On his first day at the Ministry, Harry had arranged to meet Ron and Mr. Weasley for breakfast before heading over. He Floo-ed to the Burrow and was surprised to see that most of the household was awake. The one person he wanted to see the most was not, as he expected, awake. Ginny had sent him an owl and a small good luck package the day before, which had comprised of a very sweet note and some of his favourite sweets.

When he arrived, he was happy to see that despite the stress surrounding George, both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed very happy to see him. Mrs. Weasley spent much of the breakfast admonishing him for leaving so soon, and at the same time, trying to convince him that he was one of her ‘sons.’ He wondered if this was why Ginny had acted so distantly when they’d had lunch. Despite being an adopted son, Harry had a feeling that Ginny most likely felt her mother’s wrath for his disappearance more than not. Mrs. Weasley continued to vacillate from railing into him and doting on him for the duration of the breakfast.

Harry could see the amusement in Ron’s face as his mother lectured Harry on a variety of things. ‘Now, Harry, you are very dear to us, and I know I may have given you the impression that you’re in trouble, but that does not mean you are not welcome here. I do believe that some space for you and Ginny is probably a good thing, but we expect you not to be a stranger.’

Harry nodded. He replied weakly, ‘Of course, Mrs. Weasley.’

Mrs. Weasley, much to Harry’s chagrin, did not stop there. ‘I can’t believe you were able to clean up so quickly and head out. Is Kreacher treating you well?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, he’s a very good cook…not as good as you, of course.’ He gave her a shamefaced look and said, ‘Mrs. Weasley, I didn’t mean to up and leave, I just thought it was for the best…’

She hardly acknowledged his comment and shook her head. ‘You still look like you’ve hardly eaten. You have a long day ahead of you, best eat up, dear.’

She pushed a full plate in front of him and Harry could see Ron laughing into his hand. Harry rolled his eyes at his friend and watched as Mr. Weasley chuckled at the two of them. Mr. Weasley smiled. ‘Harry, you needn’t worry. Everything is going to go smoothly today. Kingsley is very happy to have you on board, Ron and Neville too. You all are going to be brilliant Aurors.’

Harry nodded, devouring the food in front of him. Ron leaned across the table and said, ‘This is serious stuff, dad.’

Mr. Weasley nodded. ‘Yes, of course. But you both are very ready to be contributing members of society.’

Mr. Weasley continued to go over the basics of what may happen on their first day, but Harry had trouble following. His mind was whirling through all the various possibilities of failure. He knew he’d trained hard last year, but this was entirely different. He wouldn’t be living in a tent, nor have Hermione fall back on for research help.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed happy to see him, but despite Harry’s best attempts, he was feeling very, very nervous. He had never worked a day in his life and was concerned that he’d say or do something that would be wrong. Mr. Weasley did his best to assuage the fears that both Ron and Harry were feeling, but the advice fell on deaf ears.

Harry kept turning his gaze to the staircase, but Ginny made no appearances. Mr. Weasley, Ron and Harry left for work at a quarter to eight. As Harry emerged from the Floo in the central corridor at the Ministry of Magic, he felt over-whelmed by this new step he was taking in life. They passed through security quickly and walked across the corridor.

Harry was surprised to see Gaunt standing in the hallway waiting for both he and Ron. Kingsley was not far off, and had cast a spell on his throat to allow his voice to boom across the entranceway. ‘Good Morning!’

Harry quickened his pace to shake hands with Kingsley and noticed Neville Longbottom out of the corner of his eye. Neville was grinning from ear-to-ear and had on the nicest robes Harry had ever seen him in. Gaunt stood quietly to the back, as if he were uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Kingsley and Mr. Weasley shook hands and Mr. Weasley wished them all good luck on their first day. Kingsley motioned them down the hallway and said, ‘I’m so pleased you could all make it this morning. We are ecstatic to have such excellent resources joining us.’

Harry, Ron and Neville followed Kingsley closely as Gaunt skulked further behind, trying to avoid the disconcerted gazes he was receiving. Harry noticed there were quite a few wizards and witches following Kingsley’s direction, but none seemed to want to venture closer. He showed them all into a small conference room and brought out a few sheets of parchment for each of them.

‘Mr. Gaunt will be going over some basics that you’ll need to know,’ Kingsley continued, ‘As you all are, I’m sure, aware, normally you would need to take your NEWTs to be an Auror, but we are going to tutor you and have you sit for these exams, as I explained in the letters I sent you some time ago.’

Kingsley motioned to Gaunt. He walked past the minister and said, ‘Thank you, sir. I will have them all up to speed in a few weeks.’ He turned away from Kingsley to address the three. ‘I hope you are all ready for some very hard work. We need you in the field as soon as possible and the only way we can achieve that is by getting you ready for what you’ll need to know.’

Gaunt grinned at them as he spoke. Harry felt a rather unsettling feeling but looked down at the stack of parchment before him and waited with Ron and Neville for Gaunt to continue. Gaunt pulled a set of small books from a nearby table and set one in front of each of them.

‘It is hard to determine where to start training without knowing what you know.’ Gaunt opened a copy of the book and continued, ‘This is an assessment test. It’s a way for me to see where you are and what you need to work on.’

All three of them had horror-stricken looks on their faces and Gaunt laughed. ‘I know you haven’t prepared, but I assure you, based on everything you’ve done over the last year, you should be just fine. This isn’t a test that will be with you for your lifetime. I’m going to find out where you are, toss these exams out and get you ready to be top-notch Aurors.’

Gaunt handed each of them quills and said, ‘You’ll have one hour. There is a charm in this room that will alert me if you’re trying to cheat, so please don’t consult one another about the questions.’

He headed towards the door and stepped out with Kingsley in front of him. Harry, Ron and Neville exchanged nervous glances but dutifully opened their respective books and started filling the forms out. Harry had felt nervous about his OWLs, but this was much more nerve-wracking.

The door opened in one hour and Gaunt stepped in quickly. ‘That wasn’t so bad, was it?’

They made no response. Gaunt collected the books and sheets of parchment and said, ‘I think that was rather bracing for one morning. I have something different for each of you to do until we break for lunch.’

They got up and followed him out of the room. Gaunt took them to the closest lift and lead them down a long corridor. A large sign reading, ‘Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures,’ was set atop the front desk.

Gaunt stopped for a moment and said, ‘Mr. Longbottom, if you’ll wait right here, there is someone that will be showing you around this section. After which, we’ll be meeting again.’

Neville shot Harry and Ron a smile and stood waiting as a tall wizard came towards him, beckoning him to follow him. With that Ron and Harry were left with Gaunt. He didn’t look them in the eye but said, ‘Mr. Weasley, you’re next.’

He hurried them down three dizzying corridors before depositing Ron at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Harry watched as Ron was ushered away by a short witch who was speaking too quickly for Harry to discern anything.

Gaunt smirked at Harry and said, ‘Last but certainly not least…’

He led Harry back to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but did not take him back to his own office, but a small room at the end of the hallway. Gaunt ushered Harry in and gestured to the chair at the table. Harry sat down awkwardly and waited for Gaunt to say something.

Gaunt pushed a stack of parchment across the table and said smugly, ‘It has been left to me, Mr. Potter, to make you the best Auror this department has ever seen. Kingsley has given me a carte blanche to teach you everything I know in the time that we have together and I have every intention of running you through the wringer.’ He gestured to the papers and said, ‘Care to explain this?’

Harry gave him a quizzical look and started flipping through what he realised was the most recent issue of the Daily Prophet. Harry balked, seeing a picture of him and Ginny that had been taken when he’d seen her last in Diagon Alley. He looked blankly at the image before Gaunt slammed his hand onto the table.

‘Potter! Are you seeing this? If you care at all about this young woman, you’re going to do a better job of protecting her identity from the media and by extension protecting her from being a target! What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?’ Gaunt yelled.

Harry put his hands up quickly. ‘Look, Mr. Gaunt, sir, I don’t know you and I’m not sure what this has to do with anything.’

Harry was trying his hardest to keep himself in control, and knew he was feeling more and more furious at what this man was assuming about him. Gaunt glared at Harry and replied, ‘And here I thought you were bright.’

He pulled another issue out, this one with images of Harry, Ginny and some very provocative pictures with ice cream that Harry remembered all too well. He flushed at the images and said, ‘What? I was enjoying my girlfriend’s company. That isn’t a crime.’

Gaunt chuckled. ‘You are really thick.’ He sat up straight and said, ‘Listen very carefully, Mr. Potter. You may think I’m over-stepping my bounds, but I’m not. This is exactly the sort of thing you need to take care about.’

He pulled another article out and placed it under Harry’s nose and said, ‘You don’t think this compromises someone you care about at all?’

Harry clenched his jaw but didn’t say anything. Gaunt shook his head distastefully. ‘You need to get your head out of the clouds, Mr. Potter. This is serious. Your girlfriend could be attacked and targeted by people who don’t like you; who hate you. Is any of this sinking in?’

Harry knew that Gaunt would be his supervisor indefinitely and could not afford to get off on the wrong foot. He sighed and replied evenly, ‘It was never my intention to put her in danger. But based on the last time I came here, it makes no difference, I can’t do anything about what people who are completely mad might want to do.’

Gaunt locked his eyes with Harry’s and replied, ‘As an Auror, that is exactly what you should be doing.’

He got up and said, ‘Mr. Potter. I expect you to read all of this rubbish until I come back into this room. You’re going to tell me, before you leave, how much, if any of it is true about you and Ms. Weasley. Only then, I believe, will you understand the gravity of your actions.’

Harry stared forlornly at the stack of newspapers and sighed. He didn’t have a choice. This was his job and there was nothing for it. He read article after article from colouring Ginny as a disreputable girl taking advantage of an honourable and trustworthy hero to himself being portrayed as a sex-crazed lunatic.

When Gaunt finally returned some time later, he raised his eyebrows at Harry. ‘And?’

Harry sighed. ‘Point taken, sir. These stories are all wrong, there isn’t one true thing about either of us in it and I’m made out to be quite un-balanced.’

Gaunt crossed his arms and said, ‘That, Mr. Potter, is why you need to be more level-headed.’

He sat down across from Harry and continued. ‘Since you have been on my radar, there is one instance that I saw no pictures of, but knew about, your birthday, of course.’

Harry tried to stay calm but cringed as Gaunt smirked. ‘What a lovely, intimate moment you had with Ms. Weasley that day. She seemed quite taken by you and you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.’

Harry set his hands on the table and replied, ‘You were spying on me?’

Gaunt laughed. ‘I’m an Auror, if I want to know something, I go and find out about it. I wanted to know why there hadn’t been any pictures of you in a few days and found out why. You spent a lot of time planning that, didn’t you?’

Harry clenched his teeth and spit out, ‘Yes.’

‘It showed. She seemed touched.’ Gaunt drummed his fingers on the table. ‘Quite boring to watch, I must admit, but that is the way of watching and not doing, I expect.’

Harry focused on one point on the table and said nothing. Gaunt laughed. ‘If you ever get caught and tortured you won’t last five minutes.’

Harry met Gaunt’s gaze and replied, ‘Last time I got caught, I was killed.’

Gaunt laughed loudly at this. ‘Congratulations, Mr. Potter, that might as well be a failure. We will be spending a lot of time together in the future, Mr. Potter, I hope we can enjoy each other’s company on some basic level.’

Gaunt got up and gestured for Harry to do the same. ‘Come, let us find your friends and give you all some reading to do for the week.’

Harry maintained his immobilised facial expression and followed Gaunt back to both Ron and Neville. The three ate lunch around the corner at a stall and returned for afternoon sessions.

At the end of a very long day, Harry declined Ron’s insistent request to come home. Harry said nothing to his friend about what Gaunt had put him through and while Neville and Ron talked, at length, during lunch about what they’d learned.Harry grimaced thinking about coming back the following days but knew that through Gaunt he would become the Auror he wanted to be. He grabbed his heavy tome and Flooed back to Grimmauld Place. Kreacher had a hot dinner waiting for him. Harry saw a note from Ginny, but was too tired to read it at the time, and after doing his assigned revisions late into the night, passed out some time after midnight.