The Programme

The group of 20 Auror candidates was standing in the middle of the open field. Although the weather was on the warmer side this morning, everyone of them was feeling cold. Not a single person talked or wanted to start a conversation due to what they had experienced. It was as if they had eaten some rotten food and the taste and the smell kept lingering in their mouth. From his experience from previous life and the slaughter of the Bones family, Kenneth had gotten used to living with such a bitter taste. So, unlike the other, he was trying to make sense of what actually happened. Not about what happened in the illusion, but how he had actually fell into such a trap. With his soul body and occlumency, he had thought he would at least be a little resistant to such attacks. Even if he was not able to resist it, he had thought that he would at least have felt some sort of warning.

He closed his eyes as he dove into his mind scape, he relived the memory from the moment he stepped into the fog couple of times in slow motion. After making a few deductions and conclusions, he used his soul eye to monitor his body to find evidence to support his deductions.

"So, that's what happened, I need to come up with a way to counter this sort of traps," Kenneth thought to himself.

Before he could analyse the effects the fog had on his body, he heard chuckle and a male voice said, "Aw how cute. Look at the newbies, every year it's the same. The looks on their face's never get old."

A female voice replied, "Don't forget you also went through the same thing and had the same face. If I recall correctly, I remember you standing in a corner, trying to puke your breakfast."

Kenneth opened his eyes and looked at the duo, they were wearing long black robes with Auror insignia engraved on top left part of the chest and the back. The man and the women were of average built, both having typical black hair and brown eyes. The man had a smirk on his face and looked at the new recruits in disdain while the women had cold expression on her.

She raised her voice as she explained to the 20 new recruits, "First of all, let us introduce ourselves, I am Olivia Castel and this is Noah Herod, we are both junior Aurors, we passed the auror in training programme just a month prior. Before we explain to you, what is required of you in the training programme, I'm sure you have a few questions, so let's hear them." She started to look around for hands.

"You," she pointed at a male recruit who had raised his hand.

"Can you explain what that fog was? I'm fairly accomplished in Occlumency but I was still effected by it," said the man.

"I will explain that!" said a voice.

Everyone, including the junior aurors looked at where the voice was coming from, Kenneth recognised him immediately as me muttered, "Mad-Eye Moody." Next to him was another man and women, whom he recognised as well, it was his aunt, the head of DMLE, Amelia Bones and the head of Auror Office Rufus Scrimgeour.

Olivia and Noah respectfully greeted them and introduced them to everyone and told them that these three come greet the new recruits every year. The new recruits had heard of these figured and respectfully stayed silent for Alastor Moody to continue talking. Mad-eye Moody looked at all of them before addressing the question.

"Have you ever heard a Auror that had joined the dark wizard?" he asked, and the recruits shook their heads, "Well, there has been some in the past, the Ministry tend to hide these things, however, let me tell you, ever since its establishment, you could count the aurors that joined the dark wizards in one hand. Such low numbers has a lot to do with the moral and character test you went through just now."

He looked at the man who asked the question again and said, "you said you were accomplished in Occlumency? Well, the reason you were affected was because the fog had little to do with Legilimency. There are many dark wizards and witches who are well accomplished in Occlumency, to counter this, there are few magical spells, including Legilimency, mixed into the fog. Inside the illusion, you all forgot that you were in the training grounds, this is due to weaker version obliviate spell that makes your temporarily forget a day's worth of memories. Some of you probably noticed that your felt peaceful and relaxed in the fog, this was due to the Relaxat Somnium spell, most commonly used in the medical field, it makes a patient relax and fall into a deep sleep. Then with a little bit of Legilimency magic to access your memories and a few illusion spells created the dreams you all had."

Kenneth raised a question, "But there are people who is good at detecting magic and traps, there can't be just spells in there, right?" He asked because when he monitored his body, he found residual substance in his system that indicated a sleeping potion was used.

"Good observation, yes, you are right, to counter the people who can guard against spells, sleeping potions was sprayed into the fog. As long as the fog touches you, you will be subjected to the test." Alastor explained. Then he said in a louder tone, "You all should be proud of your selves, every year we select around 40 candidates and only less than half pass the initial test. So, the fact that you stand here tells us volumes about your character, it is not easy to do the right thing when you faced with the death of your loved ones,"

The recruits finally started to gain come colour into their face as they stood a bit straighter. Kenneth inwardly snorted, "What's the point if your loved ones are dead? The best option is to rid of the problem from every bothering you again!" If it was before the test, he would have been happy to hear those words, but the test had changed him. He was not going to just go around murdering death eaters, but just handing them to the Ministry like he had done with the Corrow siblings was a mistake. He should have made sure that they would never have the power to move against him and his loved ones, permanently.

"Any other questions?" asked Moody, when there was no one talking, Madam Bones stepped forward.

"Okay Alastor, we should let them get on with the introduction," then she looked at the rest of them and said, "you should all know that we have roughly about 200 junior and senior aurors in Britain, nearly 100 of which is actually on over sea missions. Controlling and enforcing the magical law and keeping the dark wizards in check all over Great Britain is difficult with just the 100 we have. So, we all hope you do your best to successfully complete your training and join us at the ministry."

"Now, who is Jason Kenneth Webb?" she asked.

Kenneth's heart skipped a beat as he raised his hand, he was relieved at the reason she call him out for, "Normally, people only apply for the training programme with 5 N.E.W.Ts, but you actually have 8 of them, we are looking forward to your performance," she said.

All the other recruits and the two junior Aurors looked at Kenneth in surprise, Rufus immediately pitched in, "But don't let it get into your head, becoming an auror is not just about having a good brain, I'm sure the test in the fog left a good impression on you. So you better work hard!"

The three figure heads turned and left the field, Kenneth watched them leave, he was surprised at one thing, his aunt's core was green while Alastor's and Rufus' core was blue like Kenneth's. "According to the original canon, Voldemort was able to kill his aunt after his return, this can mean his and Dumbledore core should be at a higher stage," he thought to himself.

"Alright, listen up newbies," Noah started to talk, "the time limit for completing the training camp is 3 years, this means that if you are not able to complete the training within this time, you will have to go home. The most talented of us usually finish in 2 years. In case you are wondering, we completed ours in 2 years, our batch had 15 recruits, only the two of us passed so far, the rest are still here, I'm guessing most of them will be kicked out at the end of the year," he declared proudly.

Olivia snorted at him and continued before he kept showing off, "Since you heard Madam Bones said we are short-handed, know that most of the training and studying you will be doing will be by yourself. However, there is a senior Auror, like Alastor Moody, that give lectures for each course. Courses included in training are Concealment and Disguise, Stealth and Tracking, Battle Instinct, Best-Laid Plans, Duelling in the Dark, Field Training, History of the Dark Arts, Method in the Mad-Eye, Resilience Training, and The Auror Advantage."

She waved her wand and two pieces of parchment flew into each of the recruits' hands, "one of the parchments in your hand is the map of the training camp. It shows where each of the classes are at and where the canteen is. The second parchment shows your time table for the lectures, remember the lectures only go on for the first few weeks, after the senior aurors explain to you what each course is, and how you will be tested and what material you need to be studying and your training ground, they will leave you alone for you to complete the study by yourself, you will only meet them again when you pass the course."

"Any questions?" asked Olivia.

"I don't get it, how are they going to test us if they are not around?" asked one of the female recruits.

"Your training grounds are similar to the fog you passed today, there are spells and areas assigned to run the test by itself. You will understand when you attend your first lecture, one that note, I advise you not to skip any of the lectures, they are crucial if you want to pass this programme," answered Olivia.

"Enough," said Noah, "There is no point explaining more, you will figure it out when you attend the lectures, that's how we did it. If you can't, then you might as well quit now. Now, no more questions. Follow us, today, we will show you around. From tomorrow, you are on your own. Remember, just stick to your time tables and you will be fine."