#mostly oc

Sketchbook review

That was Mama’s special code for not letting anyone see her small bug-like wings growing out from between her shoulder blades. Because apparently a lot of seven year old girls don’t have them, and Karen was ‘special’ but things that were ‘special’ weren’t always accepted; especially things like her.

The family itself is a mystery with in itself. The children are trained from birth in swordplay, bow and arrows, and herbology. Glass vials made to weaken ghost, silver swords sharpened to a point, and gardens of glowing red roses. It is unknown why they collect the cores, or why they train so hard, or how they know the old language of the ghost.

The Moorland was cold and sodden with the weeks rain as Harry Potter trudged toward the little stone shed tucked in the copse of pines. The windows were dark and empty and a few birds took off from one of the holes in the half collapsed roof as he stamped mud off his boots on the entry way. The door was the most solid thing about the whole place. With a rusting sign declaring the place as a health hazard affixed prominently to it and with no nob to be found it was a thoroughly uninviting place. Nevertheless Harry pulled his wand from beneath his robes and tapped sharply three times and it swung inward. What lay on the other side would have surprised any muggle enterprising enough to have made it past the unprepossessing exterior, though the series of magical protections laid around it made it so any that got within a mile of the shack to decide that hiking the moorland was really quite dull and that they might as well go find some more interesting place to spend their holiday. The interior was large enough to house several dragons and ceilings high enough to hold a quidditch match without fear of anyone knocking their heads against the rafters which were lost in the gloom far above. The walls were lined with doors each with a number or plaque designating what might lay behind them. And in one corner there was a large pile of odd-looking boxes and bits of equipment covered with clothes. The whole place had the forlorn air of disuse and neglect that drove home just how badly todays mission was needed. Harry Potter had been appointed as Head of the Auror Office less then six months ago now, but it had been at least that many years since the last new Auror had been trained in this facility. The Auror Office had recruited heavy in the aftermath of the Second Wizarding War. With Dark Wizards loose and with the Wizarding Communities desire for security at an all-time high Harry, Ron, and Neville had been in the first of several large groups of new Auror hired to fill the need. But surprisingly quickly the focus had gone from safety to gold and the Shacklebolt administration had been forced to cut its spending. Kinsley had been unwilling to sack Aurors whose services were still very much needed so the training of new recruits had been suspended. When Harry had taken over the position of Head of the Auror Office he had been surprised a just how under-manned the Department had become. Ron and Neville had both left years ago now, Ron to join George in running Wizard Weasley Wheezes, which according to Harry’s annual investors reports was doing quite nicely and still growing steadily. Neville had left to join the Hogwarts staff as a Herbology Professor and seemed to be quite content whenever He and Hanna came round for dinner over Holiday breaks. Without them Harry had most often elected to take solo missions. The rest of his colleagues were just that colleagues not close friends and he had attributed the increasing pitch of Ginny’s complaints about his long hours too the birth of their second son. The new baby was much less fussy then James had been, but still he could tell that Ginny’s reserves of energy were perilously low. Harry let himself smile briefly at the thought of James Sirius toddling around the living room just this morning. He quickly let it slide off his face as he saw the small knot of people standing in the far corner of the training hall. They were an odd collection, some seeming to be on the verge of running from the room, others standing and chatting causally with their fellows, and one, quite tall and lean looking was standing at rigid attention and staring straight at Harry. “Welcome to your first day of Auror Training.” Harry said getting the rest of the groups attention. “I would like to congratulate you all on passing the initial testing and background evaluation. It was quite a task narrowing the pool of applicants down. We had quite a lot of interest, more then 50 applied but for one reason or another there they were disqualified.” They all looked quite pleased at this announcement. One girl with nut brown curls even grinned and elbowed the witch next to her in a conspiratorial sort of way. Harry noticed a witch in the distinctive Black and Silver robes of Magical Law Enforcement give this little display a most disapproving frown. One wizard towards the front rubbed the bridge of his nose while he smiled in most pleasant way and jangled the spurs on what where unmistakably cowboy boots. The talk thin one with a mop of blond hair had not stopped staring at Harry nor did he seem much concerned with his selection over the heads of many other highly qualified witches and wizards. “Now don’t get too excited, you have only earned yourselves a spot in training. Which is quite rigorous and can take as up too three years to fully complete.” Harry said squashing the smiles of all but the nutty brown-haired witch who seemed to be smiling even more brashly then before. “You can be disqualified at anytime during this training.” Trying to put a bit of steel into his voice “The most common reason is incompatibility with the job, but death and dismemberment are not unknown in this line of work. I would be very surprised if all sev…. Of you managed to make the cut.” Harry finished a bit hurriedly he had been about to say all seven of them, but he had just realized that there wasn’t seven trainees. There were eight. He made to reach inside his rode but restrained himself with a sudden thought. Yes, this might make a good first exercise for his new group of hopefuls. What had his own instructor Savage called them? Oh yes, “A Teachable Moment” that was it, Harry thought fondly of the old hard as nails Auror who had put him through his training. He clamped down on a smile remembering the closed casket funeral that they had held for him after he tried to bring in a gang of Werewolves called themselves the Sons of Greyback. “Well let’s get right too it shall we? Your first task will be to find out which of you doesn’t belong here.” This cause an immediate flurry of motion. The Wizard with the cowboy boots spun his spurs on the stone floor and let out an “Ay Dios Mio!” The Witch with the Café au Lait skin and the Magical Law Enforcement robes was backing away slowly wand in hand with the other hand steadying it in the fashion of that department. The Tall Blond Wizard had shoved his gloved hands into the opposing sleeves and sunken into a sort of half crotch. And had stopped staring at Harry for the first time since he had arrived instead bestowing that icy blue-eyed gaze on the rest of the people there. The remaining five had been goggling at Harry and seemed to have been confounded by this pronouncement. Until the little curly haired witch piped up. “Don’t belong here? What do you mean by that?’ She said with a most aggrieved tone “Sir?” she added hastily “I mean what I said” Harry put in amused at the lack of deference. “There are supposed to be seven new recruits here for training, but eight of you have turned up. That means one of you is not who they claim to be.” This seemed to break the spell on the rest of the trainees, and they began inching apart. Except the girl who had spoken and her friend she had elbowed “Joan and I are not imposters!” She declared firmly the girl next to her, Joan apparently, nodded vigorously. Then her eyes fell on one of the men standing nearest her. She squinted for a moment and then said a bit reluctantly “And you’re Castor Flint, aren’t you? You were Quidditch Captain for Slytherin” His eyes went a bit wide at being identified but then he seemed to place the two girls and smiled with relief “Yes, I am, and you are Blight right, from Gryffindor? Tysam Blight.” “Tamsyn” she said a bit nonplused “Tamsyn Blight and this is Joan Peterson she was Gryffindor too” pointing at Joan “We were in the same year as you at Hogwarts.” Castor who had not been looking at her while she reminded him of their connection suddenly pointed at the slightly older man standing with his arms crossed, frowning. “You’re Horace Dirkwell, you were Hufflepuff Head Boy weren’t you?” Horace flushed a bit his large ears turning pink. “Yes, in fact I was, Didn’t I give you detention once? Caught you out of bed after hours, right?” Castor grinned a bit maliciously “Yup, but I was only trying to nip down to the Kitchen get a midnight snack.” He said clearly trying to sound innocent and failing by half “House Elves down there are always good for a few snacks.” “That is all very well” said the other man who had not moved away from the group or been recognized “but just because you know each other doesn’t mean you are supposed to be here.” “That’s true” Said Joan “’But there were sure to be at least a few other Hogwarts graduates here, if we want to sneak in wouldn’t we have disguised ourselves?” “All right I buy that.” Said the man in a flat sounding accent “I didn’t go to Hogwarts though, but I sure as hell didn’t sneak in!” His voice rising a bit with defensiveness “I had to take twelve Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests just to qualify to apply!” “Just call them NEWTs.” Tamsyn Blight said with a bit of a laugh “Why did you have to do that? I only did 11 myself.” “I am from America. Illvermorny doesn’t have NEWTs, we have our own tests, but they said that I would have to take them if I wanted to be an Auror, didn’t realize I didn’t have to take them all. Wish someone had told me the Transfigurations almost killed me.” Tamsyn smiled but it was forced there was still so much tension in the air “Anyhow the name’s Lucas Baker. Not that it proves anything, but I got my instructions to report here a week ago.” Scratching the back his sand colored hair Lucas looked defeated as if he half expected them all to accuse him of being some kind of Dark Wizard come to infiltrate the Auro train with malicious intent. “As did I!” Declared the Spanish speaking wizard in the spurs “Antonio Angelino-Bruja Curanderos-Pedrito from Uruguay and trained by the fine Maestro of Castelobruxo, and I am no impostor!” He said in a thick accent. He seemed to have exhausted his English with that declaration as he went back to rubbing the bridge of his nose with his wand half raised. The well-dressed caballero had a tight jacket with silver button down both sides, and his silk black hair looking as if it was combed often. They all looked around to the last two. Introductions seemed like as good a place to start as any. Tamsyn was a bit perplexed by this test. How were any of them supposed to find an imposter in their midst. It had only been pure luck that four of them had been at Hogwarts at the same time. That cut her pool of suspects in half, but how was she going to spot an intruder when she didn’t even know who was supposed to be here in the first place. Lucas seemed like an honest sort, and Antonio could be lying or not but even if he was didn’t mean he hadn’t been invited to train to be an Auror. Lots of Witches and Wizards had secrets, she knew she had a few under her hat that even Joan her best friend didn’t know about. “Well? How about you two?” Castor prompted And under the stares of the six other trainees the Witch in Ministry robes broke first. “I am Gwen La Barre” she said in clipped but perfect English “Officer Gwen La Barre.” Her wand still up and scanning through them all never lingering on anyone longer then a moment. “I have been working for Magical Law Enforcement for six years, waiting for them to reopen the Auror Candidate Program. I have more then earned my place here!” She said heatedly giving a quick sideways glare toward the spot Harry had retreated to. “Why don’t I recognize you from school, surely you would have been there around the same time?” said Horace trying to sound as unaccusatory as possible as Gwen’s wand pointed his way. “Beauxbatons is a family tradition.” She answered looking like she would have rather cursed him into next Tuesday then answer questions. “Well it is easy to prove.” Said Joan gently “Just show us your badge, that will have your name and portrait on it.” Officer Gwen looked a bit mutinous at the suggestion that she had to prove herself to Joan but then make a quick survey of the four Hogwarts students and clearly concluded that they were the ones that needed to be convinced. And conceding to numerical advantage she shoved her wand back into its holster on her belt and pulled a black leather wallet with an MLE badge and a small portrait of a younger less hostile looking Gwen La Barre inside. “It could be fake.” Antonio chimed in having found his voice again. Horace frowned “I worked at Gringotts Bank for the past few years, I know a few anti-forgery spells you mind if I try them?” Gwen shook her head and handed the shinny brass shield over to Horace Dirkwell who muttered something none of the other’s caught and tapped the wallet, the shield, and finally the portrait who responded by scowling and turning around showing only the tight black bun that the real Gwen wore as well as she took back her Badge with a smug dark eyed glare at Antonio. He seemed to melt for a moment until he noticed that there was another person who had not introduced himself yet or even moved out of the half crouch, he had taken the moment Harry Potter had told them there was an intruder among them. He was very tall, and very lean, and his blond hair was long and shaggy and fell over his forehead nearly covering his pale blue eyes. Even with all the others closely examining him expectantly he did not make to speak or to move but waited, patient as a glacier that knows winter will come again. It was Lucas who finally spoke “Give it up, Dude. It’s got to be one of us. Either Me, you or Antonio here.” His shoulders slumped a bit “And while I don’t think it was me, I suppose I could have been hexed or cursed into thinking I am supposed to show up here.” “Might be one of others.” The tall man said. “Transfigured or Polyjuice to look like someone else.” “Not me?” Gwen blurted out a bit startled at hearing the strangers deep rough voice for the first time. “No, not you, I think. Criminals do not hide as Poliisi, Police. They hide from them.” He said looking at Gwen levelly. Then as if on command he came out of his crouch stance. Gwen almost took a step backwards he seemed even taller than before having crouched for so long, but his eyes never left hers and they held her in place. He was not threatening her, only as cautious as she had been. He must know as well as she did how bad I could be if the Auror Training Center had been compromised. If someone had learned about this closely held secret place, what else had they learned? Gwen broke the contact with an effort to give Harry Potter another glance. He had not moved; he was leaning against the wall his wand in hand and a slight smile on his face. She thought about him for a moment, all the powerful enemies he must have made in his fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and since in his decade of work as an Auror. And now as head of the Department it might be a tempting thing to get him alone like this with nothing but a handful of raw recruits to back him up. She shook it off if an attack was planned against Potter they would have struck the moment he opened the door, or at least before he noticed the extra person in attendance at his training session. What was the intruders plan? Did someone simply want it so bad that they found some way to sneak in? That surely wouldn’t work…but…She admitted to herself that she might have attempted something similar if she had been passed over. She grimaced looking at the other around her, mostly barely out of school, so many of her friends from the MLE Bureau had applied with her but only she had made it. She broke off the smug looking Slytherin was talking again. “So, who are you anyhow? What’s your story?” Castor inquired with his wand conspicuously pointed straight down at his own feet. “My name is Kullervo Gallen, Durmstrang graduate, recommended to Auror training after I assisted with apprehension of Madman Markov.” Kullervo stated succinctly. Gwen gave a little grunt of recognition at the name but none of the others had any clue who that might be. “Well, Kullervo. Got any bright ideas on how to prove our innocence to this bunch of suspicious Brits?” Lucas said with the air of someone who doesn’t expect an answer. Gwen seemed to bridle at her characterization as a suspicious Brit but kept quiet. “I would submit to Veritaserum.” Kullervo said nonchalantly Antonio and Lucas looked at each other with equal degrees of apprehension the powerful truth serum was not a precise tool. It made you spill all your secrets to your questioner not just the relevant ones or necessarily even the ones being asked for. “Even if that was legal, I don’t think any of us have that on hand.” Joan said patting down the many pocketed apron she was wearing and giving Lucas and Antonio a quick smile. “Questioning under the Cruciatus Curse then.” Kullervo Gallen said as if he was suggesting a walk in a fine garden rather then questioning under an unforgivable curse of extreme pain. “Not Bloody likely Mate!” Castor Flint shouted as a chorus of similar replies came from all the Trainees and a muttered “Ay Dios Mio” came from Antonio. “I was thinking that we could all put our memories of our examinations into a Pensieve but we haven’t got one.” Lucas said a little chagrined. “I’ve got an idea we can try; I’ll use Revelio and Finite to see if any of use are using a disguise or under some sort of spell.” Said Tamsyn brightly. This was assented to quickly enough as it was at least less intrusive then the other suggestions and might work. But even as friendly as she was having a strange witch point her wand straight at your face was not a pleasant experience. Even after she started with her friend Joan and the other two Hogwarts students Lucas found himself wincing despite the friendly round face and understanding smile on the young woman’s pretty face. Antonio closed his eyes entirely. While she did this Kullervo was stripping off his gloves, then his belt and boots and leaving them in a neat pile on the floor. At Tamsyn’s raised eyebrow he explained “Manticore Skin, repels most spells. I want no doubts.” “Where did you get those?” Castor inquired with a hint of jealousy “Very rare, Manticore Hide is expensive.” “I made them myself, after I killed the beast when it attacked me.” Gwen let out a low whistle tangling with a Manticore was not something many Wizards could claim to have done. Most that could were Ghosts and their boosts about how bravely they fought nothing but lies. “Revelio, Finite Incantatum” Tamsyn said point her wand at Kullervo’s unblinking eyes. Nothing had changed none of them had been magically disguised. “Anyone feel different, like they had been hexed into coming here today?” She said hopefully. They all shook their heads glumly. That hadn’t worked, what next? “Hold on a minute!” Castor said excitedly “My Foe-Glass!” He spent a moment rummaging inside a small satchel on his waist and the triumphantly produced a small round Foe-Glass. But his triumph did not last long as he gazed into it and they were all visible. All of them were visible in his Foe-Glass to one degree or another even Potter who was about 50 yards away watching them all intently. Tamsyn and Joan were only misty figures and Gwen and Horace barely more then that but Antonio, Lucas, and Kullervo were all plan as day. Castor Flint looked around at them all suspiciously but with a huff put the glass away. muttering about the uselessness of temperamental Dark Detectors. “I’m stumped.” Horace said plainly “I guess this is the point in a mission where we would return to headquarters for help?” “There are only so many things one can do before it’s best to cut your losses and return to base.” Joan said fiddling with her long brown braid nervously “That would be the prudent course, better to get help and fight again another day.” “But if we were to return now, we might be bringing some unknown enemy with us.” Gwen said with assurance. “That might be just what the intruder wants. No best to call help to us or set up so safe meeting place where rigorous interviews can be conducted.” She said as if reading from the manual. “Which is likely what we are in for if we can’t figure this out ourselves. Hours of repeating the same story over and over with Ministry Wizards trying to pick apart every little discrepancy.” She looked very depressed. “But we aught to be able to handle this ourselves, that’s what being an Auror is about. Not calling in the MLE at the first sign of trouble.” Castor declared hotly. “We just don’t know enough to make any kind of deduction, we’ve no idea who was supposed to be here today. I know Joan is supposed to be, cause we applied together, but other then that any one of you might not have made it through the exams. Even Castor and Horace could be the intruders even if they are who the claim. Heck as far as I know there could have been eight trainees approved for today.” Tamsyn looked frazzled her curly brown hair bouncing with every syllable. “We would never be sent on a mission with nothing to go on, maybe only a little but not nothing!” Her eye seemed to light, and she turned to where Harry was leaning against his wall still looking like he was enjoying this. “You’ve got a list, haven’t you? A list of who is supposed to be in the Training Course. Haven’t you! Sir.” The Sir was as late as it had been the first time but all the eyes in the room were fixed on his spreading grin. He nodded his head. A new voice came from behind them all “Oh Blimey, Harry! You let that play out a bit long didn’t ya?” They turned and Antonio Angelino-Bruja Curanderos-Pedrito from Uruguay had a completely different manner about him. As if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders he sagged and began pulling off bits of his face. But they weren’t his face only rubber. He seemed to rip his whole nose off leaving only a small protuberance rather then the regal beak that he had been sporting. Finally, he reached up and pulled off his dark head of hair, only a wig and revealed his mousy locks beneath. “Hello, Dennis. Long time no see.” Harry said as if he hadn’t just caught an imposter in his secret training facility but instead had run into an old friend at the train station. Dennis Creevey smiled broad enough to nearly slit his face into. “Surprised you didn’t make me from the first even under all this garbage.” Gesturing at the litter of prosthetic face and wig he had just shed. “How’s Gin? Getting on well with James and the new baby? Picked a name yet?” Harry’s grin was sardonic this time “I would tell you Dennis but then it would be plastered all over the Daily Prophet Front Page.” “Oh well, people is curious is all, it’s a human interest story. But I’m after bigger things today. Got any comment on the sorry state of these new Auror Recruits? Harry shook his head “They seem fine to me, just need a bit of training up is all.” Dennis snorted “How about the lack state of security in your department, leaking secrets like an Albanian Cauldron?” Harry shook his head again “No, but I have a few questions of mine own for you on that score.” Dennis only shrugged “I might be willing to tell you a few of my trade secrets for an exclusive interview.” Harry frowned “How about for a few years of your sentence in Azkaban?” Dennis was not intimidated. “Oh I don’t know about Azkaban Prison, what with our old friend Hermione Granger running Magical Law Enforcement these days, doubt I’ll be late for dinner tonight.” Harry was walking towards Dennis now. “We’ll see.” Dennis laughed and put his hands out in front of him as if ready for handcuffs, and a good thing to. None of them ever saw Harry cast the Stunning spell that hit Dennis Creevey full in the face. And he would have landed flat on it too if his hands hadn’t broken his fall. His smile was undiminished as he lay immobile on the dusty floor. Harry came up and with a lazy flick of his wrist had chains binding Creevey ankles to neck. He looked down at his prisoner, muttering to himself. “This is why you never get invited round, Dennis.” Then he seemed to notice his audience of thunderstruck trainees. “That will be all for today. You did well, none of you attacked each other or lost your cool and confessed.” At their looks he smirked “You would be surprised how often people confess under pressure even if they know they didn’t do it.” “Anyway good job. Be back here same time tomorrow. We will start for real.” And with that He and Dennis Apparated away with a crack that reverberated off the ceiling and walls. They all looked at each other a moment. Feeling a little off balance for the most part. Then Horace Dirkwell spoke “Guess I’ll see you all here tomorrow?” and disappeared with another crack. Castor Flint muttered his goodbye and did the same. Lucas Baker took three steps turned and waved as he followed. Then Tamsyn Blight and Joan Peterson each gave a little “See ya” Before they Apparated away. Leaving just Gwen La Barre and Kullervo Gallen. Gwen looked as the silent man and was about to say something when he preempted her with a small voiced “Tomorrow” and disappeared leaving her alone in the cavernous space. “What the Hell” She muttered shaking her head and was gone.