After the War

Chapter 32

Monday, November 21

Neville Longbottom strode through the brooding crowds of the atrium with far less nerves than anyone in his current position would have. But he felt absolutely fine. In fact, he was quite excited and was barely able to contain his grin which felt quite out of place for a dismally cloudy Monday morning at the office.

"'Morning!" he said cheerfully to the lone other wizard in the lift beside him. The other man grunted in reply without looking up from his paper. Neville, wholeheartedly unperturbed, continued to beam at the golden grates in front of him and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Patiently, he watched as the numbers approached level two and before the grates even had a chance to open all the way, he strode out onto the carpeted hallway and moments later, pushed open the door to the Auror Headquarters.

When he arrived, only two people were in the office space already, both of whom gave him curious looks, then continued talking with their heads together. Albeit, he was quite early. But he couldn't help the tossing and turning in his bed last night or the struggle to fall back asleep to the point where he eventually gave in and started his day.

"Good morning," he tried for the second time that day.

One witch with straight brown hair smiled up at him. "Hello," she replied politely. "How can we help you? The office doesn't open for another twenty minutes."

"Today's my first day as a trainee," he explained immediately. "I'm Neville, by the way, Neville Longbottom." He extended a hand and after she shuffled her papers around, she was able to shake it.

"Nice to meet you, Longbottom. I'm Anne Williamson. The Training Director isn't in yet, so you can just have a seat somewhere while you wait if you'd like."

"Brilliant, thanks." Neville pulled out a seat at the front of the office and cast his gaze around the room, trying to commit it to memory. There were three clumps of desks across the long rectangular space and at the back was a large window to a private office. Doors ran along the sides of the walls and he squinted to try and read them all from across the room.

The main door opened and closed fairly frequently within the next ten minutes, each time letting in another auror who made a beeline for their desk with a few polite smiles in his direction and one or two hesitant, yet confused, nods.

The door squeaked open again and a black-haired wizard in open dark green dress robes entered, holding the door open behind him for the redhead to pass through.

"Neville!" Harry cried once he turned from the door. Immediately, all of the aurors in the room swung their heads towards his voice and watched with some jealousy as Neville stood and clapped their bosses on the back as an old friend. After all, they would each be suggesting their personal choices for subdivision heads tomorrow and a select few were all vying for their favor.

"Hey guys!" Neville greeted. "Good to see you again."

"Blimey, I forgot. Is today your first day?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. Apparently the Training Director isn't here yet though." Slowly, the aurors present began to return to their work and their own conversations with only a few glances at their huddled group.

"Yeah, he tends to run on the verge of being late typically," Harry responded with a grin.

"My kind of person then." Neville nodded.

"But you're here early," Ron said, more as a question than a statement.

"True. But I was excited," he shrugged.