15 | LIFE AFTER HOGWARTS

- SUMMER AFTER 7TH YEAR

"Why couldn't we ask the boys to help?" Alice panted as she collapsed on the newly unwrapped couch.

"Because they can't decorate for their lives," Lily emphasized, whacking the dust off the last pillow.

"Thanks for helping me move into my new flat," Carina said gratefully, sinking to the floor as beads of sweat rolled down her neck.

"I'm surprised you found your own place so soon," Lily told her. "We're still preparing for our first day of work, and here you are already on your own two feet!"

"Yeah," Carina laughed lightly, feeling a twinge of guilt that she still hadn't told the girls about her family. She didn't not want them to know- she just didn't want to have that particular conversation. She'd considered numerous times asking the marauders to pass it on to them, but she knew the girls wouldn't take kindly to that. She'd tell them eventually- perhaps on a rainy day when she needed a good cry.

"By the way," Carina turned to Alice, hoping to distract them. "Will you do the charms for my wards?"

"I'm sure you could do the wards yourself," she laughed. "Your runes are much better than mine."

"I've already done those, but could you do the integral cooling and heating charms? Maybe some sound charms as well? If you leave it to me, this place might bake me alive in the summer," Carina admitted sheepishly.

"Of course," Alice rose with a flourish. "You even get my family and friends discount."

Alice had taken an apprenticeship as a charms master immediately after Hogwarts, her talents in the field shining through. Lily, on the other hand, had finally gotten her acceptance to the training program at St. Mungos. Life after Hogwarts was bizarre; they were like baby giraffe finding their footing for the first time.

In a few weeks' time, Dumbledore would be introducing her to the infamous Alastor Moody.

And Carina was terrified.

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- 6 MONTHS LATER

"That was atrocious, Lennox!" Moody yelled at her. "You'd think after months of training you'd be able to at least carry one effective duel, but you're like a sitting unicorn out there! You'll die at this rate, mark my words!"

A few months ago, Moody's harsh words would've had her quaking in her shoes.

Now, she merely rolled her eyes. "I told you not to take me, Moody," she repeated for what had to be the thousandth time. "I'm absolute shite at field missions. I thought you learned that by now."

"Never again," Moody muttered.

A pair of laughing voices echoed off each other.

"See, you always say that chief," a tall, striking wizard said with an amused smirk.

An identical man stepped out beside him, a matching grin adorning his face. "But you take her anyway," he finished.

"Shut it, you two- no one asked you," Moody growled at his deputies.

Carina looked between her team members with growing amusement before she burst out laughing. Moody was glowering at her while the Prewett twins sported matching expressions of confidence, ease, and good humor.

She remembered the first time she met them. She'd actually been terrified. Dumbledore brought her to the headquarters for the Order and introduced them all to each other before taking off, leaving her to the team of wolves. Moody had eyed her up and down distastefully before returning to his lecturing about their most recent strategies for surveilling suspected properties being used as hideouts. It was clear he wouldn't even give her two knuts of time until she proved her worth. What reason did he have to coddle the recruit that Dumbledore had all but forced upon them? The dark-haired Prewetts assessed her with passing interest before quickly returning their attention to their supervisor.

Carina swallowed her insecurities, forcing herself to approach the table that the three of them stood around. The surface was covered with three large swaths of parchment, each with what appeared to be blueprints of various estates.

"So we'll keep a rotation of five members surveilling each house around the clock until one of them shows any sign of movement. Then we can consolidate..."

Moody's voice turned into a buzz as Carina assessed the maps closely, quickly going through the numbers in her head.

"That's not right," the words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them.

The entire room went quiet.

"Excuse me?" Moody asked frostily.

"I-" Carina stammered before clearing her throat. "It's just that your rotations are inefficient. These estates don't all need the same number of scouts; in fact, some of them may need vastly more or less."

Moody raised an eyebrow, unconcerned. "You got that after spending five minutes looking at the plans we spent two weeks configuring?" He asked dryly. "You? The cub who somehow managed to get placed in the most senior team in the Order?"

Carina looked between the bristling Moody and the unhelpfully silent Prewetts in uncertainty before pulling her wand briskly.

"I'll show you," she told them. With a quick flick of her wand, she'd conjured a cloud of three-dimensional designs of the estates on the paper. She missed the look of surprise etched on the others' faces as she gestured to the models. "These are all to scale, and as you can see, they're very different sizes, and they all exist in very different landscapes."

"Right," Moody agreed reluctantly.

"Do your scouts have a definitive escape from every estate, or are there any variables that might trap them there?"

"Everyone gets an emergency portkey," Fabian told her curiously. "In case there are anti-apparition wards."

"Good, so that won't be a factor," she nodded. "Now I know instinctively it makes sense to assign more people to the bigger estates, but if you look here," she pointed to the models. "The rough terrain in the surrounding areas gives you enough coverage so you can accomplish any scouting with as few as three people. In fact, with Nott Estate, in particular, the incline of the hill the manor rests upon makes the probability of being spotted within the trees in the distance next to nill."

The three stared at her expressionless.

"Now, if you take the small townhouse you plan to surveil, there are a lot more variables at play there. If you're planning on having the same rotation of people checking that area regularly, there's a certain probability they'll be recognized after a few weeks, if not by the Death Eaters, then the townspeople."

The Aurors watched avidly as she pulled a blank piece of parchment over, picking up a quill as she began to scribble down equations and numbers.

"The town has approximately two hundred occupants, yes?" She mumbled, scribbling it down. "And the house being surveilled is near a pub, which means at least thirty regular customers over the course of roughly a month," she continued under her breath. "And no cover or nearby terrain..."

Carina finally stood, exhaling contemplatively. "Frankly rotations would make no sense at this site. Each time, you'd have to send a new person because the probability of the same scout being recognized on their second visit is one out of twenty. At that rate, you'd run out of scouts to send to the site within weeks if you plan on it daily- not to mention the townspeople would get suspicious at having strange visitors to a seemingly unimpressive village nearly every day."

"So, what's your recommendation?" Moody asked frankly.

"I would place a permanent scout to live there- someone who could blend in with the crowd and wouldn't mind a medial job. Perhaps as a server at that pub- it's an ideal location to keep tabs on the happenings of the nearby houses. They'd have to limit their contact to Order members in public and have a seemingly innocuous background to not draw suspicion, but it would certainly be the safest way."

Carina glanced at the others, unarmed by the way they simply stared at her. Had she done something wrong? Was this not what she was meant to do? Dumbledore hadn't exactly given her a bloody job description!

"Leave it to Dumbledore to find the youngest swot out there and recruit her," Moody finally snorted.

"Beg your pardon?" Carina asked in confusion.

"I suppose there's a method to the madness after all," one of the twins smirked at Moody.

"Madness?" Carina mumbled. Were they talking about her or Dumbledore?

"Yeah," the other twin smiled at her reassuringly. "It usually takes people years to get up to Moody's team. It took us five years of training and promotions! And you're already here, and you're not even an Auror!"

"Well, I'll warn you right now," she told them decisively. "I'm absolute shit at combative magic. I would not trust me to have your back in a duel."

Moody had barked out laughing in an uncharacteristically carefree moment. "At least the chit isn't good at everything."

It had been nearly six months since that one disastrously awkward first meeting, and their team had pulled themselves together in that time. It only took Carina a week to get comfortable asserting her voice. Partially, it was because they simply had to trust the accuracy of some of the complex calculations she did, based on the specific details of each scenario. The Prewett twins turned out to be a great relief. Moody was gruff and prickly, but the relatively easy-going manner of the twins taught her to take his moods in stride.

Gideon was the roguish one of the two. His flirtatious winks and jibes directed at literally everyone could bring laughter to anyone's day. She'd never forget the day he offered Professor McGonagall a mouse he'd caught at one of their debriefings. Carina thought she'd piss her pants, trying to keep a straight face as McGonagall accepted the mouse by the tail with an appalled but tempted expression. He was also the hotheaded one of the two, speaking with little filter and living life diving headfirst into everything.

Fabian was the calmer, more laid-back of the two. He frankly reminded her of Remus, minus the studiousness. He liked to observe and deliberate based on the interactions and social cues he saw. He was vibrant and the center of attention, but he also picked up the most minute details from the outskirts of the room. He was also kind- wonderfully so.

"Now, if you're done trying to get me killed," Carina shot off sarcastically at Moody. "I have a lunch date at Diagon Alley!"

"Oooh, our little Angel has a date?" Gideon trolled her.

"Oh shove off, how'd you even know about that nickname?" Carina rolled her eyes.

"A little bird told me," Gideon grinned. "It was an insightful day of training all those rookie Aurors."

Carina muttered under her breath, swearing she'd kill Sirius the next time she saw him.

"Hey Gid," Fabian drawled with a smirk. "I was thinking about picking up a drink at Diagon Alley, what do you think?"

"Why brilliant idea, little brother," he turned to Carina with gleaming eyes. "Of course, we should safely escort Carina to where she needs to go. Merlin knows she's terrible at defense."

"You prats," Carina rolled her eyes. "Now you decide to remember I can't fight for my life?"

But the twins would hear none of her protests as they sandwiched her between them, disapparating off to Diagon Alley. They walked her into the cafe she was meant to go to, searching the place curiously.

"Carina!" A hand waved her over.

Carina grinned as she caught sight of Alice and Lily, seated near the window. She strode over to them, feeling the twins follow on her heels.

"Hi, guys!" Carina reached over to pull each of them into a hug. "Sorry I'm late, we got held up."

"Not a problem," Alice eyed the tall twins behind her with a growing smile. "I see you have plenty to keep you busy."

"Alice!" Carina cried, embarrassed.

"Nothing to be shy about, love," Gideon smirked behind her. "You know we keep your hands full."

"You must be the Prewetts," Lily laughed, looking between the three of them.

"At your service," Fabian tipped his head graciously.

"Really," Gideon insisted with a wink. "Anytime for such lovely ladies."

"All right," Carina turned around, shooing them off. "They're both already taken, so put your tongues back in your mouths."

"Alas," Gideon heaved dramatically, his hand covering his heart. "At least little Angel here keeps us as busy as we keep her."

"Get out!" Carina insisted, a reluctant laugh leaving her.

When she finally took her seat, Lily and Alice were staring at her with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"What?" She asked them indignantly.

"Hot damn, Carina. You never told us the Prewetts looked like that," Alice bombarded her.

"Like what?" Carina shrugged. "Besides, you know what they look like- they were seventh years when we were first years."

"Like candy on a stick?" Lily echoed appreciatively.

"Mmm..." Alice hummed appreciatively. "Those jaws- I haven't seen anything that chiseled since my family's trip to the Roman ruins!"

"And those uniforms!" Lily pointed out. The Prewetts wore the standard Auror's uniform- fitting black trousers and a regal dragonskin vest over whatever shirt they wore. But their rank as deputies afforded them beautifully ornate cloaks that were secured with a silver chain along their chest.

"Not you too!" Carina groaned.

"Hey! Just because we're taken doesn't mean we can't appreciate your prospects," Alice defended valiantly.

"They're not my prospects, they're my co-workers," Carina rolled her eyes.

"Really? Then what was all that energy? You do realize they made it sound like all three of you have been together? At the same time?" Alice wiggled her eyebrows.

"Good Godric," Lily murmured, turning red on the spot. "Imagine two wizards like that."

"Oh dear Merlin," Carina groaned, dropping her head to her hands. "Stop, stop, please stop. It's not like that! Gideon flirts with anything alive, it's his nature. And Fabian just plays into it when he can."

"They honestly remind me a bit of Sirius and James back in the day," Lily admitted. "Or maybe they'd be Sirius and Remus?"

"The marauders definitely never treated Carina like that," Alice pointed out gleefully.

Carina faked a gagging motion. "Can we not go there? I'm trying to eat."

"Fine, be boring," Alice rolled her eyes. "But fully expect me to say I told you so when you finally give in to one of those two fine men."

"Or both," Lily pointed out devilishly. Carina gaped at Lily in surprise. If only she could tell Hogwarts Lily how much she'd change in the future, the girl she'd known would've laughed in her face.

"To Carina's men," Alice toasted.

"Carina's men," Lily laughed with a small clink of her glass.

"To hoping you two get laid soon, so you'll lose interest in my life," Carina parried.

Both witches grinned at their friend from behind their butterbeer jugs, their eyes relaying silent promises that would never happen.

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A/N

That was so much fun to write!
I was afraid the post-Hogwarts chapters would get too serious with the war and everything, but I'm happy with the tone I'm building.

What do you guys think?

~ADHARYN