[1989 Pt.7]

[September 2, 1989.]

[Great Hall, Hogwarts.]

Nathan after returning from his stroll around the grounds was sitting at the Hufflepuff table dressed in his house robes as Hestia Jones told him how roaming the castle alone was foolish and how he should have waited for one of the older year students to take him up.

"You should let Mr Grey off, Ms Jones, I am sure he is sorry," Hestia turned around and smiled before greeting Professor Sprout.

"Just don't do it again, Nathan," Saying this Hestia walked off towards a familiar pinkette.

Nathan gave off a relieved sigh before he turned to Sprout and said, "Good morning professor, are you here to give me my schedule?"

She nodded before saying, "Yes, here it is. You have Defense first, Mr Grey," She pulled a sheet of parchment from a small bundle she was carrying and handed it to him and then continued, "And I would heed Hestia's advice, my boy. You shouldn't roam the castle grounds alone. Haven't your parents told you about the werewolves in the forest?"

'Woman, have you seen the wards on this place? Even a giant would break its face trying to rush in.'

Nathan nodded with a 'fearful' expression which made the woman look pleased as she witnessed her poor attempt at intimidation work.

'God, was I really mentally preparing myself to act all covert when most of the adults behave like this with me?'- Nathan was not sure whether he should dance with joy at the seemingly innocent and optimistic outlook of people here or whether he should cackle in manic glee at the naivety around himself.

'I am going to rule Hufflepuff,' Even as he thought this, Nathan had a thoughtful look on his face before he asked in a stuttering voice, "P-professor, I wanted to ask something."

Sprout smiled at Nathan kindly, making his cold heart actually feel a bit guilty for deceiving the woman. Even so, he continued, "There are so many students in the school? How do so few of you manage all of us? Aren't you all exhausted with so many students?"

Sprout smiled mysteriously before saying, "Magic helps us in a lot of ways, Mr Grey."

Nathan immediately decided that either the staff used time-turners or all the other easier tasks were being delegated to the house elves.

He gave her a hesitant nod that a child would send before she turned away to give the other students their own schedules.

He turned around and found the eyes of his dormmates who were receiving their own schedules from Sprout who had a benign smile as she answered questions for them. Orion Carlisle, Alan Waynewood and Jacob Dale were huddled close to each other as they patiently took their own sheets that were offered to them.

He had chatted up all three of the young children just like he had done with the twins and Graves the previous night and learned a lot about them and their personalities. Nathan could confidently say that he liked Orion, Alan and Jacob if they maintained their current personalities as they grew older.

Orion was a shy and nervous half-blood who was very interested in Transfiguration. He seemed to find his father's work of creating statues and jewellery fascinating. The boy even went ahead and told Nathan that he liked to collect things like foreign currencies and precious stones.

Alan was the complete opposite of Orion in that he seemed like a braggart who was very interested in duelling. The boy was a muggleborn and thought that not being taught to actually fight using magic at Hogwarts was stupid.

Jacob was a pureblood son of the owner of a famous wizarding hotel named 'The Dale'. Jacob was perhaps the best type of person that Nathan had met. Nathan would even admit that the boy had a maturity to him that was absent from Nathan when he had been an eleven-year-old for the first time.

He sat down beside Alan who was telling Orion how it was an outrage that the ICW was trying to impose an international ban on duelling.

".…I mean isn't this all kinds of wrong that people can't fight using magic? Imagine all kinds of things you could do with magic in a fight."

Nathan is pretty sure that Alan thinks of magical duels like they are shown in most storybooks. So he decided to speak up, "Most duels aren't like what you would expect, Waynewood."

Alan looked towards him, prompting Nathan to continue, "If you are expecting displays of flashy magic, you are going to be bloody disappointed. Most duelling in the past few years is two blokes flinging disarming, stunning or petrification spells at each other. Most stronger or flashier spells are often illegal in the duels."

Alan seemed to be horrified by the idea of not having flashy spells, and even Orion and Jacob seemed to feel bad for him even as the two boys nodded their heads.

Alan nodded before he suddenly brightened up as he said, "It shouldn't matter, I could probably work as a Hitwizard. I have heard about this Lockhart bloke that goes around solving problems, he is pretty popular."

"I would suggest being an Auror, you know."-- They turned around to see Tonks smirking at Alan even as her blonde hair turned violet and she said, "I am going to be one. Hunting down criminals is pretty badass too."

Alan turned towards her and Nathan saw how his eyes shined as if he had found his idol in life.

"Really? So like the Military?"

"A mix of both the military and criminal investigation. Though normally the hit wizards accompany them if they are working on a cooler assignment. Lots of action," the fifteen-year-old girl seemed excited in talking about it even as Jones rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"And lots of debilitating injuries as well. It wouldn't be half as popular a career choice, if not for the bribes you can get while on duty."

Nathan immediately decided that Jones was not the goody-two-shoes he had pegged her as when she had first introduced herself yesterday. The girl clearly knew why people went after positions of power in the government.

"Madame Bones wouldn't let things like that slide."

"The auror office may be under the DMLE but it doesn't mean that everybody bows down to the head. She can't exactly fire an auror, the power lies with the Minister, the most she can do is to post them at somewhere like Azkaban."

Tonks growled and her hair shifted to a light red colour, but she knew she had lost as Hestia was speaking the truth of the matter.

"Hmmm… so the Aurors are a bunch of corrupt goons that are just in it for the money," Nathan blinked at the concise summary from Alan.

The boy was not a simpleton but simply the boisterous and upbeat type.

Alan seemingly unaware of Nathan's stare continued in a thoughtful tone, "But do these guys get to fight using their magic?"

Tonks stopped glaring at Hestia turned towards Alan and said, "They do. They are responsible for bringing in anybody that finds himself on the wrong side of the law."

"Then can you tell me how one becomes an auror?" Alan's question made Tonks grin.

"This my friend is the start of a beautiful friendship."

********* ********** ***************

A|N: Alan and Tonks will end up together but it will only happen AFTER Alan turns 17 at the very least.

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