"You're ready?" Tonks asked Neville.
Neville nodded. "As much as I can be."
"You'll do great." Tonks said. "Trust your instincts."
"I don't think they're very good sometimes."
"You stood up to Voldemort when everyone thought the war was lost, you're more than you give yourself credit for. You can do this, Neville."
Neville nodded again and then entered the room. After a moment, a dark fog rose from the floor, turning the room pitch black.
He held his wand tightly, waiting for something to happen. The dark put him on edge. He never really liked the dark.
A spell missed him by mere inches, but Neville was able to deflect the next one.
There was a yell nearby that almost pulled his attention away, but he managed to continuing deflecting. He returned a few, but the spells began coming faster and faster, and from different spots.
He wasn't sure he could keep up much longer. Then the dread of failing filled him. If he couldn't keep up with this test, how could he keep up on an actual mission?
He'd make a terrible Auror, he was sure of it. His parents would be disappointed.
His Gran would be disappointed. She had been so proud when he said he was going to train as an Auror. He hated letting her down.
A momentary lapse in spells let Neville catch his breath and he waited for the spells to resume.
"Crucio!"
A woman screamed, the sound ringing through Neville's ears.
He tried to find the woman, to stop her pain.
The longer the sound went on, the worse it made him feel.
His hands began to shake, his heart raced.
He fell to his knees, covering his ears. He wanted it to stop.
He couldn't listen anymore, especially knowing he couldn't help.
He had no idea how long he tried to block it out. He didn't even realise the screams had stopped until someone was shaking his shoulder.
"Neville?"
Neville opened his eyes slowly, the room coming into focus. "Did I fail?" He asked, not making eye contact with his mentor.
Tonks shook her head. "I'm sorry they did that to you, Dawlish is yelling at the examiners right now-"
"Gotta get used to it, right? People are going to get tortured in front me." Neville said, trying to sound confident. He felt woozy. "Did I last the hour, at least?"
"Neville, that doesn't matter-"
"Did I?" Neville demanded, straightening up. She looked startled.
"One and a bit." She finally said.
Neville was shocked. It had felt like ten minutes, he was certain he had failed.
"Are you alright? I am so sorry, I had no idea they'd stoop so low to test you-"
"They need to make sure I can handle hearing it." Neville said. "I understand why they did it."
"I- that doesn't make it okay, Neville."
"Part of the job, isn't it?"
Tonks squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay to get mad when the job seems unfair." She said. "That's an important lesson, even."
"Thanks, teach."
Tonks dropped her hand with a small sigh. "Dawlish will want to discuss your results with you, and then you two are done for the night. Larry will make sure you get dinner, and then he'll escort you back here." She said. "I can't be at your meeting with Dawlish, I'm sorry. I got to be at Harry's, but I need to go for the mission so I don't get to be at yours, sorry."
"What are they making you do?" He asked as they left the room. "I thought you just doing some kind of test?"
Tonks shrugged. "I just found out they changed their minds, they want to see me actually do a mission. I guess it's the best way for them to know I'm qualified enough to train you two."
Neville snorted. "Three years fighting Riddle and his pets in a secret organization isn't qualification enough?"
"I'm afraid the secrecy is probably what's got them mad at me. The Ministry loves Aurors who follow the department's every demand." She said. "Dawlish is also going to ask you about the assignment. You'll do great."
"I hope so."
She gave him a quick smile. "We need to work on your confidence, I think. We'll bring back the Neville who let Voldemort set him on fire." She left him at the door to the Head Auror's office, where Dawlish was waiting at the desk. He looked mad, and Neville felt the anxiety building as he went and sat.
Dawlish waved his wand and the door shut. "First, Tonks may have already told you, usually mentors will sit in on these meetings." He said, and Neville nodded. "Unfortunately, the examiners are idiots, so she can't. Which brings me to my next point- the examiners are so completely brain dead that I wish the Ministry would finally get rid of them. Lucky for me, they are not anonymous to Head Aurors, so I did get to tell them what I really thought of the exam they made for you. I think I'm the reason they've requested that Tonks do a mission instead of an exam. I think it's better, so they can't actually torture her to see what she'll do. I'm sorry they did that to you."
"I'm going to encounter it as an Auror, I'm sure." Neville said.
Dawlish nodded. "You will." He said. "Probably a lot. You did really well, Neville. The only thing I would recommend is that you practice with more shielding charms. Deflecting is a great skill to master, but sometimes a good shield will mean the difference between walking away from a duel and not. Deflecting and shielding is the best skill an Auror can develop, you'll use less energy during duels."
"I'll work on it."
"You don't need to master everything right away. I think you and Harry are forgetting that." Dawlish said. "You'll learn a lot more when you're actually working. Trust me, training can't prepare you like experience can."
She had listened to the case debrief and began to wonder why she was the only female Auror when she had spotted at least six in the department when she had come to join the assignment. She also wondered why she had been asked to dress 'nicely', which had apparently translated to wearing a slightly uncomfortable pair of tight pants and a shirt so low cut she wouldn't have dared to wear it even as a teenager trying to get a rise out of her mother. She wondered what details of the mission she wasn't being told.
Luckily, she could stash her wand in her knee-high boots, even though she knew Alastor would probably have yelled at her for it. The pub was not the most charming spot, she noticed, and she wished she had her wand closer than her shoe. There seemed to be a huge disconnect between the romantic Paris movies showed and this one.
They were trying to find someone selling counterfeit dragon eggs. To her, this didn't sound like the Aurors' jobs, but this dragon breeding ring had been getting followed for nearly a decade, so she figured they must have done something to earn the focus of Aurors instead of the Department of Magical Creature Regulation, until she found out four different girls had disappeared in the last year and- they believed- had the Imperius Curse used on them. What happened to them after was unclear. Tonks secretly wondered how many had become meals for the dragons.
It became clear what her role was. She was supposed to lure this man out, away from the crowd and try to get information.
One of the French Aurors made a remark about her accent. At first, she thought he was mentioning it because she would stand out for not being French and it could ruin their mission. Now she knew it was because she didn't sound French, but they wanted to use it as an advantage. Apparently locals didn't get targeted.
Someone said something about her ass as she walked by, looking for their target. She ignored him.
The plan was simple. Their suspect sat at the same booth every time. She needed to sit at the bar closest to him, and make sure he heard and saw her.
Her heart was pounding. She didn't know why. She had done missions similar to this before. Find the suspect, get them alone and then the Aurors acted. She wasn't alone in the pub, there had been three more disguised Aurors stationed within an hour before she even arrived. They would be tracking her every movement.
After a while, a man two seats away from her turned to her quickly and tried to start up a conversation. She was pretty sure it was one of the disguised Aurors and even though she hadn't been told who they were, she was very sure this was her cue.
"I don't speak French, sorry!" She said loudly over the music. It wasn't too loud at all, but she needed the suspect to hear her. The man waved her away impatiently and she turned away. She was listening to whoever was closest to her, catching snippets of conversation. She had been told not to speak French to anyone, because it would give her an opportunity to eavesdrop if people near her believed she couldn't. Unfortunately, nothing of importance had been said yet.
Someone brushed behind her a little too close for comfort, their cologne overwhelmingly strong. She caught a glimpse of him, and sure enough, it was their suspect. "Pardon me, miss." He said with a wink.
He was younger than she expected but fit the description of the conventionally attractive man they believed to be luring these girls to some unknown fate.
He sat in the booth she was told he would, his eyes lingering on her for a moment. Over the next hour, she checked her watch a few times, and stole small glances to make sure the suspect was staying, until she finally stood and headed for the door.
He had watched her the last few times she pretended to check her watch and she was only outside, standing near the alley entrance, for a few minutes before he appeared. He was holding two glasses and held one out to her.
"You did not ask if you could buy me a drink." Tonks said, but she took it. She wouldn't drink it, because she hadn't needed Auror training to tell her how dangerous it could be as a woman to accept a drink from a stranger.
"I find women are less inclined to say no should I buy it without asking." He said. "What's a lovely girl like you doing out here alone?"
"I suppose my date did not think I was worth his time."
"Pity. I'm Henrie."
"Eloise."
"You are not French."
"No."
"What brings you here? Certainly you did not come all this way for a date. Did you come all the way here alone?" Henrie asked, and she shrugged.
"I thought it would be romantic to meet him, we've only spoken in letters." She said, trying to look as pathetic as possible. "It was so stupid."
"It would be a shame to waste the night." Henrie remarked. "Have you seen much of the city yet?"
"No, I haven't had a chance." Tonks said. "I was hoping to do something exciting, I heard rumors of a dragon show, but I also heard it's nearly impossible to know when they're holding them."
"What a pity to be so disappointed by a man." Henrie said. "Perhaps I can help turn your night around."
"Oh, no, it's fine. I don't want to intrude on your night." She said. "I'll just find my way back to my hotel. Thank you for the talk." She tried to hand the drink back to him, but he knocked the drink out her hand, shoving her towards the alley. Someone else grabbed her from behind and she lost her balance for a moment on the uneven stones before she was able to stomp on the unknown assailant's foot and reach her wand. She turned her back to the wall, aiming it at both men.
"Oh, a witch this time!" The man who grabbed her said. He had a thick Scottish accent- she wondered if this dragon breeding ring was international.
"Eloise, put the wand down." Henrie said calmly. His French accent had vanished, and she wondered why he'd adopt an accent that was not his own. "There's no need for such-"
"Put your wands on the ground." Tonks said. "Both of you."
"How did you know we are not non-magique? Both types frequent this pub. You could have just broken a very important law." Henrie said and then a strange look crossed his face. "You're an Auror. Very clever disguise, I almost wouldn't have known. From the London Ministry, aren't you? Because they know that I know the French Aurors and they know what happened to the last one they sent after me, but you don't know and I don't know you, so they really thought they could trick me."
"I'm sure whatever you did is absolutely horrible and you're very proud of it." Tonks said. "Wands, now."
A spell flew by the three of them, crashing into the wall near Tonks' head. She dipped to avoid the flying stone and felt someone grab her again. She was shoved face first against the wall, someone's arm across the back of her neck. "Do you want to know something fun, Auror?" Henrie whispered in her ear. "The Ministry can arrest me, but they'll still have my boss to worry about."
Tonks moved quickly, smacking the side her head against his face, knocking him back as Aurors began appearing around them. She scrambled for her wand, straightening up in time for Henrie to collide with her, knocking her back against the wall. This time, the back of her head hit the stones, a sharp pain radiating through her skull. A quick jab of her wand to his chest threw Henrie back as another Auror had rushed forward to join their fight.
The other man with Henrie had disappeared, but Henrie did not get the chance before three Aurors were on him.
"He's not the one in charge." Tonks said to the Auror who stopped next to her. "He said so."
The Auror- she was certain his name was Phillipe something but had not been able to remember all of the French Aurors names yet- looked towards Henrie and the two Aurors who were explaining his arrest to him. "That's because this is not the man we were looking for tonight." He said. "He is on the list, but you are right, he is not the leader. We are hoping he will give information. Is your head alright?"
Tonks nodded. Really, it hurt, a lot. "I've had worse, it'll heal."
The Auror nodded, pulling his sleeve up to reveal the face of his watch was glowing. "You are wanted back at the Ministry."
