen much slower than last time and approached the map with an awkwardness he'd only seen from her once before. "Where is it this time?"
Michael reached the map first. He pinpointed the origin of the distress signal with ease as it was nowhere near Wizarding territory. "Southwark? What's there?"
"Lot of things, probably," Anthony said dryly. "It's a big place."
"Get the location and follow me." Solace ordered before Michael could get out his response. She tapped her Ouroboros and disapparated and they followed her once more.
Harry was momentarily confused when he first arrived, as the location they arrived at seemed oddly familiar. It was only when he turned around did he realise exactly why and he felt his heart drop into his boots.
The Hotel Babylon.
It looked exactly the same as it had the summer before last- back in the good old days when he'd been on the run for committing murder- ten stories tall with a pristine white and columned exterior. Harry wanted to be baffled as to why they would appear here of all places, but he'd already grown suspicious when looking back at the time he spent here.
Despite having a former Magister searching for him, the hotel had kept his location safe for five straight days. It was only his reluctance at turning over stones from such a chaotic time in his life that prevented him from investigating how that was even possible, but it now looked as though that option had been taken out of his hands.
Nothing looked wrong in either the fairly populated street or the posh hotel, but the Cadets were trained enough to know that things weren't always as they first appeared. Solace only confirmed that. "Harry, what do you sense?" Harry blinked at her, feeling put on the spot. He'd used his Mage Sight in the middle of their practice duels, sure, but hadn't got the chance to use it in a real situation. "There's a first time for everything." Solace shrugged when Harry voiced this out loud.
Ignoring the gnawing pit of nerves in his stomach, Harry closed his eyes to aid his focus. He lashed out with a thin, rippling wave of Mana, but when it bounced back to him his brows furrowed in confusion. "I think I did it wrong," Harry said tentatively after he got the same result a second time. "It doesn't feel like a Muggle hotel. It feels like my house or The Leaky Cauldron. Like a magical abode."
Solace frowned, but a moment later her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'm getting the same response." She clenched her jaw as she stared at the hotel, clearly planning something.
At least it was clear to Harry, but not to Terry apparently. "What does that mean? Has a sorcerer been running a hotel for Muggles?"
"Who's to say?" Solace sighed. "Normally we could investigate this discreetly, but we've already blown our cover to whoever's responsible and they've likely fled by now. But even if they haven't, we still need to respond to that illegal use of magic."
The boys stared at her. "You mean the Anemoi spell?" Michael asked.
Solace sighed. "Did you see any red on the map?" He shook his head. "Then it was illegal use of magic in a Muggle area that set off the alarm." She explained as they approached the hotel. "We'll split into two groups to cover more ground."
Harry breathed in sharply from his nose when he felt the touch of magic as they crossed the threshold. He recognised the Runic Complex as it was one he'd made use of in his secret training hall back at Hogwarts. It immediately informed the one who created it when someone entered their abode.
He glanced at Solace, but she was already aware. "It wasn't built specifically for sorcerers, so I think we should be safe." She elaborated for the others who appeared confused by her sudden statement as she led the way to the elevators. Once inside, she began giving out orders. "Harry and I will search from the fourth floor to the basement while the three of you search from the fifth floor to the roof. If you see anyone suspicious, don't engage and call me on your communication mirrors. Do you have any questions?"
Anthony appeared resolved but Michael and Terry were a lot more obvious with their nerves. However, they all shook their heads. Solace nodded at them as the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor. "Good. Then we'll see you in a minute."
Harry and Solace began their search on either side of the floor, going room by room as they searched for any sign of magic, before meeting in the middle when they found nothing. As they headed to the stairs to continue their search on the third floor, Solace finally spoke.
"I'm sorry." After a few minutes of working in silence, her voice was so abrupt that it made him jump a little. "For always being so hard on you." She clarified. "I mean, yes you could have been a little gentler with the boy and diffused the situation more elegantly, but you did it all by the book."
"Why then?" He asked as they began descending the stairs. "You've been on my back since day one, and don't tell me it's just because you think I'm a glory seeker."
Solace sighed. "You grew up in the Muggle world, right?" Harry nodded, wondering what this had to do with anything. "The use of children as soldiers is deemed both illegal and highly unethical by Muggles, isn't it?" She didn't wait for a response this time. "I know you wouldn't think that should apply to you or your friends, and I thought the same when I was your age. I enlisted thinking I could prove something, but all I did was get my squad killed."
Harry stared at her, having stopped just as they reached the third floor. "What?"
"I see a lot of myself in all of you kids." Solace didn't deign to repeat herself. "The weight of your families, the hunger for revenge and that burning need for glory." She smiled tersely as they began searching room by room as a pair this time. "I wanted you all to quit during training, even if it meant staying a Lieutenant forever. When you didn't, I decided to push you to the absolute limits so that nothing you faced in the real world could be as bad as what I put you through."
Harry nodded. "It was pretty bad." The exhaustion from lack of sufficient sleep, extreme physical training, pain from the injuries she'd inflicted upon them in their Emergency Healing lessons, and the stress from the dense academic workload had made them nearly hysterical in the first month. Only because they were suffering together kept them pushing forward. Something she omitted finally clicked in his brain. "Wait, you didn't say anything about Terry." The qualities she had listed were easily assigned to Michael, Anthony and himself but not their smallest friend. "Is that why he was Number One?"
"You finally caught on to that?" Solace smiled more openly this time. "His priorities were in the right order, so all I had to do was teach him enough so he could follow through on his promise to protect you all."
They worked the rest of the floor, as well as the second and first in silence after that, but Harry broke it once they reached the ground floor. "Is seeking glory so bad?" He blurted out what had been on his mind for the last five minutes. "I mean, within reason?"
"Within reason? No." Solace answered as they began searching through the hotel bar and restaurant. "But remember, Aurors only exist to protect both worlds from the worst that magic has to offer." She glanced back at him. "We're just extensions of the Magister's will. He is the one who protects both worlds. Harry, if you're going to put on that red cloak, you need to live your life that way as well."
Harry nodded seriously. He was trying to imagine the immense weight the Magister must carry on his shoulders before he realised what Solace had just said. Was he imagining things, or did she admit to believing he could become Magister one day?
Solace abruptly stopped when they reached the bottom of the stairs that led into the hotel's basement. "Call the others and tell them to come here." Harry wasn't sure what had alerted her, but he immediately scrambled to obey.
"Anthony Noah Goldstein," Harry called as he was the most reliable when it came to answering the communication mirrors. Anthony's face shimmered into view and Harry caught sight of the cloudy night sky above him. "You're on the roof? I take it that means you didn't find anything then?"
"Not a thing." Anthony shrugged. "You?"
"Maybe. Captain Solace wants you guys to come down to the basement." Harry would have said more, but there was a sudden noise of anticipation that came from out of sight before the mirror returned to normal. "They're on the way," Harry told Solace as he'd recognised the sound of an excited Terry.
"I knew that we'd find something down here." Solace muttered. "You can always find creepy stuff in the basement." Before he could ask how she'd won that bit of wisdom, he heard approaching footsteps coming down the stairs.
"You got here fast," Harry said as the others arrived just a little out of breath.
"You said you had something." Terry ducked around Harry to stand beside Solace. "Oooh, that's interesting." The others approached, wondering what the other two had even noticed. They only glimpsed it when Michael moved his wand, and the light was reflected off the wall by a congealed substance.
"What is that?" Michael asked, disgusted.
"Ectoplasm." Solace said matter-of-factly. "You tend to see a lot of it when new ghosts start haunting the places of their deaths or the people who they hold responsible for it."
Harry made a face. The ghosts at Hogwarts were friendly and always willing to speak or guide the students who were polite to them, but they were distant as well. They simply couldn't relate to the ever-changing lives of the living. However, those even-tempered ghosts were centuries old at the very least and had moved beyond the initial despair brought on by their deaths. He had no idea how to deal with the existential crisis of the recently deceased.
Fortunately, Solace was in charge. "Stick together. Ghosts can be very dangerous when their emotions are heightened." The boys fell into their formation and the squad moved through the basement and its various rooms. Ghosts could move through walls and turn invisible, so this was not a fight Harry was looking forward to.
Unlike the other floors they had searched, the basement was clear of any Muggle activity. They only realised why when they opened the door to the laundry room. There, lying on the floor with blood seeping from an open head wound, was a maid.
Terry hurried forward to help her and the others stood guard over them. When he was done waving his wand over her, he glanced back at them. "She'll make a full recovery, but I think it's best to leave her unconscious for now." He looked at Solace to check if that was the right call, and he beamed when she gave him a quick nod of approval.
The poor maid wasn't the only victim they found as they searched the basement, but she was the only unconscious one. A security guard had broken his leg after being pushed down the stairs and another maid was dazed after being thrown into a shelf full of cleaning products. Terry healed them both as they moved through the basement.
When they reached the final room- which appeared to be some kind of office- the lights went off before they could even step inside, and a biting chill swept through them. "Skurge!" Solace cast. There was a screech before the floating, translucent being flickered into sight before the shelves at the far wall.
Harry wasn't sure what was worse, how young the ghost was or the fact that he recognised him. "Jeremy?" Everyone in the room, including the ghost, turned to face him.
"Err…Harry? You know this guy?" Anthony sounded bewildered.
"We all do." Only his experience with the lying game helped Harry distance himself from the truth. "He used to work at Honeydukes."
Jeremy, who floated before them in nothing but a tattered hospital gown, seemed to relax at the mention of the sweetshop. "Honeydukes." His voice echoed as though it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. "I should have stayed at Honeydukes."
"What do you mean?" Solace asked, taking advantage of his more docile state to get an idea of what was going on here. "What happened to you, Jeremy?"
"He promised me power I didn't want. Promised me power I never asked for," he whispered.
"He?" Solace leapt on that. "Who promised you power?"
Jeremy looked on the verge of tears, his earlier rage a distant memory. "He hurt us."
"Us?" Solace asked more urgently. "There are others like you?"
Jeremy looked at her for the first time, taking in her uniform. "Auror, stop them. Please."
"I will, but first I need-" She stopped speaking as Jeremy faded from sight. "Skurge!" Nothing happened this time and she lowered her wand with a sigh. "He's gone."
"How do we find him?" Michael asked though he looked disturbed at the very idea.
"We can't. He's gone." Solace began tracing her wand along the walls as though searching for some kind of clue. "He passed on his message to us, which was enough to have his need fulfilled, so he moved on."
"He gave up on revenge? Just like that?" Anthony looked confused at the very idea.
"Yes, and leaving us without a lead on where to go next." Solace sighed, finally giving up.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Harry smiled innocently when they all turned to face him. "Unless you didn't catch a glimpse of the tag on his gown?"
"You know we didn't, Mr. I'm-too-busy-to-be-a-Seeker." Michael punched his arm. "Just tell us."
"Acacia Asylum," Harry revealed. "That's what it said."
Terry was unsettled by this revelation. "Asylum? That's not creepy at all."
Captain Solace was already making her way to the door. "Let's get back to the Citadel so we can look into this."
The boys hurried to follow, unaware of the tiny camera in the corner of the room that followed their every move and sent it to one of the many monitors in the room behind the shelves.
The guard felt grateful that the Aurors arrived in time to stop the ghost before it could float through the false wall.
But not grateful enough to refrain from picking up the phone and calling this in.