A/N: Hello all! Loooooong time reader, first time author. I am curious to see how much attention this gets since I am a new and it's 2019. So, that being said, please review! I am doing to his to get some words and critique under my belt for an eventual writing career.

I have the story fully outlined, but this is the only chapter I've written so far.

This story contains: action, mystery, Harry dealing with ptsd, and being a tiny bit of a man whore. There will be some sex scenes, but nothing super graphic (thanks to M rating). Not slash (but other future stories of mine may be).

As Harry Potter's boots clapped against the marble floors of the Ministry Lobby in an all out sprint he waved his wand in front of his face, "Tempus". 9:02 shimmered into place. "Shit, shit, shit, shit"

He was late. Of course he was late. He was ALWAYS late for Curses and Hexes. And Auror Pompel relished in it.

Hastening past the lift Harry instead swung around the corner for the rarely used stairwell. He was always harassed in the lift and today he just didn't have the time.

His trainee robes flared out behind him as he skipped every other step on his journey upwards from the atrium. From the 8th floor all the way to the 2nd left him more than out of breath.

He practically slid to a stop before the door. There, eerily reminding him of Mad-Eye Moody and Umbridge's old office, was an eye situated to the door. He waved his trainee badge in front of it and the eye swiveled dizzyingly before blinking twice. The door unlocked with a click and he let it slam shut in his wake.

Wiping his sweaty forehead with his robe sleeve, Harry unintentionally plastered his hair over his scar and eased the door open. All his fellow auror trainees were sitting in their seats and taking notes over Auror Pompel's lecture. Harry quietly shut the door and shuffled through the desks to his seat next to Ron.

Ron gave him a smirk and Neville leaned in from Ron's other side to give Harry a shake of the head. They all knew he was in for it. If it were anyone else Pompel would scowl and harass. But Harry was in for the "Boy-Who-Lived-To-Defeat-Voldemort" treatment.

Auror Pompel started his sauntering journey towards Harry's direction without pausing his lecture. Harry quickly tried to catch up to the subject matter. It was biologically life ending curses today and there were only a handful, fortunately. He pulled out his notes from his readings the night before wishing for the thousandth time that Hermione were in the program instead of back at Hogwarts finishing her education.

Pompel was a lanky, pale man with a perpetually running nose. Harry had a theory that he personally blamed Harry for his whatever condition he suffered from. Perhaps he thought he was allergic to Harry to himself. More likely he was one of only a handful of Auror's who considered Harry unworthy. Merely someone who didn't fully understand just how well prepared and experienced he truly was for the Auror program.

"Misssssster Potter," Pompel loved to draw out the s's in his nasally voice, "Just which curssssse would you expect to end the victim'sssss life in dayssss rather than mere minutessss, thussss drawing out the ssssssuffering and pain before ultimate death? Hmmmmm?"

Pompel clearly felt he had the upper hand and didn't even bother to gaze at the frustrated and baffled Harry. "Um, the curse that would take a long time to kill it's victim….." began Harry while he scrambled around in his brain and notes, "would be…"

And Merlin must have been smiling upon Harry that day as he lent him a savior in the form of Marvin Madrigal. Marvin was a fellow trainee who was almost always right next to Harry, gazing at him in adoration, and stumbling over himself to impress him. At times, his quirky behavior and fan-like adoration saddingly reminded Harry of a certain camera toting Creavey brother.

Harry didn't mind his nerdy little shadow at the moment, however, as Marvin casually and inconspicuously pushed his own notes in Harry's direction while tapping his quill next to one of the curses listed on the parchment. Amongst names like 'blood boiling curse' and 'the brain gauger curse' was 'intestine sloughing hex'. Once seeing the name Harry remembered in his readings that that particular hex would slowly remove the inner linings of the victim's intestines and would take days, even potentially weeks, to kill its victim. All of which were spent in a vomiting and bloody diarrhea haze.

"The Intestine Sloughing Hex, sir" Harry spoke out. He was only just able to keep his voice from sounding too proud and mighty….barely.

Auror Pompel's eyes briefly flicked at him before giving a faint role as he swept away from Harry and back to the front of the classroom. "Indeed. And next time you're thissss late for classsss Potter, I'll let Auror McEroy know and she'll provide you with plenty of reasonssss to never be late again. Now, the blood boiling curssssse is one of few who…"

Pompel droned on and Harry shivered at the thought of Auror McEroy giving him "reasons". She was the non-magical combat expert. Her expertise was in seeing just how much sweat a trainee could create before they passed out from exhaustion. When she targeted a trainee for "special treatment" it quickly became a lesson no one would ever want to repeat. Ron gave Harry a slight kick under his desk to get his attention, "You all right, mate? Late night with Bones or nightmares?" his hoarse whisper fortunately not carrying in the room.

"Fine. Just slept in," Harry responded back while arranging his parchments and quills and beginning on notes. Without Hermoine always next him like in school, Ron had taken up the totem for his girlfriend on being Harry's personal worrier. He wasn't sure if Ron was genuinely always so concerned or if he was tasked by Hermoine to provide daily "Harry reports". He could picture it easily, Hermoine keeping track in a log book every missed meal and bloodshot eye.

Perhaps it was real, best friend type of concern because Ron was still looking at him with a creased brow. He started to lean towards Harry to obviously continue his line of questioning when he received a jab from Neville on his other side. Neville shushed them both and jerked his head towards the front of the class in an attempt to keep them all in Auror Pompel's good graces.

Harry had been surprised, to say the least, when he found out Neville would joining them in auror training. He expected his sweet, fiercely brave friend to have had enough action after the Battle of Hogwarts, but in fact Neville seemed to be making it a personal mission to see the end of the war all the way through, including getting the remaining Death Eaters and scum in Azkaban. Perhaps after that he would pursue his love of Herbology.

While Ron and Neville went back to paying attention Harry leaned a little to his other side and whispered to Marvin, "Thanks so much, mate. I would have been a goner." Marvin's face lit up at the attention and stammered out a "uh…uh….of course, H….h….ha….Harry! Anytime!". It had taken weeks for Harry to get Marvin to use his first name instead of calling him "Mr. Potter" all the time. It obviously still felt foreign to the squirmy little guy.

The rest of the class was spent in diligent note taking, no practicum for that lesson. Those particular curses and hexes not ones that could be demonstrated lawfully on even transfigured rats.

Afterwards the trainees were headed to their combat training with McEroy when a folded parchment flapped down the hall and fluttered around Harry's head. He deftly plucked it from the air without rumpling its wings and unfolded it. All mail that arrived by owl to the ministry was sent on to its intended recipient in this way. The untidy scrawl and slightly smudged and dirty parchment made him smile. Hagrid. But he quickly realized that some of the smudges were tear marks and his eyebrows scrunched in concern.

Harry,

I hate do bother you, but I'm needing your help. My Angel is missing! I can't find her anywhere and I just hate to think what could of happened.

Please come to the school as fast as you can. I don't want to be telling the official people that she's gone. They'd likely cause a stir.

-Hagrid

Harry handed the letter to Ron who handed it on to Neville after reading it. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Any idea what this 'Angel' is?" asked Ron.

"No clue. But if he doesn't want to alert the department of magical creatures, then I can only imagine. Is it too much to ask that Hagrid keep a small, harmless pet?" Harry groaned while rubbing the back of his neck. Perhaps Harry's help with a certain dragon, AND hippogriff, AND giant brother had given him the track record of being Hagrid's go-to-guy in magical creature related emergencies. "I guess I'll head on over there and find out what's going on. Neville, do you think Luna could help this…thing….whatever it is?"

Neville nodded, "She can probably at least point you in a direction, but she's overseas right now looking into some special breeding colony of lethifolds. I doubt she could come in person". Luna and Neville had remained an item for the last few months despite the long distance that Luna's work demanded. Something that Harry and Ginny were unable to make work. Maybe if there wasn't so much other baggage hanging over Harry's head they would still be together. As it was, they stayed in touch but both knew it was for the better that they didn't rekindle what had been before the horcrux hunt.

"I don't suppose I can skip McEroy's class can I?" Harry pondered aloud with winces from both his friends.

"I doubt it, mate. I'd say go to class and go to Hogwarts during our lunch break. I'll go with you," Ron offered while clapping Harry on the back. For Ron to give up eating lunch to stay by Harry's side spoke volumes of his concern for Harry. Or perhaps he was merely wanting the chance to see Hermoine. "So why were you late this morning? You said you slept in. Rough night again?"

"Oh, you know…" Harry didn't want to say more and he didn't think he'd have to. Nightmares were a very regular occurrence. His friends all reassured him that it was normal and they'd go away with time. Several of them had their own nightmares to deal with, but none of them had walked into a forest with the purpose of dying, so the skeletons in their closets were a different variety.

"Yeah, I know," Ron replied with a half smile of reassurance. "At least McEroy will make you too exhausted to think about it too much." Harry snorted. He actually didn't mind her class for that exact reason. When he was hitting a punching bag or sparring with a partner, it helped ease his mind and release some of the tension.

The three young men quickly changed into their workout gear which were fortunately simple sweat pants and t shirts, then proceeded to the training mat. Harry and his fellow twelve trainees had quickly slimmed down and bulked up under McEroy's tutelage. They were several months into their training now and while they certainly had learned a lot, she was not letting up and kept throwing new and more advanced moves at them. Fortunately for Harry, he was paired with Susan for sparring after stretches and warmups were over. The familiarity with each other's bodies leant for a certain ease between them that meant they didn't hold back.

Harry and Susan squared off against each other and gave small bows before assuming fighting stances. Susan's long red hair was in it's perpetual braid down her back and wrapped hands clenched in preparation.

"So Potter, did you get enough beauty sleep? Think you're ready to take me on today?" Susan verbally sparred first. While she may call him Harry behind closed doors and between the sheets, in training it was all professionalism.

"I'm always ready for you, Bones" Harry hit back while thrusting out his first jab towards her face. Susan raised her forearm in an easy block and their feet continued their soft shuffle on the mat. Harry lived for these moments after a hard night. The smell of sweat and rubber from the mats, the sounds of rustling cloth and landed hits were a soft accompaniment to the louder "Ha"s and "Tay"s of his trainee partners voices.

Susan suddenly came at him in full force with several jabs and hooks and Harry quickly fought back with elbows and knees, bringing their battle into closer quarters. Susan held both her arms onto the top of his head while striking out with her knee towards his groin forcing Harry to momentarily twist his torso. But he quickly twisted back square with her and with both her arms still up, wrapped his own arms are around her sides and pulled his right leg around the back of her left, bringing her down to the mat.

"Nice Potter!" McEroy's bright voice called out over the symphony of the class. Bringing a sweet smile to Harry's lips.

"Lucky move" Susan said in an effort to wipe the grin off Harry's face but it only made it grow. She rolled her eyes and smiled back. His joy was infectious.

"Will that luck continue tonight?"

"Perhaps" Susan smirked. Her eyes sparked as her pupils dilated a notch at the thought. Harry bit his lip back in anticipation as he held his hand out to help her off the mat. The warmth of their connected palms spread to his chest and down to his lower belly. He had to remind himself to breath.

"H….ho…how about me next? H….Harry?" Marvin's shaky query broke Harry's attention and he dropped Susan's hand as he turned his head towards Marvin. He puffed out a breath in a moment of hesitation. He was always a bit nervous sparring with Marvin who despite McEroy's rigorous training remained thin and stiff. Non-magical combat was definitely not Marvin's strong suit. "B…b….but go easy on me. I did help you with Pompel, right? That tyrant."

Harry nodded his head and chuckled. "Tyrant is right. You saved my ass today."

"Oi! Madrigal! Leave the celebrity alone and spar with me! I could really use an easy win today!" the voice of Oliver Rivers grated on Harry's nerve. Marvin winced and gave a look of apology to Harry before preparing to shuffle towards Rivers.

Rivers had gone to Hogwarts the same year as Harry and had been sorted into Ravenclaw. He didn't remember much about being in class with Rivers, but ever since coming to the academy it seamed Rivers definitely remembered him.

"S..s…sorry Harry" Marvin said and started his shuffle towards Rivers when they saw sparks fly in the air.

McEroy was holding her wand the air to signal the end of class. "Alright trainees! Shower up and head to lunch! I better see all of you back tomorrow ready for action. I may just have a little surprise planned for you."

Half the class groaned while the rest showed mild curiosity. While sometimes actually fun, some of McEroy's "surprises" were just an introduction to a new form of trainee torture.

Susan gave Harry a saucy wink and said "See you tonight" while he and the rest of the guys headed towards the men's locker rooms.

Taking a moment under the hot water, Harry let his tired muscles relax. He knew he was headed towards a brisk fall walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts to meet with Hagrid, so he wanted to gather all the warmth he could.

"Hey Mr. Celebrity, where are you headed for lunch? I want to make sure I can avoid all the swooning fan girls and actually get decent service," Rivers jarring voice broke through his peaceful thoughts. Harry simply rolled his eyes, not rising to the bait. He didn't have to anyways.

"Jealous, Rivers? I would think following Harry around and picking up his fan girls would be the only way you'd get a date," Neville sneered in his defense.

"Don't you worry about me, Longbottom. I do just fine all on my own. And I can even get sane ones, unlike some people I know," and that was the last comment out of Rivers mouth before he had himself in a headlock in Neville's arms and Harry, Ron, and even Marvin's wands pointed at him.

Rivers quickly realized that he had made a grave mistake.

It was one thing to tick off multiple Auror trainees. But when three of those trainees were battle tested already and one had even killed a dark lord….well….Rivers face was pale.

"What did you say about my girlfriend?" Neville whispered in Rivers ear.

"Better be careful what you say, Rivers," Harry cautioned. But secretly he was itching for Rivers to give them more of an excuse. The prat deserved to be taken down a notch.

"ACK", Neville loosened the chokehold slightly so Rivers could speak, "Sorry…..Longbottom" and Neville let go.

"Don't ever talk about Luna again." were Neville's parting words as he stormed from the locker room.

"I'd listen to him, Rivers. Not only do you not want Neville on your ass, but Luna is a forceful witch. I certainly wouldn't want to be on her shit list," Ron said. Harry and Ron finished dressing and left as Rivers sat still wrapped in towel and clutching his achy throat.