To Love and Quidditch

Chapter 2: The Aurors

The makeshift classroom for Concealment and Disguise was empty when Cat arrived on Monday morning. At least it appeared to be, though a trained ear could pick up soft breaths and the rustle of unseen fabric. Over eight years of friendship with the Marauders, however, had made Cat's ears highly trained to pick up those sounds and hence, she sat down on one of the chairs that really was empty.

"You better come out from under that thing before Moody arrives," she said calmly while taking out quill and parchment from her bag.

Two dark-haired heads appeared out of thin air.

"You're no fun," complained James and adjusted his glasses.

"I wasn't aware that we were here to have fun."

"Oh, it's going to be one of those days."

James managed to struggle out from the folds of the invisibility cloak and left Sirius grinning head floating alone above the chair he was sitting on.

"Remember when we could fit all four of us under the cloak?" asked Sirius as he too got out of the magical garment.

"Yeah, I think that was before you got six and a half foot tall," responded James and stretched his back. The two boys had been sitting in a very uncomfortable crouching position to be able to fit under the invisibility cloak. Cat watched their friendly banter with a slightly amused expression.

"What did you mean with 'one of those days' anyway?" she asked. James shrugged and folded the cloak into a tight bundle that he tucked in his bag.

"I mean one of those days when you seem to have decided beforehand that everything we do is childish and irresponsible."

"And it isn't?"

James sighed deeply and turned to Sirius.

"Can you please talk to your friend, Padfoot?"

"I thought she was your friend too. How are you, Sapphire girl?" Sirius had recognized Cat's irritation with them at once and for a moment he wished that James could be a little more sensitive about other people's feelings. But then again, Cat was an expert at hiding what she really felt. Now she rubbed her temples in a way that indicated that she was coming up with a headache, but she still smiled reassuringly at Sirius.

"I'm okay. It just got late yesterday night. And then... Mum was upset this morning because Dad wasn't home. I had to promise to check up what had happened as soon as I got here."

"Oh." James seemed a bit embarrassed and threw a quick glance at Sirius, not knowing what to say. Marsha Davis's condition was another one of the things James preferred not to talk about.

"Is she getting better at all?" asked Sirius, ignoring James' gaze.

"The Healers say it's probably just the shock. Her mind isn't ready to accept the fact that Dad is dead. They say she'll recover if she gets enough time," said Cat, sounding like she retold a story she didn't really believe in.

"What did you tell her this morning?"

"I said that Dad had an assignment and that he would come home in the end of the week. At least she won't start worrying much until the weekend."

The door to the room opened again and a young woman with reddish blond hair entered, a little out of breath.

"Moody's on his way. Isn't Brian here yet?"

James smiled at the newcomer, happy to be able to change the topic of conversation.

"Nope, Mad-Eye's going to flay him alive if he's late again."

Brian Carrington and Rae McKinnon were the other two Aurors-in-training at the Auror Headquarters. That made them five, a number that had never been so high before. Usually, the tests and trials for Auror training were exceptionally hard; it was very seldom anyone passed to achieve the training. Now there were five, which said something about the desperate need for competent Aurors. Even though James and Sirius had been over their heads with the great news, Cat had applied to the tests mostly on a whim. Her poor Potions results had made her positive that she would fail, but she had been accepted to her own great surprise and dismay. "But my last name is Davis, what else could they do?", she used to say. James and Sirius had tried to reassure her that she had quite a reputation of her own that had nothing to do with the glorified picture the Wizarding world had got of the famous Auror Roman Davis, but Cat took it all with her usual sarcasm.

Rae sat down on an empty chair and started to fumble in her bag. She had been a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts and was one year older than James, Sirius and Cat. It was hard not to like her and the way she cared about everyone she knew, even if her concern could grow a little bit annoying at times.

Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody arrived shortly after Rae. The old Auror had his usual grumpy expression and his magical eye spun wildly as he entered the room and surveyed his students.

"Where's Carrington?" he asked at once.

Rae made a grimace.

"He's on his way," she said in a way that indicated that she had in fact no idea where her fellow Auror trainee was.

Moody snorted loudly and turned his magical eye to the door a moment before it was flung open by a tall skinny boy with thin blond hair. He was out of breath like he had been running and once he got inside the door he managed an excuse with panting voice.

"Sorry-I'm-late-it-won't-happen-again..."

"One of these days you're going to end up dead, Carrington," growled Moody.

"I'm sorry sir."

"Being an Auror is not a holiday."

"I know sir."

"You'll be on time in the future or you're out of here."

"Yes sir."

"Will you sit down? You've kept the lesson long enough for your friends who are here to learn something."

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

Brian hurried across the room and took his seat beside Rae who was shooting angry glances at him. The thin boy's embarrassment didn't lessen when James gave him a teasing thumbs-up behind Sirius' back, something that was not lost on Moody and his magical eye that could see through everything from roofs and walls to the back of Moody's own head, and other people's bodies as well.

"Are you finished, Potter?" he growled. James sat up straight, turning towards the scarred Auror.

"Yes sir!"

"How anyone thought your lot was fit to be Aurors is beyond me. Constant vigilance!"

Brian jumped in his chair at Moodys cry, but the others were used to the unannounced shouts by now. Moody cast a glance around the room before finally taking out his wand and pointing to the blackboard where the word 'Polyjuice Potion' appeared.

"Now, if you're ready to begin I want to see how you've managed last week's assignment. Potter you're first, and I don't want to hear anything about invisibility cloaks."

James grinned and picked out a piece of parchment full of notes.

"The Polyjuice potion will allow a person to change into someone else for a short period of time. It consists of lacewing flies, leeches, powdered bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed picked at full moon and boomslang skin," he began, reading from his notes. "Not to forget a bit of whomever you want to turn into. It's supposed to be added last, just before you drink it."

Cat made a little grimace, which caused Moody to turn her way immediately.

"If I wanted you to brew me this potion till next week, could you do it?"

"No," was her calm answer.

"And why not?"

"Because it takes about a month to brew, according to the literature."

Moody appeared pleased with the answer and turned to Brian.

"Carrington, what's the most important restriction of the Polyjuice potion?"

Brian cleared his throat a little bit nervously.

"Eh, the effect only lasts for an hour, so you'll have to drink more if you want it to, eh, last longer." His voice grew a little bit more confident. "And of course you need to be able to get the, eh, body parts of the person you want to change into."

"That's correct. At least you seem to have done your homework. You're going to devote the next four weeks to this potion, do research about it and not to mention brew it properly. Understood?"

They all nodded, and Cat groaned quietly. Potion brewing was not her primary talent.

"Good. Our laboratory is at your disposal. I would suggest that you take some time to research the dangers of brewing the potion incorrectly."

They spent the rest of the lesson setting up cauldrons and preparing ingredients in the Auror laboratory a few rooms down the corridor. The time seemed to fly away. Sirius had always liked Potions; he enjoyed working with his hands and produce something, while Cat spent most of the time cursing quietly under her breath. She was good with the theory and could easily reel off all ingredients and properties of a specific potion, but when it came to brewing it she lost her interest. Sirius found it a bit amusing, since she was an excellent cook, but Cat explained with a deep frown.

"When I cook I'm allowed to improvise and try out new things. In Potions everything has do be done exactly the same way every time. It's boring, there's no space for experiments."

"You leave the experimenting to the Potions experts, Sapphire girl. We don't want another Exploding Fluid accident."

James and Sirius both laughed as they remembered the lesson in their sixth year when Cat and Remus had managed to blow up their entire working table.

"It was supposed to explode," said Cat sourly. The incident in question had made even the unusually patient Professor Winther loose her temper, and Cat and Remus had been forbidden to work together in Potions for over a month.

Around noon they were all quite hungry and it was a relief when Moody finally announced that the lesson was over and they could leave.

"Potter, Black and Davis, stay here for a moment, will you?" said Moody as they packed their things to leave for lunch. James, Sirius and Cat stopped on their way out and waited for Rae and Brian to leave the room.

"We're having lunch in the cafeteria," said Rae as she went. "Come and join us when you're finished."

The three friends promised to come after shortly and were soon alone with Moody.

"There is a meeting on Wednesday evening for everyone," he said. "The usual place. Make sure to spread the word around to your lot, will you?"

They all promised to do so. Except for Laura, the whole gang had joined the Order of the Phoenix last year, very proud to be trusted with the great responsibility it meant.

"Lucky it's not Thursday," said Cat. "Laura would have my head if I missed the other meeting."

"What meeting?" asked Moody curiously, like he couldn't stand someone having a meeting that he had no knowledge of.

"Wedding planning," said Cat and picked up her bag. "Laura is taking it quite seriously."

Sirius cast a glance at James, who seemed to have forgotten the previous nights conversation completely.

"That reminds me, James and I wanted to talk to you about the wedding," he said, shoving his elbow hard into James side. "Right, Prongs?"

James winced and made a face.

"Yeah, right." He returned Sirius' glance with one of annoyance. "If you have a moment over some day. It's not really that urgent."

"Yes it is," said Sirius firmly.

"Come and see me tomorrow afternoon then," said Moody, eyeing the both of them. "Now, go and get something to eat. You've got a lot more to do today."

They left for the Ministry cafeteria on the ninth level to join with Brian and Rae, who had already occupied a table and were having sandwiches and pumpkin juice.

"What was that about?" asked Brian curiously. Neither he nor Rae had any idea about the Order of the Phoenix even existing.

"Nothing important," said Sirius lightly and changed the subject quickly. "What are we up to this afternoon?"

"We have duel training, don't forget about it," reminded Rae.

"Right, three o'clock isn't it?" asked Brian.

"Two o'clock," answered Cat absentmindedly while she looked through the Tactics assignment for the next day. Brian sighed deeply.

"Why can't I ever get it right? Moody hates me."

"Moody wants you to stay alive," said Cat. "Timing is important for Aurors."

"I'm going to fail the training, I swear."

"You don't have any problems with the lessons, you just need to pay more attention."

"Easy for you to say," muttered Brian irritably, still embarrassed over Moody's telling-off earlier.

"Knock it off, Carrington," said Sirius, ready to jump to Cat's defence at once. He didn't even think about it by now, it came naturally, despite all her protests that she didn't need his protection. Something Roman Davis had told him years ago was constantly somewhere in the back of his head; "Catherine is a lot like me. She is stubborn and she won't accept help from anyone. Anyone but you, Sirius. She trusts you more than anything, and I know she has every reason to. You see, she will think that she has to be strong and take care of everything when I am gone. Don't misunderstand me; I know perfectly well that she is capable of doing so. I am only worried that she will take on too much. She will need someone to lean on, someone to draw her strength from, and I hope you will do me the favour of being that person." Those words had seemed so ridiculous then, in the crowded Hogwarts corridor. Roman Davis had been one of the rocks they had built their childhood on, the large Auror with the dark beard and the warm eyes under bushy eyebrows. The very possibility that he would not always be there had been impossible to imagine. Now, he was gone, and Sirius missed him more than he wanted to think of. Roman had been a great source of support after Sirius had ran away from home at the age of sixteen, one of the few people who had always believed in him, the Black sheep of Gryffindor house. Roman had been right though, Cat was a lot like him, and she was even now unconsciously taking a great part of her father's role on herself, despite a lifelong wish to walk her own way and be her own person instead of just 'The Auror's daughter'. Roman had been right about her needing support and Sirius was firmly resolved to give it to her, no matter how much she glared at him from across the table.

Brian looked a little bit sheepish; it had obviously not been his intention to lash out at Cat in that way.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his plate. "I didn't mean..."

"I know you didn't. And Sirius didn't mean to be rude either, right Padfoot?"

Sapphire blue eyes fastened on Sirius, a deep fire burning in them.

"Right," said Sirius lightly. "And don't worry so much about old Mad-Eye. His bark is worse than his bite."

"Like someone else I could mention," snickered James, getting a friendly swat on the back of his head from Sirius, a deep sigh from Cat and two completely clueless glances from Brian and Rae.

"We'll see about that next full moon," whispered Sirius in James' ear, low so that the others couldn't hear.

They finished their lunch and went back to the Auror headquarters to do some Potions research before the duel training. James, Sirius and Cat shared a cubicle next to Alice Longbottom. There were place for a small desk and chair each, and a bookshelf, and it felt incredibly crowded even with only the three of them there. They studied for about an hour and then they went over to Brian and Rae's cubicle in the other end of the large room that constituted the Auror headquarters.

"Time to go," said Sirius, glancing over the wall to the cubicle. Rae was already collecting her things while Brian looked up from his desk in surprise, like he had no idea what Sirius was talking about.

"Duel training," reminded Cat and looked in to the slightly roomier working place. She was far to short to peek over the wall, even when she stood on her toes.

"Right! I almost forgot! Thanks!" Brian shuffled the parchment he had scribbled notes on into a drawer of his desk and rose from the chair so suddenly that it fell over with a crash. Rae glared at him, but said nothing.

"Well, at least I'll be on time," said Brian and shrugged before picking up the chair. "Come on then, let's see what Dorcas have planned for us today."

Dorcas Meadows was the Auror trainees' duelling instructor, a tall stern witch with greying hair and a long scar over her left eye. She was also one of the most important members of the Order of the Phoenix, and Sirius often wished that he one day would achieve the same reputation in duelling as she had. Even though the duel training was compulsory only for the Aurors-in-training, there were usually other Aurors present at the training sessions. Today, there where quite a few extra visitors, among them the newly qualified Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Frank and Alice Longbottom. Frank Longbottom had succeeded Roman Davis as James' and Sirius' supervisor and the young Auror took his job very seriously, often showing up on their lessons even when it wasn't necessary.

Dorcas had her wand already out when she addressed the assembled group; it was very seldom anyone saw her without the slender wooden stick in a tight grip.

"Today we will split up in groups", she said, eyeing the people who stood in a half circle around her. "I want all trainees around me over here, the rest of you can join if you want or continue with last week's exercises."

Frank and Alice joined with the Aurors-in-training while the other Aurors went over to the other side of the large room and started practicing various hexes and jinxes. Dorcas surveyed the group with her sharp eyes.

"Now, what do you know about Dementors?" she asked when they all were gathered around her.

"They guard Azkaban," said Rae with a shiver.

"They're creepy," whispered James to Sirius.

"Which will do you great good to know when you're facing one, Potter," said Dorcas, having picked up every word. "What are their characteristics? Davis?"

"They feed on positive human emotions," answered Cat with a dark expression. "They suck all happiness out of you, and they can drain a wizard of his powers if he is exposed to them for long enough time. Even Muggles can feel them, though they can't see them."

"Excellent. Anything else?"

Sirius searched his memory from the Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. It had always been Remus and Cat who had excelled at those classes, but at least he remembered the most horrible thing about the foul creatures.

"They can suck the soul out of you," he said. "It's called the Dementor's Kiss. It leaves you alive, but your soul is gone, you're just sort of...empty."

"Good, Black," said Dorcas with a slight smile. "You're all correct. If you get near a Dementor they will feed on all your good feelings and happy memories and leave you with nothing but the worst experiences of your lives. However, there is one way you can defend yourselves against them. Can anyone tell me what it is?"

"The Patronus Charm," said Cat promptly. "It uses the positive thoughts of its caster to produce a Patronus that can drive the Dementor away."

"That's right. Have any of you ever tried this spell before?"

The Longbottoms both nodded and both Cat and Rae raised their hands.

"Did you succeed? Frank and Alice, I know you are both able to produce a corporal Patronus. What about you girls?"

"There was just some kind of mist," said Rae. "I tried to think of happy things, but it didn't take any real shape."

"I've got some kind of bird. Dad taught me the spell some time ago, but I've never really had any chance to try it," explained Cat.

"Be glad you haven't," said Brian. "I wouldn't want to go up against a Dementor for a thousand Galleons."

"And you're not alone, Carrington," said Dorcas. "But there might come a day when you will be forced to deal with these creatures, so I want you to practice the Patronus Charm today. Frank, could you please demonstrate how it's done?"

The young Auror stepped up in front of the others and took out his wand. He concentrated for a moment and then spoke the incantation.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery mist poured out of the tip of his wand and slowly took shape into a transparent life-sized lion.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Dorcas. "You see it's not hard. You just chose a happy memory, concentrate on it and pour it into your incantation. Now, let's see you try."

Just as Dorcas had said, Sirius didn't find the spell extremely hard. He thought hard about a specific happy memory, and decided for the day he had left his family and James' parents had welcomed him into their home like their own son. Sirius concentrated hard on the smile on Mrs. Potters face and the feeling of comfort he had experienced for almost the first time in his life. He spoke the incantation and was positively surprised that the silvery vapour took a shape on the first try. It turned into a huge, shaggy dog with eyes gleaming like stars, and Sirius almost started to laugh.

"Hello Padfoot," he whispered quietly to his Patronus, too low for anyone else to hear. James had also succeeded with the spell and watched his silver griffin with delight.

"They're wonderful," said Rae, beaming at her unicorn that galloped around the room. Cat seemed to have some problems, her Patronus was indeed some sort of bird, that much was obvious, but it didn't turn into a clear shape.

"You have to concentrate harder, do you have a really happy memory?" asked Dorcas, trying to help her out.

"Yeah, I think so. I was thinking about Mum and Dad. It's just... I don't feel so well today. Maybe I'll just practice more some other day", answered Cat. She sounded weary, thought Sirius, and he wanted to ask her if she really was okay, but he decided to wait. Cat didn't like when people fussed about her, particularly not in public.

"Maybe it's best," agreed Dorcas. "Just make sure you practice properly. You might find yourself dealing with Dementors sooner than you know."

The older witch sent a significant glance at James and Sirius, and Sirius found himself wondering what the Order meeting on Wednesday evening really was about.

To be continued...