Emma Potter; Going to War

43: Ikigai [Pt.2]

"This is hopeless" groaned Nicholas throwing down a leaflet "I don't know what to do!"

It was nearly midnight and me, Nicholas, Zoe and Draco were still looking through pamphlets. Draco had decided on something and was peacefully sleeping with his head on my shoulder. He now jolted awake, "what?" he mumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes "you guys are still on it?"

"Yes" snarled Zoe. 

"I have an idea" I said "does anyone know what an Ikigai is?"

I was met with blank faces. 

"No? OK. So Ikigai is Japanese term which is used when people--muggles at least--use when deciding a particular job and field. It's something your good at , something you love, something the world needs, and something that pays well. So, keep that in mind and you'll be able to pick."

With that I picked up a phamplet that said "DO YOU HAVE THE BRAIN AND COMMON SENSE TO BE A DISTILLER"

Raising my eyebrows I flipped through the pamphlet. 

Distiller are part of the auror team in the wizarding world. If you manage to become one, You will look into things deeper than Aurors and will research the case throughly first-hand, to make sure the guilty is rightly accused and many times will accompany aurors to find and bring them to the face of justice. 

Minimum  5 N.E.W.Ts in Defense Against the Dark Arts. . .

It sounded awfully like a detective. I couldn't help but smile; logic was my strength. And I had solved plenty of mysteries in 5 years. And I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement at being something like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Ms Marple or any other fantasy detective. 

Chuckling, I bid everyone good night. 

I awoke very early the next day, feeling almost as anxious as I had done on the morning of our hearing at the Ministry of Magic. Itwas not only the prospect of breaking into Umbridge's office and using her fire to speak to Sirius that was making me feel nervous,though that was certainly bad enough — today also happened to bethe first time I would be in close proximity with Snape since Snapehad thrown us out of his office, as we had Potions that day and as well as the Career Advice. 

After lying in bed for a while thinking about the day ahead, I got up very quietly and moved across to the window beside Pansy'sbed, staring out on a truly glorious morning. 

The sky was a clear,misty, opalescent blue. Directly ahead of me, I could see thetowering beech tree below which my father had once tormentedSnape. I was not sure what Sirius could possibly say to us thatwould make up for what we had seen in the Pensieve, but I was desperate to hear Sirius's own account of what had happened, to know ofany mitigating factors there might have been, any excuse at all for my father's behavior. . . . 

Something caught my attention: movement on the edge of theForbidden Forest. I squinted into the sun and saw Hagridemerging from between the trees. He seemed to be limping. As I watched, Hagrid staggered to the door of his cabin and disappeared inside it. I watched the cabin for several minutes. Hagrid did notemerge again, but smoke furled from the chimney, so Hagrid couldnot be so badly injured that he was unequal to stoking the fire. . . .

 I turned away from the window, headed back to my closet, andstarted to dress. 

With the prospect of forcing entry into Umbridge's office ahead,I had never expected the day to be a restful one, but I had notreckoned on Hermione's almost continual attempts to dissuade himfrom what he was planning to do at five o'clock. 

For the first time ever,she was at least as inattentive to Professor Snape in Potions as Harry and Ron were, keeping up a stream of whispered admonitions that Harry and I tried very hard to ignore.