Chapter 9 – My Training Day
"Wake up!!"
"Why??"
"Because you're meant to be leaving!"
"Why??"
"Because it's the beginning of your training!"
"Why??"
"Because you applied to do it"
"Why??"
"I'm not getting into this, Ginny…"
"Why??" said Ginny with a smile and a giggle.
"I thought you were the morning person!" Harry said, shifting in bed slightly.
"You have a good memory, dear" she replied with a sigh. She lifted herself out of the bed, and stretched. Throwing open the curtains, she laughed as Harry squinted and moaned in the sudden light of the September morning.
"Tea?"
"That would be wonderfully lovely" said Ginny, who had managed to drag herself out of bed.
"Looking forward to your day?" asked Harry.
"Nervous…starts with an introductory seminar on 'The Magic of Magical Law'" she paused "I think that's meant to be a joke, but you never can tell with academics…"
"It's going to be boring here without you" he said.
"I'm only going away during the day and some evenings; it's training! I've got lectures and seminars from 9 – 5, and then workshops 6 – 7. Doesn't take long to apparate now does it!" Ginny said, pulling off her pyjamas and walking to the bathroom, turning on the shower. "Besides, you work 9 - 6 most days anyway! You can cook for me!"
"Cook? You joking?"
"No, now leave me to my shower. Go make my tea!"
"Now tea I can just about manage." Replied the disgruntled husband, who donned the nearest dressing gown, and went downstairs.
oOo
Ginny had finally made up her mind. She had applied to three magical law colleges in England, one in Holland and another in Italy. Slightly luckily, she had been successful in her application to a law college located in North Wales, a nice secluded area of the country, which provided excellent cover for a Magical Further Education College. She had chosen Law because of an interest in books instilled in her by her friendship with Hermione, a friendship that had led onto catastrophic results in Ron's opinion, who felt that books were not necessary for anything much, that is unless of course they had the word Quidditch in the title. Several decisions had to be made, for example, where would Ginny live during her training, what would Harry do while she was training, and most importantly, what about their marriage? Two years was a long time, and only getting 5 weeks off each year, this was going to be difficult on a very new marriage. However, the answer that Ginny had given to these questions was quite simple:
"I'm living at home. We work the same hours, well, I work one more than you every day, and every five weeks once in a while, I'll be at home on my own studying, at the Burrow studying, or with my dear brother, cooing over his daughter."
That settled that problem.
Harry poured the boiling water from the kettle in to the tea pot, and waited for the toaster to finish. He reached into the fridge, poured a small amount of milk into two mugs, replaced the milk, and grabbed the butter as he did so. Stirring the tea in the pot whilst grabbing the hot toast from the toaster, he executed a much practiced morning routine. With the tea poured, the toasted buttered and jammed, he made his way back upstairs, hovering breakfast in front of him.
Ginny had just finished in the shower, and was in the process of drying her long red hair when Harry re-entered the room. He walked up behind her, placed the breakfast on the dresser in front of her, and kissed her shoulders, before being hit lightly on the head, with an admonishing look.
"Let me get dressed, and besides, you had your chance. You sleep too much." She said with a wink, sipping her hot tea, and taking a bite from her toast. "Pass me my hair brush, please."
With the hair brush in hand, Ginny began to rake it through her hair, a process that Harry grimaced at every morning. 'Surely that has to hurt!' he thought to himself. Ginny had taken to drying her hair magically (it was far too long bother faffing around with a hair dryer), but brushed it by hand. Hermione had been part of the influence on this one: Ginny had loved how different and natural her hair had felt after Hermione had brushed it for her on the wedding day. Shortly afterwards, Hermione had introduced her to a Muggle shop called Body Shop, which sold all sorts of wonderful things which Ginny loved at first site. Unfortunately, Harry's bank balance learned to hate this shop rather quickly.
"Where is it you have to go?" Harry asked from the bath.
"Aberystwyth first. Then I have to find the bus from the station to take me to the college"
"Bus? I thought this was magic law?"
"Well, there has to be someway of getting me there. All of the others used Portkeys, but I've just been given a picture of the town, a train timetable, and a road plan from the house. So they're obviously expecting people to use Muggle transport methods."
"Oh right. Hope you find it alright! You'll let me know when you arrive won't you?"
"Yes, my love. Don't you worry."
"Thanks" said Harry, smiling to himself in the bath.
"Is the paper here?" Ginny asked, getting up from the dressing table, and tying her hair back into a pony tail.
"Not yet I don't think. Didn't see it when I went downstairs, toast was more important at the time…"
"Didn't the Wizengamot vote on the electoral changes yesterday?"
"I think so, if so, it could mean we actually get to vote this year!"
"You know the ministry, any excuse not to implement a change!"
Ginny, having finished dressing made her way downstairs to the kitchen, not seeing a paper, decided to collect together what she needed. She found the letter detailing where she needed to be, and what she needed to bring:
Dear Mrs Potter,
Congratulations! You have been accepted onto a place in the study of the Law of Magic at MFEC Aberystwyth. This letter will give you information about where you need to be, when you need to be there, and what exactly you will need to bring with you.
All candidates are asked to arrive at Aberystwyth Railway station by midday on 27th September 2003. From here, you will be transported via coach to our Campus. After the 27th, you may arrive at MFEC by any means you wish, whether by Floo, or by Apparition, but we do ask new students to arrive together for purposes of induction.
The Law Department has recommended the following core textbooks for this coming semester, which are listed below:
An Introduction to the Law of Magic – Albus Dumbledore
Examples and Practice of Magical Property Law – Gerald Peacock
The Law of Magic – A Dictionary of Terms.
The Dictionary is a useful reference tool, and will help throughout your course. The two other books are exclusively for the modules you will be studying this semester.
Please be aware that this academic year runs from the 29th September 2003 until the 14th July 2004, with your Year 1 finals being held in the first 2 weeks in July. Progression to the second year is conditional on passing these exams.
Congratulations once again on your successful application, and we look forward to seeing you on the 27th September.
Geraldine Brydale
Admissions, Magical Further Education College - Aberystwyth.
"Harry!" Ginny yelled up the stairs.
"Yes…?" Harry said suspiciously.
"Can you pick up my two books from the bedroom? I need them for today. Oh, and also! While I'm out, can you put some washing in? Preferably that Quidditch kit that's been lying around all week…"
"Yes, dear…" Said Harry, thinking how marriage so easily turned into slavery.
oOo
Around two months after Ginny had left for her course, Harry was beginning to get restless. He and Ron had been spending a lot of time together and had been, behind their respective partners backs, been planning their future careers. This harked back to an idea that they had both had a long time in the past about becoming Aurors. After all that had happened in the Ministry just before the fall of Voldemort, a lot of trust had to be regained for Harry, and Ron had found himself having a hard time convincing Harry that it was not the place it was before; after all, how could it be? Hermione was working there for a start…
Elections were fast approaching for the Ministry of Magic, which had had a major shake up in leadership policy since the end of Voldemort's reign. The Minister of Magic and his faction in the Wizengamot were voted in by witches and wizards every 4 years. Despite this, no organised parties had sprung up, and many of the everyday administration staff in the Ministry remained the same, whoever the Minister of the day happened to be. At this moment, it was war veteran Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had been the author of the changes, and who had also been the only Minister since he was given Emergency Powers at the end of the battle to do what was necessary to restore trust in the Ministry which the Wizarding population of England had lost in the run up to the battle. He therefore had his work cut out for him, but it was clear that the wizarding population were confident that he could make the necessary changes.
One particular area that Kingsley was determined to change was law enforcement and Aurors. He needed this area of the Ministry to be full proof and away from the meddling of outside influence. In the time of the Death Eaters, the law enforcement wing had been the worst affected by Voldemort's infiltration. Therefore, there were a lot of openings for law enforcement officers, and Aurors. The plan that Ron and Harry had had was to apply to the training scheme for the Aurors, and see what happened thereafter. Neither of them wanted to become plain enforcement officers, although Ron hinted that after conversations with his father, that if either of them applied for enforcement officer roles, they would be declined and immediately transferred to the Aurors.
It was thus that late on a November Thursday afternoon, Harry received a letter stating that he had unconditionally been accepted into the Auror training programme, and would be assigned a camp and regiment as soon as a training position came available:
Dear Mr Potter,
We welcome you unconditionally to the Ministry of Magic Auror Training Scheme. In this letter we hope to give you an idea of what you will need in the course of the training, and what you will be expected to do in the course of the training.
Training:
The training involves tests of competence in advanced defence and attack spells, flying ability (brooms and carpets only), apparition, and basic transfiguration and potions skills. These will be undertaken in the first two weeks of your training. Assuming one passes the initial phase of the training, one will move into the second four week phase, which will include training in Auror specific attack, defence and health spells. This four weeks will be followed by a week of tests to ensure competence of the new knowledge. After this initial seven weeks, there will be a week's respite where you will be allowed to return home. Following this week, you will be taken to Blandford Military Camp (Muggle Ministry of Defence) to learn the basics of Muggle weaponry, and the spells you can use to defend yourself against them. After this week at Blandford, you will then be assigned a regiment based on what you excelled in during training. Following this, you will be posted to your first location (please note that this may not necessarily be in the United Kingdom).
Postings:
These can be in the United Kingdom, but other locations include Eastern Europe, the USA, and South America. For new recruits, however, it is unlikely that you will be posted abroad.
Regiments:
You will be assigned into one of six regiments, depending on what you are best suited to:
1st Ravens Regiment of Bangor – Ground attack and defence
2nd Hippogriffs Regiment of Edinburgh – Air attack and defence
1st Aural Regiment – Communications
1st Badgers Regiment of Paisley – Ground backup and support
1st Eagle Regiment of Boston – International Regiment
2nd Eagle Regiment of Berlin – International Regiment
Assignments:
These will be announced as and when the come up as well as your weekly duties. You will be expected to always be in a state of readiness to attend an assignment. Failure to attend an assignment without due reason will be treated as a serious disciplinary matter.
Details of your initial training will be sent to you as and when there is a place available.
Sincerely,
Willius Bentarck
Senior Leader ATU (Auror Training Unit) 1st Ravens Regiment.
Now all he had to do was tell Ginny...