Deer to Me

Chapter Five

This sign was up on the bulletin board in the Common Room and was surrounded by a huddle of people almost all the time. All four of the Marauders planned on attending, as they were all keen on becoming Aurors. James wanted to be one simply because it seemed like a good route, since he was good at about everything an Auror was supposed to be good at, and because he came from a family of Aurors. Sirius wanted to be an Auror to get back at his family. Peter only because James and Sirius were so adamant about it.

Remus was the only one out of the group completely terrified about life after Hogwarts. Oh, sure, he didn't shake in his boots like Peter was prone to doing, but in his own quiet way, his friends could see that he was nervous about leaving the shelters of Dumbledore.

"Don't worry about it, mate," Sirius told him while they were going into the Great Hall for the meeting. "The ministry is losing so many Aurors anyways that they'll hire anybody who can shoot a spell."

Remus didn't look too pleased with that response as they took their seats in the middle of the room.

Dumbledore was speaking with a rather old-looking woman, but upon closer inspection, she wasn't that old. James recognized her as Millicent Bagnold, the newly appointed Minister of Magic. She was causing quite a stir in the country with her rather un-orthodox methods of dealing with dark wizards.

Next to her was Professor McGonagall and someone James recognized from graduating Hogwarts a few years ago. He remembered him because he had an unfortunate last name, something that had to do with his ass. James' heart did a dance when he saw Lily enter the room as well. He didn't know that she wanted to be an Auror; he thought that she was going to be the Minister of Magic or something. He was about to shove Remus out of his seat to make a space for her when she went and sat with the only other girl in the room, James thought that she was from Ravenclaw. He slouched.

"There aren't any Slytherins here," Remus remarked with a wry smile on his face.

"No, there wouldn't be, would there," Sirius looked around. "Ten pounds says that we'll be killing them in five years."

"Or having them kill us," James said grimly.

"Yeah," Sirius swallowed hard.

"Attention, please," Dumbledore's soft voice rang out and suddenly everyone was quiet. James and Sirius were quite familiar with Dumbledore, having gone to visit him several times over the course of their years. They respected him so much because of what he did for Remus, that they tried to never stray out of line when it came to him.

"Attention. Thank you. The Minister of Magic has called this meeting to introduce a new program that will be running here at Hogwarts. I must caution you that those who decide to go into this endeavor must understand that they may not come out of it alive."

There was a slight movement in the seats around, but James kept still. He knew what came behind an Auror, his grandfather was one of those who fought and died against Grindelwald, so none of this was new to him.

"That being said, I have the honor of introducing Minister Bagnold." The woman nodded and came up to the stand, looking out on the students before her as if she knew that half of them would not live to see their 30th birthdays.

"The Ministry has just passed a new law to initiate an early-training Auror program in the schools around the country. The Auror training program, which usually takes three years to complete, has been shortened to two and a half. The first half will begin next January, in addition to your other classes. The rest will take place during your 7th year and beyond."

"Three guesses why they're doing this?" Sirius leaned over and whispered into James' ear. He nodded. It didn't surprise him that this was going on, what with Voldemort killing off everyone left and right.

"Now I don't think that I have to warn you that this is a very dangerous job. I would advise you to write home to your parents and tell them of your plans before you sign up. Also, this does not exempt you from your NEWT exams nor is it an excuse if you do not pass them. An Auror is expected to juggle many things at once and if you cannot pass your normal schoolwork with this then the occupation is not the one for you."

She continued on about the specifics of the program and the grades that were expected of each person, but James and Sirius were in quick conversation.

"You going to ask your mum, Padfoot?" James grinned.

"Yes, that'd be a lovely letter," Sirius snorted. "Dear Mum, I've decided to completely break away from our family and become an Auror. I'll say hello to the rest of the family as I curse them into oblivion. Love, from Sirius."

James snickered.

"You gonna ask your mum?" Sirius asked and James rolled his eyes.

"Do you know my mother or not? Of course I'm not going to tell her. Dad's going to be right jealous when he finds out though. He's never forgiven Voldemort for waiting so long to come about." James whispered back.

"James, you're dad is the coolest," Sirius smiled. "What about you Moony?"

"I'll have to speak with Dumbledore in private," Remus said quietly.

"Come on, Moony. I'll bet that the Minister'll hire you," Sirius said. "I mean, she's a girl, right? Girls are so much more understanding than boys are. She'll probably think that you're cute or something and hire you on the spot." Remus looked at the severe woman and then back to Sirius. "I don't think so, Padfoot."

The assembly ended and people milled around in a group to ask the Minister questions personally. Remus, James, and Sirius hung back and waited until everyone was done.

"Minister?" Remus ran to catch her before she left the room with Dumbledore. The old man turned to Remus with his eyes slightly sparkling and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, Mr. Lupin, Minister Bagnold and I were just talking about you before the meeting."

"Is this him, Dumbledore?" Minister Bagnold eyed him. "And you say that he's trustworthy?"

"I have named him a prefect."

"Minister!" James spoke up appearing beside Remus and grinning. His father was at the top of the department of International Cooperation and his mother was also high in the department of Magical Transportation and he'd had dinner with the minister on several occasions.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," she gave him an approving glance. "Your father said I might have to look out for you at this meeting. He said under no uncertain terms was I to prohibit you from joining."

"Good, then he'd say the same thing for my friend Mo-er...Remus Lupin here," he said, nodding. "He has my highest approval."

"Me too," Sirius spoke up. The Minister raised an eyebrow at him.

"A Slytherin Auror? This is a new one by me," she cleared her throat.

"Slytherin?" he laughed. "No, I'm a Gryffindor."

"But...you're a Black, aren't you?" she looked him over again. Sirius nodded.

"Oh, and do be kind and tell my father I'm signing up when you see him," he grinned. Dumbledore chuckled and the Minister sighed.

"I suppose you want me to allow Mr. Lupin into the program as well." She nodded towards Remus who was looking rather shy.

"Yes ma'am. He's only off three days of the month, if that," Sirius shrugged. "And since you're already losing people left and right, what's to loose?"

"Much, Mr. Black. Much." She suddenly looked older than she had before. "But I will consider your case, Mr. Lupin. As you have such...strong...favor." With that, the two of them left the Great Hall, leaving the three Marauders by themselves.

Sirius let out a loud sigh and exclaimed, "Wow, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat."

"You're always hungry, Padfoot," James chided walking towards the window. Sure enough, Lily was on her way to the Forbidden Forest. "You can go, I've got an appointment to get to."

Remus made a sound of disapproval, but that was it.

Ok, Lily, what do you have to say about that? James thought, padding into the opening. Lily was pouring over a piece of parchment, but James noticed that there were no books strewn about as was usual.

"Hey," she said, looking up. "Just writing to Mum and telling her about the meeting." She read over what she had written. "Of course, I'm leaving out the whole fact that I am fighting a man who despises muggles and muggle-borns above all people so me joining is like a big target saying 'here I am! Kill me now!'" she laughed, but James could tell that it wasn't a convincing one.

"I just have this feeling that no matter where I go, I'm a target anyways, you know?" She gave him a piercing gaze. "So I figure that if I join up, I'll at least be able to protect myself a little better." She finished up her letter and signed it. Then she turned back to James.

"You know who I was quite surprised to see there?" She rolled up the parchment. "James Potter. He's so wrapped up in himself, I'm surprised that he would risk his life to save someone else. And Sirius too, I thought his whole family was into the dark arts."

Oh, how little you know me. Lily darling.

"It's kinda scary that there were only me and Emmeline for girls." Lily said. "I don't really know her all that well, I mean, we spoke a few times in Herbology, but that's it."

That's her name! Emmeline Vance. James was sure that Sirius had at least snogged her at one point.

"But you know, she's got some sense. She turned down Sirius Black when he asked her to his room one night, the only one in Ravenclaw to do so."

Ok, so maybe not.

"That Sirius Black. You know he's slept with every girl in my dorm except for me. I think he's going for every girl in the year, except for Bellatrix."

James suddenly felt sick when he had a mental image. Lily was laughing.

"Then again, that entire family is in-bred, so I'm sure it wouldn't be weird to them." She seemed to find this incredibly funny because her laughter echoed in the trees. James stopped the reeling of his stomach to listen to it. It sounded like tinkling bells to him and it made him want to have a goofy smile on his face.

"Still, that's one of the reasons why I won't date James Potter," she sighed. James shot her a look.

I most certainly am not pure-blood, nor am I in-bred.

"There's this rumor going around that James and Sirius are trying to sleep with all the girls in our year. I think the reason why James is so persistent is because I won't. You know what I mean? The grass is greener on the other side?"

Most certainly not. I want you because you're perfect. Sirius is just a man-whore.

"I don't think that I could handle it if I gave my heart to James and then find out that he just wants me to be another notch on his bedpost." She looked down on the ground. "I've never had a steady boyfriend. I want my first to be special and I don't want it to be James Potter.

But I do. James certainly had a long way to go if he wanted to gain her affections. And here he thought he was actually getting somewhere.