We're What? [Ministry Trainee's with Malfoi]

[coreofaphoenix]

After the fall of Voldemort, Harry had spent the Summer helping out the rebuilding efforts at Hogwarts. Ensuring that the castle was in working order before the school year started that autumn. Although Ron was well ready (or so he insisted) to hop into the Auror's, Harry hadn't been nearly as sure. Was he ready to go back into fighting after everything they'd been through? It was after a particularly long conversation with Headmistress McGonagall who said that he would be bored stiff returning to classes that helped him in his decision. She only made him promise that he return and help teach a class (or two) on occasion for defense classes.

And maybe talk to someone about his "issues".

It was odd knowing he'd only see Ron daily during training and would only see Hermione on Hogsmeade weekends while she completed her seventh year. Ginny... was another subject all together. They'd talked after the War and although it hurt, they'd both agreed that now wasn't the proper time to resume a relationship.

So, after his meeting with McGonagall and returning to Grimmauld, he'd owled the Minister to accept the opportunity. Grimmauld was slowly but surely becoming less depressive (emphasis on slowly) but it was a place that he could call his own. He didn't have to return to the Dursley's or on the run.

Harry wasn't sure what to expect that first day walking into training. He briefly considered that he and Ron would likely be partnered up due to their history but otherwise, everything else was a toss-up. He'd been briefly surprised to see Draco Malfoy walk in and he could already hear Ron's impending rant about him being there. He nudged the other boy and gave Draco a little nod of acknowledgment. He wasn't exactly Draco's biggest fan by any stretch of the imagination however he appreciated Narcissa's assistance during the final battle with Voldemort.

"Well, now that we're all here," their trainer spoke up from the front of the room after a few other stragglers walked in. "We'll get started."

Comments

[coreofaphoenix]

To be honest, after a brief moment of surprise and after he thought about it, Harry had become a bit less surprised than his best friend. After all, he recalled how he had done the same thing when leading Dumbledore's Army during that dreaded fifth year. In that case, it was that friends weren't always at the same level as you were and vice versa so it was smarter to work with someone who was on your skill level or higher.

In this case, he could understand the pros of it. Even so, it surprised him that he was paired with Malfoy.

"Ironic that we were paired up," Harry said after a long moment. Though he wasn't sure if it was really ironic or if it was simply just something for him to say considering their past history.

He watched as Glasscock drug Ron away and shook his head. Harry stood from his chair and looked at Draco. "Suppose we should go set up our desks."

He didn't dislike or outright hate Draco Malfoy. While he would never agree with the other man's choices, he also knew they all did what they had to to survive a war. They would have to work together for the time being and they'd have to find some way of communicating, right?

[malfoi]

"It seems our instructor has a certain sense of humour," he said in a withering tone, while he went for one of the two empty desks, dropped his satchel on one of them, and started unpacking.

It was entirely possible, actually, that the older man had absolutely no idea about the specific strained relationship between these two trainees — but Draco still innately struggled with accepting that the entire world didn't actually revolve around him, and that nobody was thinking about him half as much as he thought about himself. Old habits died hard.

He started meticulously laying out his belongings: paper and a fine-tipped peacock quill (ostentatious, and more expensive than it needed to be); his wand (new and unfamiliar, not the one Harry had once disarmed from him); a stack of Ministry intake paperwork, the new hire packet, rules and regulations for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.

Becoming an Obliviator wasn't, plainly put, as sexy as Aurors — so many wizarding children dreamed of growing up and becoming Aurors — and he was more than talented enough to have been in Harry's programme, but something about it hadn't sat right when he'd looked over the Ministry applications. He rather suspected that that faded tattoo on his forearm might disqualify him, just a little.

A slight pause, then he blurted out, before he could really rethink how this might sound like a slap in the face: "Do you think we can request transfers? Due to... extenuating circumstances."