'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands

The French Ministry was hidden beneath a row of shops, but there was a lack of subtly to the location. The entrance was in the alley behind a bakery, much like the Leaky Cauldron, but instead of a brick wall, there was an extremely out of place statue. It was a woman with flowing hair, carved entirely of marble with intricate details. She was sitting on a throne, a stone diadem with a single sapphire sitting atop her stony curls. There was a heart carved into her chest, one of her hands clenched into a fist on the arm of the throne. The other held a scepter across her lap.

It appeared as though Ministry officials using this entrance arrived in Muggle clothes to blend, in and didn't need to go through the bakery to get to the alley.

Tonks had been given a letter with instructions on how to get in by Dawlish's friend Cassandra, who would be watching Teddy during the days. With the way Cassandra spoke of Dawlish, Tonks had a feeling they had more than friendship between them.

The idea of leaving Teddy with a stranger in a strange country made her anxious but Cassandra had been easily likable, which lessened her anxiety a little.

She pulled out her wand, tapping the statue's feet one at a time, followed by the carved heart and finally the sapphire. For a second, nothing happened and she thought maybe she had the order wrong, but then the statue unclenched her fist, holding out three badges with the word Auror above each of their names.

The statue shifted forward, revealing a door that was slowly morphing into existence behind the statue. It swung open, revealing a staircase leading down.

Tonks, Harry and Neville hurried through and the door swung shut behind them. The stairway was wide but narrowly lit until they reached the bottom and a giant set of double doors swung open.

The Ministry was somehow bright and airy with floors of marbles and tall columns adorned with gold vines reaching to the ceiling. A row of fireplaces lined one wall of the wide space. Corridors lead away from the atrium and a desk was set up near the entrance they had come through, an office bursting with files behind it.

"It's all one floor, but I imagine if they have a break-in, it's not easy to lock down." Tonks said. "Our lifts will seal and block off floors if the alarm is raised."

"Maybe they don't have as many people trying to destroy their Ministry." Neville said. "It's easy enough for us to break-in to our Ministry anyway, Harry did it twice."

"Yes, well, just because we have the protocol doesn't mean it gets used efficiently." Tonks said. "According to the instructions I was given, the Auror department is down this way." She turned down a corridor lined with deep blue wallpaper and gold sconces. There were doors with various signs on them lining it, one was ajar and they could see a glimpse of two wizards trying to cram a baby dragon into a box.

"It's a lot quieter here than ours." Neville remarked.

"More organised too, from what I understand." Tonks said. "But they've had less issues."

They reached an open set of double doors at the end of the corridor, which led into a huge room of cubicles. There were definitely less cubicles than their own Ministry, but each cubicle was larger. The Aurors were wearing deep burgundy robes and none seemed to be any kind of urgent rush.

A tall man with bronze, wrinkly skin and dark grey hair approached them. "You the English?" He asked. Tonks was surprised that his accent did not sound French, but she had simply assumed he would be. He sounded American, but there was a hint of something else.

Tonks nodded.

He held out his hand. "I'm Lawrence Micelli, you can call me Larry. I'm the Auror assigned to you."

She shook his hand. "I'm Tonks, this is Harry and this is Neville." She said. Larry shook each of their hands.

"Alright, so like I said, I'm the Auror assigned to you. The Ministry figured it would be easier than assigning one of the French Aurors, pair the foreigner with the foreigners." Larry said. "I'll work with you for the next few days and then a couple times a week after that. I was told to tell you that you can only do practical tasks outside of the Ministry if I'm with you, so I'll try to be available as often as I can."

"They've done their fair share of dueling, I think the practical lessons won't need to be as thorough as regular training." Tonks said. "We've gone over protocols already,-"

"Discussing protocol and doing it are very different things." Larry said. "I'll show you around the office today, I think I'd like to see what you are capable of, too. I've heard, of course, but I'd like to see what I'm working with to see what we should focus on first."

Larry led them through the department. Tonks was still impressed by how organised the entire department seemed to be, no one had a crazy amount of files spilling over their desks. She knew, though, because their Ministry handled more of the Wizarding population than France's Ministry did, that they were simply busier and would probably never become like this. Their department was always loud and their desks were filled with cases they were trying to work on. She wondered if the end of the war would change anything.

Their training room was larger, three tables and chairs against one wall and one wall filled with bookshelves. The other two walls were filled with large posters filled with French. She could pick out a few words and realised they were reminders of Auror protocols.

"We have not hired or trained any Aurors for over a decade now." Larry said. "Sometimes, we hold practice duels for fun, but this room doesn't really get used otherwise."

Larry turned to Harry and Neville. "Like I said, I have heard about the two of you and how skilled you are. I'd like to see it." He said. "Are you nonverbal?"

"Some spells." Harry said. "Not all."

Larry nodded. "Have you learned more defensive spells than what you've used before training?"

"A fair few, but they need more practice." Neville said. "Most of what we used before was self taught and basic."

"But efficient, or you wouldn't be here." Larry said. "Kids should not have to teach themselves how to survive, but your experience is also an advantage. I would like to see you duel each other, and then one by one, you will duel a fully trained Auror in a few days."

Harry and Neville nodded, walking towards the center of the room. They faced each other, raising their wands. Neither moved for a moment, and it was Neville who fired the first spell, a nonverbal stunner that Harry flicked away with a shield.

"A fully trained Auror? They've dueled worse people before, will it be necessary?" Tonks asked Larry as the two began firing curses to each other. Tonks was impressed that it was more nonverbal than not, she had struggled and still struggled with certain nonverbal spells.

"It'll be one of us for now, but in a few weeks, it will be one of the others as an added challenge. You are fully nonverbal in duels, I imagine?"

"Depending on the spell."

Larry nodded. "I heard you were trained by Alastor Moody." He said and she nodded. "I worked a mission with him twice when our Ministries had to partner up, very impressive man. I am sorry for his death."

"Me too."

"I would like, if you agree, to test your skill as well." Larry said. "It would be a fun challenge to duel a skilled soldier like yourself."

"I think people overestimate the Order's power, we were not trained soldiers."

"I think you underestimate yourself, and that can be a downfall for an Auror." Larry said. "You were trained by one of the greatest and fought in a war for no reason other than it was the right thing to do. Dawlish told me everything he knew about you, Harry and Neville. You are all very impressive to me. Your boys are good at dueling, considering they've only begun training."

"They've been in too many fights for their age."

"Neville has not had as much practice." Larry commented. "I can see it in his form."

"He has his own strengths. Harry has had to defend himself since he was eleven."

Larry nodded. "Aurors will find their own strengths. Mine is tracking, I hear yours is disguise."

"It was, but not by choice."

"Maybe not but every Auror has one, that's why partners and task forces are so important. It would be very unwise to partner two together who are good at tracking but awful at interrogation."

Tonks nodded. Harry and Neville were holding against each other with ease, the spells crashing off of each other. One of Harry's Stunning Spells missed Neville by an inch, crashing into the wall behind them.

"Impressive aim." Larry commented. "Both steady and rapid. It's good."

A Stinging Jinx finally caught Harry's leg, tripping him. He fell backwards with a swear but after a second, both were laughing as Neville helped him up.

"Very good!" Larry said. "But, dueling is not the only important aspect of your job. I don't know how typical cases are for your Ministry but our criminals will use anything against us. Contact poisons, dangerous plants, invisibile traps, anything. I miss the days where we'd get simple Stunners."

"We haven't really worked on antidotes or anything yet." Tonks said. "Curses are the go-to for our criminals."

Larry nodded. "Well, we've watched them. Can I test your skills?" Larry asked her.

"I'm not the one being trained."

"Indulge an old man's curiosity. Show your trainees what you're made of."

"We already know." Harry said. "She fought with me four different times. Once on a broom."

"I'll indulge you." Tonks said, walking to the middle of the room.

Larry nodded, walking forward to face her as Harry and Neville sat. She faced Larry, watching him for any movement. As soon as his wand hand came up, she cast a silent Protego and deflected a Stinging Jinx.

She returned with two silent stunners before casting another curse. "Impedimenta!"

He was able to dodge all three, sending back a rapid-fire of curses. He was casting entirely nonverbal, which made it harder for her. She deflected what she could and dodged the ones she couldn't.

Sometimes, she would use Langlock on opponents but he didn't need to pronounce his spells, it would be ineffective. He was backing her towards a wall and she knew why, Aurors tried to back people towards walls to slow their escape. She fired off two more stunners.

She cast a silent Relashio, knocking his wand from his hand, but he easily returned a wandless curse that tripped her backwards, against the wall. He raised his hand at the same time she did, but her silent stunner hit him first, knocking him onto his back. It hadn't been strong enough to knock him out, but he took a minute to get to his feet.

"Very good, but you have a pattern." He said, dusting his robes off. "Try not to stun twice, mix it up more. But, impressive. I'm looking forward to helping you with training. Tomorrow, we'll go over contact poisons. Since you're training here, you will work a few cases later on with us and like I said, it's a common issue here. For today, how are you two on wandless curses?"

Harry shrugged. "Could be better."

"I'm rubbish." Neville said.

"Well, let's see." Larry said. "Neville, you first. Try Flipendo."

Neville looked nervous, wiping his hands on his pants as he faced Larry.

"Just focus on your hands." Tonks said. "The key to wandless magic is to ignore the wand. We learn as children to channel ourselves through it, and then we have to learn to channel our magic through our hands instead. Sixth and seventh year lessons don't give students enough time to learn it properly, it's why it's so easy to fail those lessons."

"Right." Neville said, staring down at his wand. "Uh, would it be easier if I didn't have my wand on me?"

"Your choice. Does it feel like it would be easier?" Tonks asked. After a moment, Neville nodded and held it to her.

"Alright, now focus on the feelings in your hands. Focus on the spell." Tonks said.

Neville faced Larry, flexing his hands a few times. He raised one hand towards Larry. "Flipendo!" There was a loud bang but nothing else happened.

"It wasn't quite strong enough." Larry said. "I felt a small push but nothing substantial. Very good start, though. Harry, you try. Let's see if one of you can knock me out by the end of today."

Tonks sank onto the couch with Teddy cradled against her chest. He was restless tonight, which meant she would not sleep either. They had been in France a week, and the week had gone fast.

Larry was full of praise for the group, constantly saying he was impressed with Harry and Neville's experience and skill so far. To Tonks, it felt a little overbearing, but he had taken such a liking to them, but she had a feeling she knew what he was doing. He was building their confidence so the learning would be easier. If they thought they could do it, they could learn it.

She had noticed Harry seemed a little off the last couple days, but maybe he was tired. Training could be exhausting at times, and for them, it was more intense. Larry had helped them for three days, by the end of which he had been knocked out by both Harry and Neville, leaving them his translated notes from various books in the training room. He had also taught them how to treat contact poisonings without antidotes and Tonks was planning to show them how to brew antidotes the next day.

She unfolded the letter her Mum had sent the day before, shifting Teddy so he was sitting on her lap. He was fiddling with her hair, perfectly wide awake despite the late hour.

Dora,

I have to admit I truly miss having you and Teddy around daily, even though it's only been a short time. I try to keep busy but I miss my days with Teddy so much. I have visited Remus and though he seems to be improving, he still does not remember anything and is absolutely devastated that you've left him. He's been getting visits from the capture unit, too. The questions they're asking him are horrendous. The accusations are getting worse. They came while I was in there visiting and must have assumed I was a Healer, because they didn't even ask for privacy before accusing him of murders as far back as the end of the last war! I am glad you and Teddy are separated from this situation, I foresee it getting much worse. I feel for Remus, as I've known him for so long through Sirius and I just can not believe the things being said. I truly hope it is proven false, I don't know how I'd feel if it were all true.

Bellatrix has been spotted, I'm not sure if you've heard. Please tell Neville to continue being careful. I do not know if she'll be able to find the two of you there.

I hope to see you soon if you get any breaks from work. Perhaps we can arrange a visit? Six months is far too long to go without seeing you. I can't imagine not seeing you for Christmas or your birthday in February and if they extend the trip I'll miss Teddy's first birthday too.

I have visited with Ruth and Rufus, but I am still lonely. Without your father and now without you, it is my first time truly living alone and this week has felt so very long. Ruth sends her love, Rufus says he misses you and will write when he has a chance.

Love,

Mum

She heard the door open behind her and stood, ready to apologise if Teddy had woken one of them. Harry was standing outside the bedroom door, a vacant expression on his face.

"You alright?" She asked, and Harry's eyes snapped to her. She had never seen him without his glasses before and wasn't sure how well he could see without them. "Harry?"

"Four will die."

His voice didn't sound like his own and it sent a chill down her spine.

"One by one, four will repay."

And breathe, just breathe