Post by Albus Severus Potter on Dec 28, 2021 19:06:42 GMT -7
don't speak too soon.
june, 2026
GRADUATING FROM AUROR TRAINING WAS SORT of anticlimactic for Albus. It was still permeated by the bitter swirl of Hogwarts destruction, where so many minds of Aurors and trainees alike still drifted aimlessly. They were all there to fight some kind of 'good fight', but Albus just felt as if he were ticking a box. He enjoyed the work, would even say that he was pretty good at it. But, it felt no different from training. Not as a hand was clapped across his back, and he was given his official Auror badge. No longer dressed in the drab smoky grey of a trainee, and decorated by a polished official pin to indicate his official status.A function hall at the Ministry had been selected last minute to host the graduating trainees. Speeches were made, declaring that 'only a fair few' lasted the full duration of training. There was even a moving, sepia scroll of rotating trainee faces. The ones who had not made it were crossed out, as if they were dead or something. Albus snorted into his bubbling glass of fizz, feeling ridiculous about the whole ordeal. Punishingly, he had wondered briefly if his father had been subjected to the same painful fanfare. Spotting a fresh silver platter of drinks coming towards him, Al necked the last of his flute and traded it in for a new one.
Around him, he spoke briefly with the other excited graduates. Despite the circumstances, everybody else still managed a smile and some enthusiastic chatter about partners and possible assignments. There was even some fumbling disappointment, that perhaps the missions would not be as high stake with the dismantling of Elaine's operation. There were even family members in attendance, all gathering for photographs at the back wall. Albus had very pointedly neglected to tell his family about the function. And yet, just as he was stuffing a funny looking French hors d'oeuvre into his mouth he felt the hush carry across the room.
A mumble at first: "...Harry Potter." Carried in the air like a curse. Albus froze, a pit of dread opening in his gut as the food went to dust in his mouth. He swallowed harshly, a piece of greenery getting stuck to the side of his throat so that he had to clear it. "Is that Harry Potter...?" There it was again, a chorus of different renditions travelling down a line of revellers as chatter picked up again in earnest and bodies parted accordingly. "I can't believe he's-"
Heads turned and turned and eventually the graduate in front of Albus turned around to tell him excitedly, "Harry Potter is here! Oh..." The eyes registered who they were speaking to all at once, and Albus' unimpressed expression spoke all that his mouth refused. "Sorry, mate... I uh, think your dad's here." He corrected himself sheepishly with a hand to the back of his neck, and Albus smiled thinly and turned his back to retrieve a third glass of fizz. He was going to kill whoever told, career be damned.
