If there was one group that could make Admete feel old, it was the trainees. She'd felt old when Luthas had become one, for that matter. Few years more and it might be one of his children sitting on the other side of that desk looking youthful.

This time, she wouldn't even be at her desk. With a little bit of rearranging and a little bit of charms, there was now a circle of chairs in the office, underneath the warm glow of the paintings. Her desk had been cleared of paperwork and held fresh tea and coffee, it hadn't been so long that Admete had forgotten the Auror vices.

Felt odd to be doing this wearing black. She'd gone with Auror red so long, even for casual days, that the change hadn't settled in yet. She'd wore red in school for that matter, thirty or so years of one prominent color had left its impression.

With any luck, this wouldn't be too long and drawn out. The note she'd sent the trainees had specified the purpose here, about just how and why they'd wound up with the Aurors, so they'd had time to consider it. Hadn't wanted to give them nerves by just summoning them, either. Admete sat up a little straighter in her chair and panned her eyes over the doorway, waiting.

If there was one person you could count on to be nervous no matter what, it was Fauna Blake. Fauna had read the note dozens of times, worrying over its real meaning. Was this a test? A way to weed out those who weren’t serious enough or good enough? Hadn’t they already been through this in interviews? She knew she’d discussed her reasons a bit with Auror Eleor.

Even though she’d had time to think about it, she still wasn’t sure what she would say, especially in front of the other trainees. Her reasons felt intensely personal, and her motivation always seemed so lame: wanting to help people, to right wrongs. Instead of picking a career that might come more naturally to her, she’d chosen to join Auror training with all its struggles and chaos. Fauna suspected that not many of the other trainees could relate to that.

Taking a breath, she opened the office door, pausing for a moment in the doorway when she spotted The Boss alone in the room. Fauna smiled quickly, moving forward with a polite greeting. From what she knew of her, she liked Admete Brown. The Head of the MLE had been an Auror first and foremost, seemed very down to earth, and the fact that she had invited the trainees here instead of delegating the responsibility meant something – Fauna just hoped it meant something positive.

Fauna took a seat a few chairs away from her, glancing at the coffee and tea. Tempting, but caffeine usually made her jittery, and that was the last thing she needed now.

Glancing back at Brown, a hesitant smile flickered on her face. Fauna kept her hands loose in her lap, her feet planted on the floor.

“I got your note.”

Oh, could she begin with a more inane opening!

Any time Brett got a note from a senior auror, especially the head of the DMLE, she couldn't help but panic. She'd been in constant trouble since she'd started training, more or less. Sure, the last month or so she'd been busting her ass to try and straighten up her act and make the other aurors proud (especially her big brother), but it hadn't been easy. Brett had finally gotten the chance to get back in the field, just a few days ago, at the request of Harry Potter. And after doing a routine check had found herself actually chasing a criminal through Diagon. It had been exhilarating, yes, but also eye opening in how much she had grown in a short time in learning respect and focusing on training. She had performed much better in a crisis this time than she had last time.

She trailed behind Fauna into the Brown's office, sitting down in the seat next to her. She was careful not to plop down- trying to sit down as respectfully as a person could. Like Fauna, she kept her hands in her lap and her feet on the floor. Her gaze shifted to her friend and housemate when she spoke- stating simply she'd gotten the note.

Brett had to bite her tongue not to make a smart comment- something along the lines of Obviously, you're here aren't you?. She knew that wouldn't lighten the mood, probably quite the opposite, so instead she settled on a polite and semi-interested smile. She'd let the others lead off on this discussion. (She wasn't sure why this was an important meeting or discussion, but knew that Brown to had to have her reasons to gather up the trainees for something like this.)

The Fayettes came next – and should have, in Dion’s mind, come first. But Dax had done his uniform up incorrectly, and Dion had chosen to be a whole 15 seconds late in order to fix it. Merlin, what would Brown say if she’d seen the state of Dax’s coat? He had buttons missing and buttons set to the wrong holes, dust on his shoes, his collar tucked incorrectly - sometimes Dion didn’t know how his twin managed to scrape by.

“Dax, please don’t do anything dumb,” he said, the request met with a slight roll of the eyes from Dax. His twin simply did not get the importance of proper protocol – a wish not helped, Dion suspected, by the lack of it in several of the senior Aurors.

They entered the office, and Dion bowed slightly in greeting to their boss. Dax greeted her with a smile instead – and got a slight elbow in the ribs for his trouble.

“Madam Brown,” he greeted, politely and icily, his gaze shooting to Fauna and Brett. By the looks of it, Fauna had gone for a less formal manner of address. That wasn’t too surprising, unfortunately.

He sat next to Fauna, in the end, Dion sitting as stiffly and properly as one would expect from a trainee who’d taken the time to polish his buttons. Dax, however, just sat down – and was soon slumped forward with his elbows on his knees, looking as relaxed as ever. Had Dax even thought about the question the note had asked? They both had almost identical reasons, Dion knew, but…well, one didn’t just regurgitate textbook answers at the Head of the department.

Eha arrived as the twins were making their greetings, making her one of the last to appear at the little get-together. Her shoulders were square and, though she wore her normal casual office robes, she'd made sure the hem was straight and her slacks were clean of lint.

She inclined her head to Madame Brown and then to the others before taking a seat across the circle from the senior auror. That tended to be how these group events went. She stood out a bit in their trainee 'class'. After all, she wasn't a Hogwarts grad and she was a good two or three years older than the rest. That was why she, despite her reservations, had decided to answer Admete's call rather than pretend she'd missed the memo. If the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement wanted to know their reasons for joining the core, the reason why must be important, and no doubt hers would be a bit different than the rest.

And that was what it all came back to. Her reasons, their reasons. Eha wouldn't dare divulge her full details, but seven years of Drumstrang trained her too well to lie to commanding officer. The trick would be to reveal just enough of the truth to be convincing without embellishing it with damning details. A tricky balance, but not impossible. It would simply be a matter of matching however much the Hogwarts kids gave in their own recitations.

She took a cup of tea while they waited for either the start of the meeting or the last of the stragglers. The first few sips proved rich and heavy, but dull to her taste. She waited for someone to start speaking and draw Madam Brown's attention. Then she slipped a flask from her pocket and added an extra kick to the drink, just the way she liked it.

That was enough to start with. Admete gave the trainees a bit of a smile, though it turned a bit sterner as she looked at the more disheveled Fayette. Dax, of course. She hadn't done too much with the trainees before her promotion, but she hadn't avoided them either.

"Thanks for coming. Hope you didn't worry too much." Still felt odd to have that impact on people. The big bad boss, even if she hadn't wrapped her own head around that.

She summoned a cup of black coffee over for herself and squared her shoulders. "Any questions before we start?" Time to see just how old they could make her feel.

She grinned at Dax when he sat down, and managed to refrain from winking at him. She watched as he slumped forward, and even Brett arched an eyebrow at the way his uniform looked. But then again, Brett had been doing her best to mind the rules the last couple of months. She could even give Dion a run for his money if she really tried. (Or so she thought.)

It wasn't that Brett was impatient, but she wished that they would get to the point of the meeting so that she could go about her business. She had a lot of paperwork to help finish, and was hoping to get it done early enough to catch a senior auror to take her out on patrol. If this meeting ran long, that wasn't going to happen, and if Brown didn't stop with the small talk and politeness, then this meeting was certainly bound to run quite long. She looked around at the other trainees to see whether or not the others gathered had any questions for the head of their department.

No questions. Good, could move on then. "Alright. Let's get started, then." Still short a trainee or two, but if you waited for everyone to be there then meetings would never happen. Ever.

Not all the trainees had come to them straight out of Hogwarts, or even from there, but they still were a lot closer to the whole recruitment process than Admete was. Old, yep, dragging herself past those thoughts for now though. One of her boots tapped on the glossy floor. "With the Tournament we'll be putting extra resources into recruitment this year." She paused and leaned forward, her gaze shifting between the various trainees. "Rather not waste them."

Crux of it, right there. A year of bored Aurors being swarmed by sixth and seventh years hurt Two in the long run. "That'd be where you come in. Anything you can tell us on why you joined, what snagged your interest, what big questions you had, it'll help."

She smirked and spread her hands. "Especially given that my experience with getting recruited is a couple decades out of date." Yep, back to feeling old. If not too bothered by it.

Fauna relaxed marginally. If this was really about recruiting new trainees, it wouldn't be so bad. She glanced at the friends beside her, assuming that Dion would remain as formal as ever, but Brett might become more talkative. Dax, well - she just hoped he wouldn't say anything too cheeky and get himself into trouble.

When Admete mentioned it had been a while since her recruitment, Fauna tried not to smile, wondering when exactly she'd been in school. It did make her think, though. About their school years and what had shaped them.

There was a pause. She shifted her feet ever so slightly, and the shiny floor squeaked.

"I think maybe for some of us," she began in a hesitant, thoughtful tone. "Things hit close to home these past few years. At Hogwarts, I mean." Fauna didn't list incidents, but thought of Remembering Day, Ava's death, and most recently, the kidnapping of Devlin's little sister.

"For me, it was really my seventh year that I started to think about being an Auror. When bad things happen to you or people you know, you either want to pretend it's not happening, or you want to act. To do something." She paused. "Training, the idea of becoming an Auror, makes you feel useful?"

Fauna glanced around at the others, managing not to fidget. She felt some of the students at Hogwarts were still going through the same things they had, experiencing the same turmoil and chaos, to one degree or another.

"I've just always wanted to be an auror," Brett answered. "When I was a kid, I saw the aurors capture a criminal. And ever since, it's all I've ever wanted to do. And, you know, growing up at the Hopping Pot I just idolized the scarlet robes and the ministry workers who did good things. I've always wanted to do something good, something to make a difference. I've never wanted to do anything else," she answered.

"And then my big brother Jacob became an auror, too. And after he did it, I just knew that I had to." Jacob Abraham was a much better auror than Brett, though. And his training had been far less hard and scandalous than hers was proving to be.

Brett nodded at Fauna, and carried on. "And Fauna is right, it's good to feel useful. To be able to do something about all the bad stuff that goes on in the world. But you know, maybe that's just the Gryffindor in me." Of course, Brett was far more interested in the action of the work more so than the background. Legwork was boring- busting in doors and taking down criminals, however, was fun and fascinating.

Finally, she gave half a shrug."For me it's just always been that I was going to be an auror one day. The decision wasn't hard. It was the same for my brother. Just something he always wanted to do."

While Fauna and Bret offered their contributions, Eha occupied her mouth with tight-lipped sips of tea, the faint burn of her extra kick tingling down her throat. Neither girl's response was anything radical. Everyone wanted job satisfaction, the glory of the hunt, and nobody could object to, 'it's what I've always wanted to do.'

She mulled it over, swirling the tea in her cup. Had she even considered what she wanted to do while she was in school? Drumstrang graduates were educated in military style, of course, but then again a number of her classmates originated from countries with a mandatory national service. She might have dabbled in the idea of dark wizard hunting when she was learning to duel or fight hand-to-hand. She also might have considered werewolf tracking, or bounty hunting magical beasts. But it hadn't been her childhood that settled her here. Not that childhood at least.

She waited until Fauna and Brett were finished, then waited a few moments more in a slightly awkward silence. She set down her tea.

"Aurors catch dark wizards," she said, as she avoided eye contact. "There's a dark wizard I want caught. And if I happen to be on the team that does it, so much the better. As for why I'm here rather than any other branch of law enforcement..." She shrugged. "Departments favor national citizenship over alumni credentials, and the Eesti Nõiavägi Politsei currently only accepts male applicants."

The answers were solid, if largely unsurprising. The wish to do good, to follow in another's footsteps, or to address the attacks on their world. Admete could remember having a few of those herself, for a different war. Trainee Farro's more personal motivation wasn't uncommon either, even if it could cause trouble down the line.

Her gaze lingered on the Fayette twins for a few seconds, they'd been quiet so far. "Speak up if you think of anything else. Here to hear it." And with the first bit of talking over, maybe they'd be just a bit less nervous.

She waited, long enough for a taste of her drink, then moved on to the next questions. "What'd you do when you'd decided you wanted to be an Auror?" Gray eyes flickered over to Trainee Blake for a moment, then to Abraham. Family members were an easy source for information, but only if you had some with Two. "Who'd you speak to, what helped the most?"

"And," she said, curving her hand inwards as her thumb ran across the back of her other fingers. "What helped least?

"Being in training isn't nearly as... exciting as I had expected," Brett said. "Somehow I got it in my head it would be all action and glory. It's really hard. And I think that's something that needs to be better emphasized when people sign up... I'm determined to stick it out. I've had my issues, there's no secret about that," she cast half a glance at Dax as she said so, "but I'm not going to let it stop me."

"Growing up 'round the Hopping Pot I just heard all these glorious stories. I think people really idealize the life of aurors as being something way different than it really is. Which isn't all bad, I guess..."

Brett shrugged a little again, and shifted in her seat. "Talking candidly with some of the senior aurors has helped most since I got here. Honesty. It helps to have someone be able to tell you that they have faith in you, even if you've mucked up everything else so far." Brett certainly had messed up everything she'd attempted since coming into her training. "It's good to be able to have someone explain how to do things better, instead of just telling you what you did wrong but not how to fix it. Open communication. I needed that, more than anything else..."

She trailed off a little, feeling a bit awkward about being so open with her fellow trainees. Well, rather, being so open with Admete Brown and Eha Farro. Her roommates knew her misgivings and her flaws just as well as she did- but these people did not, and being so vulnerable didn't sit well with her. But she was answering the questions, trying to give honest feedback. She wanted to be helpful... And being rude or unresponsive toward the head of the department would not be wise.

Fauna was grateful when Brett spoke first, and just as glad to hear her friend intended on sticking around despite issues. She could relate. After Brett trailed off, Fauna smiled at her, then chose her next words carefully. She couldn't tell everyone that the Head Auror herself had taken her under her wing after Fauna had stumbled on a brutal attack against a muggleborn. So she stuck with the bland basics.

“I spoke to the Aurors, and then talked to my professors to prepare for the potions newt and transfiguration newt, because I hadn’t had enough experience in those classes. The Deputy Headmaster at the time was really helpful. They were all encouraging, which helped.”

She glanced at Brett. "The open communication from some of the Aurors is really useful, like Brett said. And the Aurors who, well, don't hold back from challenging us. I might botch things more than I'd like, but it's nice to have the chance to, and I feel like I learn something every time." Fauna paused. "Like the time they took me along to the scene of the Tower murder."

She'd lost her breakfast on their shoes, would never forget the sight of that inverted corpse, and yet they'd let her stick around and offer questions and observations.

Fauna fell silent then, not wanting to delve into the unhelpful aspects. Her mum didn't particularly like that she'd chosen the dangerous career of Auror Training. Her roommates knew that her job interview here had been... very strange to say the least. And it definitely didn't help that Fauna still reacted to rudeness with mulish, moody backtalk! Nope, she wasn't going to bring that up.

Not much for criticism. Admete couldn't say she was surprised, not in a group in front of the department head. Still felt damn odd thinking of herself as the big boss.

Didn't seem like the big boss when she had to occasionally go scrabbling about for sugar cause maintenance forgot. Again. Maybe Three had bribed them.

"Don't let anyone tell you they didn't muck up in training. Know I did my share." Wasn't going to communicate all the details of that, they didn't need to hear that much. Let alone the nicknames. Merlin. She was glad Pratt hadn't run into those.

She turned to Blake, a bit of thoughtfulness in her expression. "There any classes that hang potential trainees up that most, that you've noticed? Any of you. Would help." Everything helped, really. Even if it just showed what they thought of her role. And the hefty new office.