Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(182) Reminisce and Realize

"This has been a long year for everyone." Mr. Robards' voice echoed through the training room, where all of the trainees were sitting crisscross on the floor, listening to the Head Auror's announcements. They were approaching the end of the first year of training, and Mr. Robards had taken it upon himself to explain what the end of the year entailed for them.

"At the third week of May, we are to have another evaluation of your skills, to pick and choose the best of your bunch that will get the honor of proceeding to level two of your training. I understand that you may be scared, since the last evaluation activity you've had ended up in the loss of multiple lives, and that event will remain one of the biggest failures in the history of the Force. Your senior Aurors were unable to protect you, and had you thrown in to a situation you were unequipped for. Because of this, evaluation will be done within Ministry premises. You will be scheduled and called in one by one to face a respective Senior Auror, and they will use whatever means they choose to evaluate your performance."

A wave of soft murmurs went through the crowd, silencing as Robards spoke again, "Your whole career will be riding on this. The Auror Force is only for the best of the best, so judgement will be harsh. Good luck, to you trainees, for making it this far. I, as well as the Minister of Magic, are proud of how far you've come, and excited to see the potential inside you."

Robards' words rang in Florence's head even after they were released for lunch. She had tried so desperately to bury the events of the dry run in the deepest darkest corner of her mind, the memory of being at the brink of death traumatizing her more than she would care to admit. She saw Hadley wave a hand in front of her face, pulling her back from the trance she didn't realize she was in.

"Are you okay, Flo? You're spacing out?" Hadley asked, Florence shaking her head, "Just worried about evaluations, is all."

"Don't be. You're Auror material. It runs in your blood." Hadley said, trying to lighten the situation, "Wouldn't it be funny if the Senior Auror they assigned to you was your uncle?"

"That wouldn't be fair," Florence chuckled, Hadley nodding in agreement, "You bet it wouldn't. He wouldn't let you do anything and would just pass you on the spot."

"Fail me, more like," Florence corrected, "You should have seen the fit he threw when I said I was gonna be joining the training, nearly had an aneurysm by the looks of it. It wouldn't be put of his character to sabotage my evaluation just so I won't become an Auror."

"That kinda makes sense." Hadley nodded, "By the way, are you free after work? I wanted to get some ice cream at Fortescue's and chat."

"I'm sorry, I have to take Matthew to the cemetery. I promised him about two weeks ago but haven't gotten around to it yet. He wants to put flowers on my parents' graves."

"Oh," she said, mildly disappointed, "Its okay. Do you think Nic and Xander would want to go?"

"You can ask them."

"Okay." she nodded, "How is Matthew, by the way?" Hadley asked, Florence sighing at this. She had not been to the Manor to check up on him for more than a month. Between intense training and trying to fit at least 5 hours of sleep, she couldn't find the time to visit. She assumed he was okay, seeing as Sloan has not stomped around to complain about anything. Still, she felt a sort of odd responsibility towards him, Florence couldn't explain it. So she went straight to her childhood home after the day's training was over, walking in to the threshold and seeing Sirius and Matthew hunched over a game of Wizard's chess, completely focused.

Her brows raised in surprise, before feeling happy that Matthew was getting comfortable enough to leave his room and wander around the Manor. It had taken them a few minutes to detect Florence's presence, the two looking up from their game; an instant smile blooming on their faces at the sight of her, "Hello, dear." Sirius said, "I wasn't expecting you today?"