Til The End

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‘Til The End

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The first Prefect meeting of the year took place two days after the term had started. At 8:00 in the evening, Cho, along with Zachary, Padma, Terry, and Stefan, made her way to the empty office one floor directly above the Great Hall. On the way there, they met the Gryffindor Prefects, with an excited-looking Hermione Granger walking at the front. Zachary left the Ravenclaw group to greet his girlfriend, 6^th year Gryffindor Prefect Angela Snow, and gradually, the two groups homogenized into a big group. Together, they arrived at a fantastical tapestry of a griffin, a unicorn, a phoenix and a dragon and waited. A moment later, the Head Boy, Slytherin Carl Warrington, came sweeping down the hallway. Charisse followed behind him, waving at Cho and rolling her eyes at Warrington’s back.

“I saw that, Weston.” Warrington said blandly, not even bothering to turn around. “All Hail Warrington,” he spoke calmly to the tapestry. Hermione managed to choke back a laugh. The Hufflepuff Prefects, who had just come upon the scene, did not. Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbott, the youngest of that particular group, immediately started snickering amongst themselves. The tapestry, however, did not laugh. It rolled up to reveal the entranceway to the Prefects’ office. One by one, they filed in, the Slytherin Prefects who were the last to arrive entering before Charisse tapped the tapestry with her wand and it rolled back down into place.

“All right. What is to be discussed this week?” Hermione spoke up immediately as soon as everyone was seated.

“You mean, besides the fact that Carl should change his last name to ‘Lockhart’?” Charisse muttered quietly to a giggling Cho.

“Kindly do not compare me to that useless bint, Weston.” Warrington seemed to have the hearing of a fox as well as eyes on the back of his head. Angela Snow raised a dark eyebrow.

“But a ‘bint’ is a girl.”

“That’s my point. But I’m not. If any of you ladies have any doubts about the issue, I will be happy to remove them.” Warrington said in a placid voice, raising one eyebrow very slightly. “However, now is not the time. Onto more substantial things: Johnson,” he turned towards Angelina Johnson and the other Gryffindor Prefects, “I don’t think it would be too much to ask, for you to tell that Weasley twit boyfriend of yours and his twin brother not to dispense any more of those damnable charmed sweets to Slytherin First-year students, would it?”

“I’ll try my best.” Angelina replied. Warrington narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t say you’ll ‘try your best’. Make them stop. I’m bloody sick of seeing canaries in the dungeons. Tell them that if they don’t stop, you’ll stop shagging them. That should do the trick.”

“S-shagging THEM?!” Angelina looked outraged. Warrington shrugged.

“Whatever. Just make sure it’s dealt with. Next issue?” He looked expectantly at Charisse.

“We have been asked by Headmaster Dumbledore to set up a tutoring program for the younger students, 4^th year and under, so now we have to find out who is free on which days at which times, and what everyone would be willing to tutor others in.” She reached into her book bag and extracted several sheets of parchment and a box of sugar quills. Handing everyone a sheet of parchment and a sugar quill, Charisse continued, “Several of you might be competent at a variety of things, so please put down the one that you think you are the best at, followed by an alternate one. Afterwards, sign your name at the bottom, and I shall set up a schedule.”

Soon, the slips of parchment were collected. Charisse read them through, making notes on her own sheet of parchment. Finally, she looked back up.

“All right. Here is what we have. Monday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00, we have Justin Finch-Fletchley and Dean Thomas for Muggle Studies. From 9:00 to 10:00, we have Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger for Arithmancy. Tuesday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00, we have Hannah Abbott and Joshua Silverman for Herbology. From 9:00 to 10:00, we have Moira Flint and Stefan Ackerley for Defense Against The Dark Arts. On Wednesday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00, we have Maeve Lexington and Janet Branstone for Divination. From 9:00 to 10:00, we have Angela Snow and Zachary Turpin for Charms. On Thursday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00, we have Carl Warrington and myself for Potions. From 9:00 to 10:00 we have Terry Boot and Cyrus Chilton for Astronomy. On Friday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00, we have Cho Chang and Nathaniel Drake for Transfiguration. From 9:00 to 10:00 we have Padma Patil and Blaise Zabini for Ancient Runes. Saturday afternoons from 5:30 to 6:30 we have Angelina Johnson and Samuel McKinnon to have a special class for flying. That leaves Luke MacDonald and Maria Green to supervise the OWL preparation study hall for 5^th year students on Sunday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00. All right? I will send this information to the teachers, and they can inform their classes of when tutoring sessions are.”

Warrington, who had been looking at the table that Charisse had drawn up on the blackboard and making his own notes, spoke up once more. “Now, here are the times for Quidditch practice, which involves several of us present here. Monday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00, Gryffindor. Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00, Ravenclaw. Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:00, Slytherin. Thursday evenings, 7:30 to 9:00, Hufflepuff. This doesn’t conflict with any of your tutoring schedules. Chang, Johnson, McKinnon, inform your teams.”

Everyone copied down their pertinent information. Then, Hermione Granger raised a hand. “How do our rounds work out?”

“They work out as they’ve always done for the past 100 or so years, Granger.” Warrington replied, not looking up from his notebook, on which he was scribbling down Quidditch tactics. Hermione gave an exasperated sigh.

“You did not answer my question.” She growled. Warrington ignored her, muttering something about Hawkshead Attacking formation to himself.

“What we generally do is have at least one Prefect from each house making rounds every night from 8:00 to midnight. You can decide which of you will go for that night amongst yourselves, depending on how busy you are or what other things you have to do. However, every Prefect has to log at least one night a week, and any extra time you do will earn you five points per night, provided that you keep your grades up.” Cho explained to the younger girl. Hermione nodded gratefully.

“All right. Now, we have to decide the passwords for the Prefects’ bathrooms. I assume that you all know where they are?” Warrington, seemingly done with his Quidditch planning, once again addressed the Prefects. Everyone nodded. He jerked his head towards one end of the office. “Boys, we’ll discuss it over there. Girls, you go to the other end. Of course, I know that there will be people of both genders, Prefect and otherwise, shagging in both bathrooms within two weeks, but right now, we’re to keep a semblance of secrecy and separation.” Saying so, he led the male Prefects to one side, as the girls followed Charisse to the other.

Five minutes later, after Cho and the others had decided, amid much laughter, on “Warrington is a Pillock”, the two groups reconvened once more. Charisse and Carl made a few closing statements, and the meeting was adjourned. The Prefects re-grouped with their respective housemates and filed out of the office. As she headed towards Ravenclaw Tower, Cho saw Carl Warrington put an arm around an alarmed Charisse as the two of them walked towards the Head Boy/Head Girl quarters and remark, with a lecherous grin, “Our password is ‘Professor Delacour is a shaggable piece.’ What’s yours?”

* * *

On the 10^th of September after dinnertime, Cho and the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team headed out to the Quidditch pitch. Cho was in a good mood that day. Over the summer, she had saved up her allowance money, and sold her Comet 260. With the money she got from that transaction and her savings, she had bought a used Nimbus 2000. The handle was a bit scratched in places, but the broom was still in fairly good condition, and a big improvement speed and performance-wise on her old one. This would be the first day she flew on it during practice.

Within minutes of their arrival, several Ravenclaw students had showed up for tryouts. Unfortunately, only one of them, 5^th year student Su Li, had brought her own broomstick. Cho, after a few moments’ hesitation, offered up her Nimbus 2000 for the new students to try out with, after Zach had kindly cast an unbreakable charm upon the handle.

Chaser tryouts came first. The first one to make an attempt was 4^th year Judith Alexander. She was a fair flier, and dodged the bludgers very well, but she also dodged the Quaffle when it was thrown at her. After her, 5^th year Serafina Moon tried out. She certainly caught the Quaffle, but flew too slowly, even on Cho’s fast broom, to be very successful at the passing and group maneuvers required for being a Chaser. Finally, Su Li stepped up, politely declined Cho’s offer of her broom, saying that she was far more used to her own, and managed to score twice in ten minutes while flying on a Cleansweep. Cho grinned as Su landed and proffered a hand to the younger girl. “Welcome to the team!”

Beater tryouts took a shorter time. There were only two people trying out, and 5^th year Kevin Entwhistle easily got the position. He grinned when the team congratulated him, and told them that he had learnt how to play American Muggle baseball one summer while visiting an aunt. Cho thanked everyone for trying out, told Kevin to get a broomstick for himself if at all possible, and as the rest of the students headed back inside the castle, she led the now-complete team in a practice.

The new broomstick certainly improved her performance. After catching the golf-ball that they used as the snitch in practices within 15 minutes, Cho discussed strategy briefly with her team, then ended the practice. After taking a brief shower, she headed back to Ravenclaw Tower. She needed to write to Roger and tell him about the new and quite possibly improved Ravenclaw House team.

* * *

“Again!” Auror Marshall Steele roared. Roger stood up slowly, trying to ignore the burning pain in his back. God, this was hell! He was already getting beat-up, and he had not yet even become a full-fledged Auror yet.

He had started training exactly three months ago, on the last day of June. They had learnt the curses and countercurses. He had become more than adept at dueling, the fast reflexes and accurate aim honed by years of Quidditch making him one of the best of the ones who just joined the Auror guild. But that was one-on-one dueling. Now, things were not so simple and straightforward. Now, Roger faced his trainer in front, and someone else attacking from the side. Two against one, for the Death Eaters might well just do such a thing, not giving the unfairness of it any additional thought. The first time, he had managed to hold off both Steele and Underwood for a whole ten minutes, until he made the mistake of letting his eyes leave Steele for a moment. In that moment, the trainer had fired a hex at him that had thrown him ten feet backwards and slammed him to the ground.

The curt, silent mediwizard on site had given him a perfunctory check, and nodded towards Steele, indicating that he had no broken bones or other serious injuries, and was therefore able to continue with the brutal workout.

But then, he was not the only one, and not even the one in the worst shape. It had taken Steele and Underwood ten minutes before they could bring him down, which was a better time than most the others could say. He was not even veryseriously injured.

He drew his wand, brushed back the sweaty hair from his brow, and narrowed his eyes, facing his opponents and bowing quickly. Almost before he had raised his head from the bow, Underwood fired a hex at him. He barely dodged out of the way, firing a hex back at that trainer as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Steele approach silently, wand drawn. Right. This was just another Quidditch game, and he was facing bludgers from both opposing Beaters. He turned his body very slightly, so that he would be able to pivot at a split second’s notice, and continued to face Underwood, keeping Steele within his peripheral vision at all times. He saw Steele raise his wand a fraction, and just as Steele began his incantation, Roger fired a strong hex at Underwood, whipped around, and yelled “STUPEFY!” at Steele.

A crash told him that his spell had been successful, and this time, he learnt his lesson. He did not keep his eyes fixed upon Steele to admire his handiwork, but turned immediately back to Underwood, and not a moment too soon, for Underwood cast a concealment charm upon himself.

“Revealus!” Roger aimed his wand at where Underwood had been last, “STUPEFY!”

“HALT!” The laconic mediwizard on the scene spoke out. “Ennervate.” He pointed his wand at the two Aurors, as Roger watched, panting. It had not been so bad while he was actually dueling, but now, the pain from the throw he took had returned with a vengeance, and moreover, he felt completely drained after using so many spells. He stumbled towards the nearest wall and leaned against it, trying to catch his breath.

“Davies!” Steele barked. Roger turned back towards his trainer with effort. Were they going to do this again?!

But Steele kept his wand in an unthreatening position. There was a curious gleam of approval in his eyes. Underwood was outright smiling.

“Come with us.”

Confused, Roger followed as they walked out of the open space that they used for training purposes, and back into the building. Steele and Underwood walked briskly, and he struggled to keep up. Finally, they reached an office, and Underwood opened the door, gesturing for him to enter. Steele sat down at the desk, and opened up a drawer.

Steele seemed to find what he was looking for, and took it out, leaving it face-down upon the desk. He turned back to Roger. “You’ve done well today, boy. I’ve also been watching and monitoring your actions closely these past few days. You’ve always gone over what was required, and even though we’ve pushed you to the limit, you’d always gotten back up. And today, you’ve done what none of those others out there could have done. No...I don’t mean managing to take down the two of us. Those others, in time, will hopefully be able to do that as well. But you managed to do that after the first duel.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Steele chuckled slightly, “You’re welcome. Whatever driving force is behind your motivation, she must really be something, eh? Now, that’s a girl that you wouldn’t find at every turn.”

“What?!” How did he know that?!

Steele chuckled again, “It’s obvious, isn’t it? You’ve that sort of avenging spirit in you. If you weren’t at least in part doing this because you either want to vindicate or protect someone who is special to you, I’ll be damned.” He laughed for a moment at Roger’s slack-jawed face, then turned back to the sheet that he had taken from the desk drawer, pointing his wand at it. A silver spark shot out, turning into a stamp at the bottom, and then, Steele and Underwood quickly signed it.

Steele handed the parchment to Roger. “It’s your certification. You, Roger Davies, are now a full-fledged, certified Auror. Underwood will go down and register you later today. Congratulations.”

After an ecstatic round of handshakes and thanks, Steele grinned at the younger man. “Go home and rest, you’re done for the day. Tomorrow, you’ll start researching Dark Wizards. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check to see if those others can be whipped into shape.” He left, robes billowing behind him.

Roger stared at the certification in his hand for a moment, then a smile that threatened to split his face apart appeared at the corners of his mouth. A moment later, he disapparated with a pop.

He Apparated back into his flat, and promptly passed out in exhaustion on the couch. Nor did he awaken until dawn the next morning, when the tapping on his window indicated the arrival of another letter from Cho.

* * *

Owl from C. Chang to R. Davies, 1 October

Roger,

Yes, Quidditch is going famously well. I daresay that with a bit more practice and understanding of the finer points of the game, Su Li and Kevin Entwhistle can become quite good at the sport. They both fly very well, and Kevin has placed an order for a Cleansweep Seven, due to arrive a good two weeks before the first Quidditch match (Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin...wish us luck!!).

Prefect meetings are...well...very interesting, to say the least. Head Boy Warrington has not ceased being his usual smart-arsed self, although he is really not that bad. Huh, I never thought that I would be saying this of a Slytherin, and a rival captain to boot! But, really, he is probably a slightly better captain than Flint...but then again, just about ANYONE would be...After the last meeting, he stopped me in the hall and informed me that if the Slytherins won the first match, we should change the password to the girls’ bathroom to “Slytherins are the best shags”!!! I MUST win...and then, perhaps HE should change the password for the Prefects’ office to “Carl Warrington can kiss my Ravenclaw arse”!

I find myself quite enjoying tutoring the younger set in Transfiguration, and Professor McGonagall stopped me in class yesterday congratulating me on doing a fine job. Supposedly, Nathaniel Drake and I have brought up three 2^nd Years’ marks up by ten percent. It’s nice to know that I’m doing something well and useful. The research project is going well...I’m nearly through with reading about the relevant theory.

My grandmother has gone back to China. Supposedly, they have had someone new start training as a Mage, someone who insisted upon it, despite the fact that she (yes, a girl, too!) was several years underage. However, despite her youth, she has shown especial promise, and already, they are rather unsure of what to do with her. So, my grandmother has gone back to train her personally. Hmm, I hope to meet her someday...perhaps she will come here and help out with the cause when the time comes. I hope so.

Well, that is all the news I have for now. Hope Auror training is going well! Keep in touch and tell me how everything goes!

Yours,

Cho

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