At noon, the Great Hall had been set up for lunch, with the traditional house tables and several smaller tables by the edges of the hall. Fauna had just come from the St. Mungo's panel with Grace, mostly to show support and keep her friend company. Fauna had paid little attention to the actual lecture and had instead spent her time trying not to laugh at an overzealous first-year in the front row.

Now, she hesitated near the Hufflepuffs, watching the long tables fill up with students while the employers took the smaller ones. She wiped her palms on her outfit, which one of her housemates had affectionately dubbed 'nursery school teacher-esque' (Fauna had been less amused), and nudged Grace with her arm.

"Do you think it would be really odd if we stopped by and said hi to the Aurors sitting over there?" Fauna wondered, tilting her head over to the table where Trevelyan and Pratt had just sat down.

"I mean, maybe they just want to be left alone for an hour?" She continued, biting her lip. "Or, hmm, I don't know. It's just, the booth has been surrounded since nine this morning."

For the first few hours of the fair, Fauna had been waiting for the right time to approach, and she'd been coming up with excuse after excuse to avoid it. There were too many people. There were too many fourth-year girls giggling over Eddie Pratt. There were too many stories about advice like 'sending Howlers to Raynor'. The list went on.

Fauna needed a kick in the arse. She glanced at Grace, then at Dion, who was standing nearby and looked like he'd overheard.

Grace felt that she had a slight advantage over some of her classmates: she knew what she wanted to be when she “grew up”. Grace had known that she wanted to be a healer within the wizarding world for the better part of five years. Ever since her mother had been diagnosed with cancer, Grace had had the notion that somehow she'd be able to magically cure her mother.

Unfortunately, cancer was one aspect in the medical world where muggle science and the wonders of magic had yet to solve the problem. Both muggles and wizards were afflicted by the disease and both communities still wrestled with how best to cure it. This was something that Grace found to be not only fascinating as an intellectual, but it also hit quite close to home, giving her even more motivation to pursue it.

Still, even though she planned to visit the St. Mungo's booth with confidence in her decision to become a healer and ensuring that she secured one-on-one time with many of the department heads (as well as checking in with her mentor, Moira Randall), Grace tagged along with some of her classmates to other booths.

The first that piqued her interest was the Year Out Adventures, although she certainly was not in any rush to get to that since she could always talk to her head of house about it.

The second, and more pressing, was the Auror booth with Fauna. Grace was excited for her Hufflepuff friend and encouraged her quite a bit to pursue the challenging and exciting career of what she liked to call a wizard police officer. If Grace wasn't so dead-set on becoming a healer, she admitted to being interested in the profession herself. What was more, her uncle (who she had never really known much about until just recently) was a member of the Auror Corps, and that stoked her interest even more. Part of her wondered if such adventurous yet noble pursuit not only was befitting of her because of her house, but also because of her familial connection. Perhaps the Trevelyan part of her was meant to be an Auror, because obviously her uncle was a pretty good one (this was something that she assumed and obviously had not been privy to first hand knowledge).

It was for this reason that Grace barely hesitated when Fauna nudged her arm and asked about going to speak with some of the aurors from the panel during lunch. “Oh I wouldn't worry about it, Fauna! Especially since he--” she pointed her finger towards Trevelyan, “Is my uncle!”

Grace grasped Fauna's arm and looked over at Dion. “C'mon. Let's go say hello.” She started to head in the direction of the table Fauna had pointed to, barely with a thought that she might embarrass her uncle. Instead, she called, “Uncle Jonas!”

The girls had both nodded at him, rather suddenly; to Dion, that was as good an invitation as any - and likely as good as he was going to get. He strolled over to them in a few long strides, frowning vaguely, largely in confusion. He'd been resting against the wall nearby and had been...well, accidently eavesdropping, for lack of a better term. Fauna had caught his attention via her mere presence and listening to her speak to Grace had come second. He hadn't had much intention of following them until they apparently noticed him.

"Am I to take by your stares I'm allowed to tag along, or do you want me to bugger off?" He asked, with uncharacteristic playfulness. He stood with his hands in his pockets, frown morphing to a slight smirk. He wasn't about to turn down one-on-one time with Aurors. He adjusted his hat absently, aware suddenly that he was nervous. It was an odd feeling, but all of a sudden something actually important might happen and he felt a pang of...well. Dax had more stupid confidence than he.

"You're uncle's an Auror?" He whispered to Grace, in surprise.

"Naw, I don't think it'll work out to every Saturday," Jonas assured his fellow Auror cheerfully, as he attempted to break apart the pie on his plate with a fork to see what was inside it.  "Though it's well worth it even if it does, innit?  They deserve what they get if they bloody well give us an entire army of minions for the summer, mate.  Besides," he concluded brightly, stabbing through the decimated remains with a careful precision, "reckon the chances are good that at least one or two of the kids'll become Aurors in the end, don't you think?  At least it gives you a chance to get 'em started on making coffee early!"

The day had so far been an unbridled success.  Achieving his primary objective for the day ('Keep Ed Pratt Happy') had gone hand in hand with Goal Number Two, which was to turn the punishment detail into as much of a headache for his coworkers as he possibly could.  He and Pratt had spent the morning giving out contact details, encouraging the kids to send letters and howlers, and inventing an entire summer training program off the top of their heads, all in the name of Increasing Auror Recruitment.  The entire endeavor had cunningly set the stage for what was very likely going to be an extraordinarily entertaining Monday back in the office, assuming that they both survived it.

Whether the start of the workweek resulted in their untimely deaths or not, Jonas was already ticking the mental tally in his head forward by one.  The rush of success was exciting enough that he had almost forgotten about their third objective for the day ('Actually Recruit Aurors') until he heard his name being called across the Great Hall.

The red-headed Auror glanced up, though there was only one person that it was likely to be.  He knew his niece was in her seventh year at Hogwarts, and he'd been keeping a careful eye out for her during the morning.  It was hardly surprising to see her striding with purpose to their table, accompanied by both the tall, blond Hufflepuff kid from earlier and his onetime erstwhile daughter.

"Company," he murmured to Pratt, mentally preparing himself for the certain onslaught of ginger jokes as he shifted down the bench to make room.

"Can't imagine running into you here, Grace," Jonas greeted the Gryffindor girl with a quick smile.  "You lot care to sit down?  Mr Fayette.  Miss Blake," he added, flashing the last of the trio a lopsided grin.  "Your mum says hello.  She still talks about how much she enjoyed those flowers."

It was truthful to say that Eddie wasn’t his usual self today. He was trying his damndest to remain jovial, open to causing as much trouble as possible for their head auror for setting them on this task and inspiring interest for the career in the young eager students. No matter how much he loved his job, it was extremely difficult to inspire kids to join a career that 5 days ago had caused his parents to be murdered. But nonetheless, Ed allowed the day and Jonas to distract him and he put on a fake, happy persona to battle through the day.

“We just need to make sure we’re not gonna be dragged into doin’ this camp rubbish every Saturday, Paddy.” The auror muttered back before shoving the mouthful of pie from his fork into his mouth, chewing as he continued to speak. “I’ve got betta things to do wi’me time than” he swallowed and started stabbing chips with his fork, “than showin’ sproggs the glamorous side o’this job.” The blonde auror would definitely have been up for this whole idea if he was in better spirits. As it was he didn’t feel like he had the patience to deal with coaching Hogwarts students in how to hex someone. There was a reason he wasn’t kept around trainees when he wasn’t grieving and angry.

Fortunately the conversation was interrupted when a young girl hollered across the great hall and started for the auror’s table. Jonas acknowledged her and Ed’s eyebrows rose. “Oh aye, she’s a bit young fer ye, Paddy.” He offered a cheeky grin before shoving the chips into his mouth and continuing to happily fill his stomach up on free food.

While chewing on the free food, Ed shuffled down the bench as well to allow the students to sit down. He wasn’t sure how he felt about being joined right then but all this was certainly a welcome distraction. So he did offer a friendly smile once the chips had been swallowed.

"Y'alrigh' kids?"

Fauna looked both grateful and anxious when Grace steered them towards the Aurors, and she caught Dion's arm after Grace caught hers, nodding when he asked if Grace's uncle was an Auror. She remembered Trevelyan from that day she'd visited Tamis in the hospital, and had liked his joking, cheerful personality. When Grace had told her that she and Jonas were related, Fauna briefly mentioned meeting him once. Mostly, she was glad someone was looking out for Grace.

She hovered by the table, giving the two Aurors a shy smile. She'd met Edward Pratt before too, when Auror Malone had called her out of Charms to question her about SAWS in November. Malone and Pratt had treated her fairly, and though she felt a twinge of embarrassment wondering if Pratt remembered her, the only real negative feeling was anxiousness about imposing on them.

Fauna took a seat, the joke putting her more at ease. "Oh, well, you know. Can't go wrong with yellow," she grinned back at Trevelyan, then shot her friends an awkward look when she realized they likely had no idea what she was referring to.

"Uh, the booth has been a big hit today," she commented, hoping to bring up something they could all talk about. A full plate of food magically appeared in front of her, and Fauna glanced at it for a moment, then looked at Grace and Dion to see what they were doing. Despite Grace's bold greeting, Treveylan's friendly welcome, and Pratt's easygoing one, she was still a bit worried about butting in during their lunch break.

Grace beamed as their little group of seventh years approached the Aurors. Since learning of her connection with Jonas, Grace was brimming with a little more pride. For years she had sat back and listened to many a classmate talk about their family members who had connections in the magical world and in some ways she had been envious of them, even as she brushed it off and became determined to blaze her own trail. It was nice to know that the road wasn't quite so lonely anymore.

 Her appreciation for that bond, no matter how new, manifested itself in her sudden urge to give Jonas a hug, even though she knew it might embarrass him. So she didn't hug him. Instead, she just took a seat next to him and grinned. She was just there to say hello and support Fauna and Dion, who she knew wanted to be Aurors.

When Fauna commented on the booth's popularity, Grace looked from her uncle to Pratt and chimed in, “Looks like a lot of people what to be Aurors, huh?”

Dion, whose eyebrows had risen as Jonas addressed him, sat down quietly. He was keeping his body language as formal as he could, to hide the rush of nervousness.

"Sirs," he said in greeting, nodding politely to both Aurors as lunch appeared before him with a pop. He jumped imperceptibly and gave the plate a look like it owed him money.

"Yes, the booth was quite crowded," he said quickly, smiling again. "Couldn't get near it for all the 2nd and 3rd years around, really. Very frustrating." Honestly, 7th years - and Prefects -  should have gotten first go. It was only fair.

"What have you got planned for the panel?" He asked.

"Planning on pummeling some unsuspecting students," Adon said with a liesurely stretch as he settled at the table--on the Auror side, beside Pratt. He reached across the table, hand hovering over Jonas' plate, looking for something to grab. He moved from the remnants of mushy peas to the bits of carcass of some fowl. He screwed up his face, displeased.

The hand swiveled to his left, and grabbed a chip from Pratt's. As he munched, his eyes shifted to the students congregating just to the other side of Pratt and Jonas. "So!" he said with a bright, feigned casual tone, "I keep hearing the booth was pretty crowded--must be a real hit," he observed for the fourth time that conversation. With a cheeky grin, he added, "I had better introduce myself before anyone else can. Adon Eleor." Probably should have put a title before that. "Auror," he added, still smiling at the students.

He assessed the others. Grace--the auburn-haired 7th year Adon had been instructed to covertly look out for on patrol. He knew her, but they hadn't talked.  A toe-headed kid with beach-muscle biceps. Probably a fair amount of vanity there; likely a bit of an ego, too. And. . .

Was that Dolly St. James?

Adon frowned slightly, tilting his head, hoping the angle might shed new light. He tried to conjure a mental image of her. Seemed like. Only. . . well, maybe she was at the career fair, after all. Though he didn't think hack-novelist was much of a profession.

Adon's hand instinctively approached Eddie's plate once more before he consciously pulled it back. Jonas and he'd talked about this. Today was Make Eddie Happy Day. That probably didn't consist of polishing off his meal. In wedging himself towards the end, Adon hadn't managed to sit before one of the magically-filling plates. He frowned and eyed the hangers-on. "I'm starving. Who's sharing?" They were scrubs, right? This'd probably make their day. He knew it made Hills', their investigative technician.

 

Apparently the kids were just waiting for an invitation.  Once he and Pratt had made it clear that they were welcome, the trio swarmed the table, taking seats to join them for lunch.  Jonas raised his eyebrows, regarding the three students bemusedly as they claimed plates and chairs.  This was the part of life as an Auror that he didn't think he would ever get used to again: the effortless cool brought on simply by virtue of the job title.  After so many years of existing on the margin, being a figure of authority never felt as natural as it once had.

The camaraderie, though, he had certainly gotten used to again, even if it pre-empted his opportunities for obnoxious greetings.  Jonas rolled his eyes for effect as his partner joined them at the table, flashing Adon a good-natured smile as he picked up his fork once more.

"Yeah, most of the crowd was hoping to get a glimpse of the depths of the waters of our souls," he quipped, shooting a lopsided grin at the Israeli.  "Too bad Pratt and I are both so shallow; reckon they all went off disappointed.  You'll have to give 'em a better look during the demonstration, mate."

Windows to the soul or not, he was learning about how far he could generally push Adon in public.  The younger Auror wasn't sensitive, exactly, but he had very clear limits on how much teasing he could take.  Considering how enthusiastically the Fayette kid had responded to his quoting of the Witch Weekly article earlier that morning, it was probably best to change the subject for now rather than leave Adon open for another attack.

"Yeah, reckon the crowd was more in response to the subject matter than anyone who was talking about it," he put in, flashing the kids a quick smile as he returned to the painstaking task of prodding through the pie with his fork.  "The Corps have their reputation -- bit like SIS in the Muggle world, innit?  Strikes everyone as the adventure that they think they'd like to have, even if there's only a handful who can really make it through."

Adon Eleor, bold as a rainbow coloured peacock who’d eaten a forever glow lamp plonked himself down beside his blond colleague and bravely snatched a chip. The students at the table had been forgotten as the green eyed auror scanned up at the suicidal stupid peacock and scowled. He had just stolen a piece of cooked potato heaven from a man already on the edge. It was lucky such an act performed once wasn’t going to tip him. It was just going to result in a furious glare being pointed in the younger auror’s direction. Oh if looks could maim…

Ed’s grip tightened on his fork as his expression relaxed and he simply eyed Eleor suspiciously before cutting into the pie once more. The thieving auror happily introduced himself to the students who had previously ambushed the table and Ed wondered why he hadn’t stayed in bed that morning like sense had told him. Instead he was defending his lunch from uninvited invaders with quick fingers and a greedy stomach.

"I'm starving. Who's sharing?"

“Try sharin’ again, Eleor and ye’ll ‘ave a fork in yer ‘and.” Pratt said slowly before offering a large fake grin. He then took a large bite of pie and began to survey the students at their table.

His eyes settled on the blond mouthy lad from earlier.
“Ye get to dive into the waters of his soul.” The knife was pointed lazily in Eleor’s direction before Ed cocked an eyebrow. “Thought ye’d sin’ and said enough at the stall earlier, lad.”

Fauna smiled nervously when Auror Eleor joined them. The banter between the three Aurors was pretty amusing, though it explained a lot when Auror Pratt implied that Dax had overstayed his welcome at the booth. Uh oh. Fauna glanced at Dion rubbing his forehead and felt a flash of sympathy[1].

"That was his twin," she piped up, looking over at the Hufflepuff table where the other blond was stuffing his face.

"He's a little, uh... bold sometimes." Unabashedly flirtatious and crass was a better way to describe it. "Dion balances him out though," she added, hoping Dax hadn't done anything too barmy.

When it seemed like the confusion was over, she went back to Trevelyan's comment about only a handful making it into the Corps.

"What do you reckon would give trainees an edge?" Fauna asked Trevelyan hesitantly, still trying to figure out her place in all of this. "Ninja-like ability to steal crisps?"

A shy grin spread across her face, and she nudged her plate an inch or two towards Eleor. She couldn't help it. The 'waters of his soul' drew her in!

1.	G-modding approved by Armiece!

Jonas laughed, flashing Fauna a crooked grin as he leaned back on the bench.  "Yeah, being able to flip out and kill people might help," he agreed cheerfully, keeping a careful eye on the duo across the table.  Adon had taken on looking out for Pratt as his new personal mission, but he knew that his partner had his buttons.  Even under normal circumstances, the blonde Auror had a knack for rubbing people just the wrong way to make them snap.

"You want the party line, then your NEWTs count.  You've got to go through a barrage of personal tests and an interview before you're accepted for training.  Best thing I can tell you is to use your time to study spells and be prepared to fail -- the point of training is that everyone takes a turn at it sometime," he said with an easy shrug.  "The Ministry doesn't want Aurors who are perfect, they want ones who can take the hits and roll with them.  Some of the hardest years of me life, training was.  You learn a lot about how you handle when things aren't going so well."

He turned his gaze thoughtfully back on Fauna, then Mr Fayette -- Dion Fayette -- and finally Grace.  It was intriguing to think that for all that he knew his niece, he didn't really know her so well.  Was she just stopping by to see the relative that she'd recently discovered a connection with, or was she interested in becoming an Auror as well? 

For all that he was here to officially recruit, somehow the idea of signing up his own niece was decidedly less appealing.  Jonas raised his eyebrows, shifting his attention back to the other two.

"Why?  You lot thinking about joining the Corps?" he asked easily.  He was painfully aware of Eddie sitting across from him; the least he could do was avoid eye contact with the other man. "Should warn you too that it's not a good time at the Ministry right now.  Things on Level Two have been as dark as I've ever seen them.  You come in as recruits, you'll be tossed right into the thick of it."

The Aurors were certainly not exactly what he'd expected. Erratic, flippant, casual; all the things Dion felt very strongly a proper Auror shouldn't be. Friendly wasn't a problem, and perhaps despite himself, Jonas was turning out to be the one Dion considered the more Respectable. So far.

His little speech did make Dion pause, however. He looked down at his hands, folding his fingers together. He knew all that, or course. "With all due respect, sirs," he started, and glanced to Fauna, his expression...mixed; a hint of reassurance to her, and resolve for him. "With all due respect, sirs, that's why we're signing up," he said, straightening his back, jaw out, his mixed expression lost to his usual barrier of self confidence and discipline.

"You can't stop the dark happenings by sitting around," he said, simply. "Or by getting scared and not joining up. I'd rather try to stop it and fail than sit and complain that the Aurors can't their jobs while I do nothing," he added, his tone gaining a momentary growl.

His stomach twisted slightly. He wasn't lying, exactly, but he'd never admit out loud the idea of his brother, or father or even his mother - for all her stupidity - becoming targets to get to him scared him deeply. Dion didn't like being scared. It made him angry, yes, but the idea that he could come back one night and find his mother sprayed all over a wall simply because he'd been doing his job scared him like nothing else ever had.

Grace was happy to sit at the table with the others and allow them all to talk. Unlike her peers, Grace had no expectations and no anxiety sitting with the Aurors because she had never seriously considered joining the corps. Even as she sat there and grinned as she watched her uncle banter back and forth with his co-workers and it crossed her mind how she could easily see the same kind of report existing with herself and some of her fellow seventh years, it was serious thinking by any means.

So she nibbled away at her food and her brown eyes darted back and forth between Fauna and Dion and then to her uncle and his sidekicks. When the question was posed about if they were planning to join up, Grace didn't even think to respond because she didn't think it was directed towards her. But after Dion commented, she decided to add something in support. "Well, I think Dion and Fauna can handle the job just fine." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized how simple and silly they must sound. Her endorsement was not going to get them accepted into the corps. She quickly added, "Well, they're just really involved here....with SAWS and doing what's right. Doing a job for the right reasons and because you are committed to helping others is definitely a quality any department in the Ministry would want to have."

Spoken like a true Gryffindor, she quickly jested with herself.

She flushed and aloud, she informed them, "Like me, I'm going to be a healer. Because....well...I want to heal people."

And that there, she thought as she bit her lip and cringed slightly. That was spoken like a true master of the obvious...