The Survivors

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The last week of Daphne's life had been something of a whirlwind. On Monday she handed in her resignation at Saint Mungos, much to the chagrin of Head Healer Smethwyck. At first he had been astonished to the point of silence, but when Daphne took that as her dismissal and tried to leave he came to his senses and demanded to know why the most talented healer in the last several decades was quitting so early into her career. Her answer had left him shocked, and his nod of respect to the young woman when she departed was all she needed.

The young healer had received correspondence from the man just a few days later, assuring her that if she ever desired to have her position back it would be hers in a heartbeat. She could only wish her family had taken it as well.

Starting with Tracey, who could only shake her head at the girl, but nod in understanding. It could not be missed that the girl was displeased, yet Daphne knew she was doing the right thing, and that helped when she informed her mother of her decision. The woman had gone ashy pale when Daphne had shown her the acceptance letter into a modified Auror Academy directed by Harry Potter himself. Aurora Greengrass was silent for a long time as she had begun preparing tea for her daughter, but in the end words seemed to fail her. She had left Daphne in tears, and made the woman feel downtrodden, but it did not weaken her resolve to do what she felt had to be done.

The next hard sale was to her sister, who took the angry approach she had been expecting from the rest of her family. She swore that Harry Potter was turning out to be a bad influence on her, and that he was going to get her and all their friends killed. Daphne knew Astoria didn't mean those things, and that she was just worried for her health. Still the words stuck with her throughout the week as she trained hard in the Auror Academy. She knew she needed to get back in her sister's good graces soon, and not just because it was necessary for her mental health, but also because she needed to ensure Malfoy was innocent in the attack on the World Cup.

Using her status as the Lady of House Greengrass she had begun reaching out to some of her family's shadier contacts that her father had used for odd jobs over the years. She had found a whole list of names and addresses in the family grimoire that led her to begin making inquiries about massive amounts of money that had been funneled out of the country. The lead contact, a man named Adolphus Pucey who was a relative of an old fellow Slytherin, informed her in correspondence that they would need time to get her the most accurate information. She granted it to them easily, promising 10% above their usual asking price for something that could be incriminating. Of course, her number one suspect was Gretchen Bulstrode. The woman had not contacted her in any way, nor had Daphne seen her on her way out of Saint Mungos, but she knew it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again one way or another.

Friday night came and went when Daphne had returned to her flat after a very exhausting day in the Auror Academy. Harry had been relentless in his pursuit to bring the four recruits up to speed, and obviously some of them were former members of Dumbledore's Army, so that meant they were used to Harry being a slave driver. Even then this was different. The Head of Magical Law Enforcement was on a mission to make his newest batch of aurors as good as any on his original team, and he was pulling no punches to do so. Somehow though they were rising to the challenge. Each of them had lost something along the way, whether that was friends, family, or colleagues. They all had a reason to train their hardest. All of them desperate to get ahold of this before another incident like the Quidditch World Cup happened.

Their training was just over eight hours a day right now, and Harry was going to be pushing them six days a week until October 1st. At that point he would be pulling the gloves off, and giving them their badges and making them ready for active duty. Outside of that, Harry was pushing himself as hard as ever, running the rest of the auror department as well as helping his original team of Aurors plan covert ops. Daphne had not been privy to the kind of information that was circling through the group, but she knew it was some serious stuff by the looks on all their faces when she saw them. She longed for the days where Friday night would be girls night, and the group would just gather and have a good time. It was oftentimes though she pondered whether those nights would ever come again, especially without their bright burning light in Susan. Life had been a little emptier without her, and every time she thought of her the anger would return, as well as a reminder for why they were all working so hard.