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“Alright, congrats to the six of you. You’ve officially passed all parts of the training to be Aurors, although some of you I’m still not sure how you passed. Enjoy the night off, because tomorrow morning you will be reporting bright and early as Aurors Chang, Granger, Longbottom, Malfoy, Potter and Weasley.”
A chorus of, “thank you, Auror Black,” was heard from the six newly-minted Aurors in the room. They all shuffled out and decided to head to the Leaky Cauldron to celebrate.
After a few pints of butterbeer and many shots of Firewhiskey, everyone was significantly pissed, save for Hermione who kept reminding everyone that they had work in the morning and shouldn’t come in to work on their first official day hungover.
“Live a little, Hermione,” Ron slurred. “We’re the Golden Trio, we deserve a beverage or two for becoming Aurors.”
“Need I remind you that you barely passed the written examination, even after I forced you to study for a week, Auror Weasley ,” Hermione’s tone was teasing, but her words were true.
Harry had just opened his mouth to get them to stop bickering when a silvery wolf patronus appeared in front of them all.
“Get to the ministry, immediately,” was all that came out of the Patronus’ mouth.
“Shit, that’s my cousin Tonks’ patronus. Something bad must be happening if they’re calling us in; they must need all hands on deck, we’ve only been Aurors for three hours,” Draco was panicking.
“I told you guys not to drink so much, come on let’s go,” Hermione commanded, watching as the other five stumbled to their feet, “we better floo in since you will probably splinch yourselves in this state.”
As soon as all six of them had flooed to the Ministry, they felt an oppressive force upon them, heightened by the fact that it was completely dark. Hermione was the first to act and tried to cast Lumos, but found she couldn’t produce even the easiest of charms. The six of them huddled together, not knowing what was happening or who could be in the Ministry Atrium with them.
A familiar voice called out from the shadows, “did you guys really believe training was as simple as taking an exam and proving you can cast a few spells?”
“Head Auror Black, is that you?” Cho tried her best to sound sober, but the fear in her voice gave away a slight slurring in her words.
“Ah, seems the kiddies have been out to play. If it’s childish games you guys are interested in, let’s play a game, come join us,” as Black spoke, the lights came on. The room was clear except for a large table in the center where Aurors Black and Tonks sat with eight glasses of water, one at each seat.
The group nervously made their way over and sat, unsure of what was happening.
“Drink up, kiddos; it seems you all need to rehydrate,” Black spoke with authority, leaving no option but to drink.
Everyone raised their glasses and downed them, but the drink was bitter and definitely not water.
“Ugh, what the shite is that, are you trying to poison us?” Ron asked.
“Of course not, dearie,” Ron turned red at the condescending pet name coming from Black, “I’m trying to play a game with you all. I just had us all drink Veritaserum, so there’s no getting out of telling the truth. Now, since you seem so eager to play...Truth or Dare?”
“You called us into the Ministry to play truth or dare?” Neville finally spoke up, completely bewildered.
“It’s the simplest way to test your loyalty and bravery, so yes, that is why you are here. Now, Ron, answer my question.”
“Fine, you madwoman, truth.”
Everyone looked at Ron, shocked he would be so rude, but Bellatrix only cackled. “It seems you’ve got some fire when forced to tell the truth. Tell me, how rat arsed are you?”
“Completely and utterly shitfaced,” Ron spoke with no hesitation, forced to be honest.
“As I suspected. I’m gonna up the stakes of this game for everyone. Every time it’s your turn, you must take a shot. If you want to refuse your truth or dare you can, in exchange for taking a second shot. Last one of the six of you to pass out or puke, gets an extra week of vacation time. Now, Ron, continue the game.”
“Fine, Hermione, truth or dare?” Ron asked.
Hermione immediately felt a compulsion to take a shot according to the new rule and downed it, grimacing. “Dare.”
“I dare you to not speak for the rest of the game.”
Auror Black laughed again, as she conjured a scroll and quill, “I’ll provide some materials if you choose to keep your mouth shut, so you can still play. Or you can take another shot.”
Hermione, refusing to lose the game by getting too drunk angrily took the parchment and wrote, “Tonks, truth or dare?”
“Dare, of course”
Hermione thought for a second and wrote, “I dare you to morph into the ugliest person you can imagine.”
The group watched as Tonks used her Metamorphmagus skills to transform into a cross between Mundungus and Umbridge before their eyes, which was followed by a round of laughter.
The game continued to pass with a duel between Draco and Neville, leaving Neville knocked out and out of the game. Cho refused to answer a salacious question about her love life and chose to take a shot, resulting in her puking and out of the game.
Hermione’s eyes widened as Black got Ron to admit to the depth of his feelings for Hermione. She was finding it rather lucky that she couldn’t say anything out loud at this moment, until Ron turned to her and asked, “truth or dare?”
She took a shot and wrote “dare,” hoping this would at least avoid the possibility of her having to break his heart in the midst of a game.
“I dare you to kiss me.”
Oh fuck, that plan backfired. She avoided eye contact with everyone at the table and poured herself a second shot to escape the dare. The room was filled with tension and she peeked over and saw Ron red-faced and taking a shot of his own. She tried to ignore the pang of guilt in her chest and carefully wrote, “Auror Black, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
The silence of the room was broken only by the scratch of a quill, “why are you making us play this game? It doesn’t seem like we’re doing any actual training.”
“We do something like this every year, at the end of training. It’s more of a team bonding thing than anything else. You need to know everything about each other, so that you can trust each other in the field. And I need to gather enough information to assign your partners, ensuring I don’t create an uncomfortable situation. Lastly, I realize that you are all intimidated by me, but I need the trust to exist between us all as well.”
The end of Auror Black’s speech was marked by Ron hitting the floor, passed out. Hermione groaned and put her head in her hands, completely embarrassed by his actions.
“Safe to say, I know not to partner you with him now,” Black joked.
The game began to pick up again, getting crazier by the minute. Draco was now sitting on Harry’s lap, looking rather cozy, which wasn’t missed by the three witches. Tonks had broken into Umbridge’s office and smashed a cat plate. And yet again, Hermione found herself in the hot seat when Harry asked her to admit who she had a crush on. Harry didn’t know the truth so she couldn’t blame him, but also knew if she took this shot to get out of it, she would likely vomit.
She steeled her resolve and wrote with a shaky hand, “Head Auror Bellatrix Black.” She felt the heat rise to her cheeks as everyone leaned across the table to read what she wrote. She looked up and saw three faces with jaws dropped in complete shock and one smugly triumphant smirk.
Hermione barely noticed the rest of the game, it passed in a blur. The only thing she was aware of was Bellatrix’s eyes on her the entire time. She couldn’t bear to meet them afraid of the rejection she knew was coming.
The sound of light snoring came from the chair Harry and Draco occupied and all the sudden, Hermione realized she was the last of the new Aurors to stay awake.
“Nymphadora, I dare you to leave,” Black said quietly, scarcely more than a whisper.
“You got it, Aunt Bella,” Nymphadora disapparated immediately, not even bothering to get angry at the use of her full name.
Hermione felt incredibly uncomfortable, not knowing what she should do now. Bellatrix’s eyes were still on her, and she finally looked up and met the steely gaze.
“One last round before I declare you the winner. Truth or dare?”
Hermione took a deep breath and exhaled, “okay dare.”
“I dare you to kiss me.” The same dare Ron had asked of her, but so much more delicious coming from this woman.
Hermione walked to the other side of the table and went to press a chaste kiss to Black’s lips, but Bellatrix was having none of that. She grabbed Hermione by the hips and pulled their bodies close together.
“I meant a proper kiss, pet.”
The two sets of lips reconnected in a fiery passion, full of longing and secrets come to light. Hermione didn’t even notice the pull of apparition, until all the sudden she was being pushed into a bed, with the softest sheets she’d ever felt.
“I suggest you take your one week of vacation, starting now.”
“Yes, let me just tell the Head Auror,” Hermione said, grinning cheekily up at Bellatrix who stood above her slowly unlacing her corset.