38. Chapter 38

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Chapter 38

Career day.

Harry sighed as he stood in front of the door that would lead to McGonagall's office. Chairs lined the walls on either side of the door. Some were occupied with students waiting their turn but most were empty. Harry didn't exactly want to sit down. He was more of a pacer. And sure, it might bug some people out of their stress-induced daze but Harry could care less.

He glanced at the sign on the door again. Career day. The words did not change no matter how many times Harry looked at it and he couldn't help but chuckle. How often had he found himself here simply because he had been in trouble or in danger? It felt so very unreal to be here for something so very mundane and still feel more stressed about it then when he went after the Philosopher's stone in his first year.

He knew that he was being ridiculous. He had chosen his path already and he was following that until he became a Master. But on the other hand, he couldn't help but wonder what he should do if Lovegood kept rejecting him. Would he turn to the path of an Auror after all? In truth, he didn't want to. He had seen more than his fair share of blood and pain and didn't desire any more of that. Professional Quidditch player then? Snape might just kill him if he told him that. Harry chuckled to himself, earning some glares from the surrounding students. He just rolled his eyes and kept pacing when a new applicant walked into the corridor.

Harry frowned. "Draco?" he asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

Draco looked at him as if he was entirely too stupid. "The same as you, dunderhead," he said. "Career day."

"This is McGonagall's office though," Harry pointed out. "Don't you need to go find Snape?"

Draco smirked. "Oh dear, didn't he tell you?" he asked.

"Tell me what?" Harry asked in exasperation, not eager to play this game.

"The heads of houses are teaming up," Draco explained. "Apparently this is a way to combat bias.
They put Slytherin with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff with Ravenclaw."

"What a splendid idea," Harry snorted. "Do you think they'll get through this day unscathed?"

"I'm sure they will," Draco said dismissively. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"They're scheduled in two hours," Harry explained. "And unfortunately McGonagall made it very clear that no one was to loiter in the hallways until half an hour before their scheduled appointment."

Draco sat down into an empty chair and stretched his limbs, seemingly unbothered by being surrounded by Gryffindors.

"Where are the other Slytherins?" Harry asked.

"They were all scheduled later," Draco said. "I think they tried creating blocks of Slytherins and blocks of Gryffindors just to make sure that we don't hex each other's brains out."

"A nice distracting duel sure would be fun," Harry sighed. Draco merely chuckled in response.

The next thing they knew, the door opened and Dean Thomas came out looking surprisingly flustered and laden with a multitude of brochures. He quickly scampered out of the way, trying desperately not to drop anything and disappeared out of sight.

"Harry Potter," McGonagall called unnecessarily seeing how Harry stood practically in front of her. She nodded at him and walked back inside. Harry followed closely behind and with one last glance at Draco – who looked positively bored – he closed the door.

McGonagall appeared to have elongated her desk so it could comfortably fit both her and Snape who sat rigidly in his chair. The bored expression on his face matched Draco's and Harry couldn't help but snort, disguising it as a cough. Piles and piles of pamphlets and booklets lay in heaps behind McGonagall's desk and Harry curiously tried to sneak a peak but noticed that the lettering was too small to be legible from this distance. McGonagall locked the door magically and cast a silencing spell to boot – which Harry thought to be somewhat over the top – before taking her seat next to Snape.

"Welcome Mr Potter," McGonagall said, addressing him formally. "As you are aware, Professor Snape and I are here to discuss your future with you."

Harry nodded and felt a half-grin creep up his lip. "Yeah," he replied, "But I do believe that's pretty much taken care of."

"Is it?" McGonagall asked. "If you don't mind my asking what are your plans for the future?"

Harry blinked stupidly and glanced at Snape before replying. "I'm apprenticing to become a Potions Master," he explained. "That's what I'm doing and what I will be doing until I reach that goal."

"That's all well and good, Mr Potter but what are you planning to do with that degree once you've attained it?"

Harry opened his mouth to respond and was slightly taken aback when his words failed him. He hadn't really considered his options and truth be told, he really didn't know what options there were.

"You clearly haven't given this too much thought just yet," Snape pointed out. "Which is precisely why we are here."

Harry exhaled and leaned back in his seat, looking between his two teachers. "Very well," he said. "What are my options?"

"One of them should be quite obvious," Snape explained evenly. "You could always find a teaching position at a school that is hiring. If not Hogwarts, there are others."

"You could also become a healing brewer," McGonagall added. "It's a stressful job which means that hospitals like St Mungo's are always hiring. You would be working on cures, antidotes and your everyday healing potions."

"You might decide to take the scientific route," Snape then said. "If you enjoy inventing potions, you could make your career out of it. Invent new recipes, patent them and sell them to the highest bidder or just sell them yourself."

"Potioneers are always needed in alchemy, artefact creation, law enforcement…" McGonagall said.

"Even at the ministry, a skilled brewer is very much sought after," Snape supplied. "And there as well, there is a multitude of branches you could explore."

Harry's mind was reeling with all the new information he was getting. He never really thought about it all that much. He thought the career of a Potions Master would be rather straightforward but it turned out that it was far from it.

"I know this is a lot to take in, Harry," Snape said. "Which is why we have a proposition for you."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"As you are probably aware, there has been a massive outbreak among muggles causing St Mungo's to be flooded with patients. They are in dire need of assistance and have been asking the potions guild for journeyman brewers to accept an internship there."

"An internship?" Harry repeated cautiously.

"It would give you a look at another part of what being a Potions Master entails," McGonagall told him matter-of-factly. "Not only that but in an environment like St Mungo's, you are sure to get a lot of experience. More so than you would get at Hogwarts."

Harry contemplated this for a moment when Snape thrust a folder into his hands. Harry flipped it open to see the detailing of an internship as potioneer as well as some information about St Mungo's.

"But when would I do this?" Harry asked. "I'm still studying."

"It would have to wait until after your seventh year, of course," Snape said easily. "I still wish you to take your N.E.W.T's to the best of your abilities. But once this year is over, you would get started at St Mungo's."

"At the start of the summer break?" Harry asked, not sure if he would like that.

Snape sighed. "Apprenticeship or not, people are suffering," he said. "If you say yes to this offer, I will be wanting you to take it seriously. So yes. It will take most of your specialisation year including the summer break."

Harry mulled this over in his mind when he saw his two teachers staring at him.

"Do I have to decide now?" Harry asked.

"Of course not," McGonagall said easily. "Feel free to take your time but don't wait too long. St Mungo's requires confirmation by the end of May at the latest."

"In the meantime," Snape interjected, "Take these." He thrust an enormous stack of paperwork in Harry's arms and smirked as he watched the boy struggle. "They will help you explore your options. I'm sure Ms Granger will happily help you sort it out."

"Right," Harry said, somewhat flabbergasted. "Thanks. And I'll think it over."

"Make sure that you do," McGonagall said. "And inform Professor Snape of your decision."

"As soon as I make it, I will," Harry said. McGonagall opened the door for him and he hurried off, only glancing momentarily at Draco who had raised an eyebrow at his suddenly flushed appearance.

A few hours later, Harry found himself sagging into one of the chairs in the great hall. It wasn't time for dinner yet, but at least here he could sit and talk to his friends without being hushed. Hermione, Ron and Draco joined him very soon. Silently, he wished that Luna could be there as well but she was in class.

"That was highly informative," Hermione said excitedly.

Harry groaned. "A bit too much so," he said.

"There's no such thing as too informative," Hermione said exasperatedly.

Draco snickered. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "Would you care to listen to a detailed explanation of the night I've had with Ms Greengrass the other day?"

"Ew no!" Hermione replied quickly. "And you know that's not what I meant."

"What did they tell you, Ron?" Harry asked, trying desperately to steer away from the awkward conversation.

Ron sighed. "Can you believe that McGonagall is still bugging me about becoming an Auror?" he said. "I'm no good at potions at all and I'm not exactly trying to get a N.E.W.T in it so why would she even bring that up?"

"Surely you might be able to join one of your brothers in their careers," Hermione offered.

"What, and be a curse-breaker?" Ron asked incredulously. "Or tame dragons? You're mental. That's not for me." Ron sighed and laid down his head on top of his arms. "Maybe I'll become a professional quidditch player."

"What about you, Draco?" Hermione asked. "Do you still want to go in the artefact business?"

"I don't see why not," Draco said. "Though I must admit that I hadn't looked at it well enough yet. It turns out that there are a lot of different paths I can take to achieve my goal." He sighed and ran a hand through his perfectly groomed hair. "I'll need to take some time to think about this."

"I hear what you're saying," Harry sighed. "I never really thought what I would do with my life after I manage to become a Potions Master and it turns out that there's a whole lot of things I could do."

"Like what?" Hermione asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

Harry slid his pamphlets across the table to the bushy-haired girl which she excitedly accepted. "As you can see," Harry said, "there are many options. Snape even told me to consider an internship at St Mungo's."

"Harry, that's brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed. "You could gain so much experience over there. Especially now. Surely you accepted?"

"Not yet," Harry admitted. "I told Snape that I would be thinking it over. I'm not sure if St Mungo's would be for me, you know."

"But isn't Caratacus Lovegood the head of St Mungo's?" Draco pointed out.

"He is," Harry replied. "What's your point?"

Draco rolled his eyes and sneered at Harry. "Honestly!" he said. "You Gryffindors don't have an iota of cunning in your body, do you? Think, Harry. This would be your chance to show him what you're made of."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed, softly slapping the underside of his fist into his open palm. "I see what you're getting at. If I get him on my side, he might be able to convince the rest of the council to give me my mastery after all."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Have you learned nothing from living with a Slytherin?" he sighed. "This is probably why Snape proposed it in the first place."

"Either way, it sounds like a brilliant idea, Harry," Hermione said. "It will get you to brew in a professional setting to see what it's like. It would probably give you a better idea of what you want to become once you're done."

Harry smiled, feeling a bit more reassured. "You're right," he said. "Thanks. I think I will accept."

"There's a good boy," Draco mocked. "So anyway, Hermione. How did your appointment go?"

Harry truly tried his very best to listen to the different careers had been suggested to Hermione but there were so many and they all sounded so boring to Harry that he ended up zoning out. His mind was whirring with anticipation, thinking about just what it would be like to be working at St Mungo's.

Maya was watching over Snape's shoulder as he attempted to decipher yet another page in the book the Weasley twins had secured for him. He had gotten halfway through it by now, not in small part thanks to the book he had gotten from Maya for Christmas, but it was still a long and arduous journey to get through it all.

"I don't think that word is correct," Maya said, pointing at the word 'spear' Snape had just written down, smudging it in the process.

Snape sighed, gently swatting her hand away. "Then what do you think it says?" he asked.

"It clearly says 'staff," Maya told him. She sipped the tea she was holding and flopped down onto the couch next to him, folding her legs underneath her and leaning into Snape's shoulder. He absentmindedly put an arm around her shoulders while he kept staring at the pages.

"Hm," he said. "I think you're right. That would make a lot more sense." He replaced the offending error and went back to reading the text.

"Did you find anything interesting hidden in those pages yet?" Maya asked curiously.

"A few potion recipes," Snape told her. "Some of which I've never heard of before and others that seem to be older versions of modern potion recipes."

Maya snorted. "You're telling me that this book is full of potion recipes?" she asked. "And those Weasley twins just happened to find it for you?"

"Absolutely not," Snape told her, grinning widely. "I told them to get this book for me in exchange for one of my more benign inventions. I knew that it would be full of recipes."

"You're such a Slytherin," Maya sighed. She put her head on Snape's shoulder and allowed her eyes to droop. "Is there anything in there that isn't about potions?"

"A few things," Snape said. "There are some personal accounts of historical events. Mostly muggle events though, so I doubt you'd find it all that informative."

"Hm," came Maya's sleepy response.

"And there's mention of a few artefacts. Though most of them seem to be either lost or simply mythological."

"Meaning?" Maya asked.

"Meaning that no such artefact ever existed and they were made up to scare the muggles or perhaps lure them into submission."

Snape glanced at the brunette when she didn't respond anymore. Her breathing had evened out and she appeared to be soundly asleep. Snape sighed and flicked his wand to summon a blanket which he then clumsily draped across the sleeping form of the history Professor. He still didn't remove the arm he had draped around her.

"Merlin save me from foolish dunderheads that insist on keeping my company," he whispered softly. He gently brushed a strand of hair out of Maya's face and tucked it behind her ear. He kissed her gently on the forehead and flicked his wand once more to dim the lights and the fire in the hearth. He then rested his chin on top of Maya's head and closed his eyes, relishing the sense of peace that overcame him. The book lay momentarily forgotten.

The next couple of months were dominated by a blissful sense of calm. There was no drama, no life-threatening circumstances and no potions that sought urgent completion. In fact, the peacefulness of the time leading up to the N.E.W.T. finals got tedious very fast and even though Harry could often find distraction in the brewing of potions both old and new, he was desperately looking forward to the day where he no longer needed to study transfiguration or charms.

The Magic Muggle potion had been featured in 'The Practical Potioneer', courtesy of Snape, of course, and as a result, Harry had soon become flooded with either requests for permission to brew it or orders in which people offered an amount of galleons that was far higher than the potion ingredients it required.

Snape had told Harry that he could try to sell the patent to the recipe for a large sum of money; accept any amount of orders for the potion he wanted or just ignore both types of letters. For now, Harry thought it better to brew the potion himself – since he was still fine-tuning his skills anyway – and perhaps sell the recipe at a later time. After all, he could probably ask for even more money once he had attained the title of Master.

A large amount of Slytherins had been glaring at Harry menacingly once they caught wind of the Magic Muggle potion – probably due to the fact that they didn't want muggles to have anything to do with their world – but after a few weeks, they seemed to forget all about it and went back to their routine of ignoring Harry to the best of their abilities.

Harry had been very pleased when he had walked into the N.E.W.T. exam for potions only to find out that he would be brewing the draught of living death for his examination. With a confident look on his face that was not shared by many other attendees, he had brewed the potion easily – ignoring the examiner every time she stepped near his cauldron – and completed it to what he knew was absolute perfection.

Transfiguration was a different matter entirely. Harry had never fully gotten the hang of human transfiguration, despite having practised his skills for days. The blond test subject whose hair he was supposed to transfigure into a long, black, curly mane instead of his short bob still had streaks of yellow run through his hair which honestly looked quite fashionable but would no doubt be a cause for point deduction.

Defence against the dark arts was – as was to be expected – a breeze as well. For this test, Harry was supposed to duel with his examiner. The man had obviously started out rather cautiously, firing spells of mid-level strength that Harry had blocked very easily. Once Harry had actually managed to get a few shots in, the examiner became rather serious and started duelling Harry in earnest. It was the most fun Harry had ever had in an exam and he had to admit that the man had been very good. After fifteen minutes, the man had called a halt to the exam, even though there had been no obvious victor. But Harry had seen the obvious smile that had graced the man's lips.

Harry was semi-certain that he had managed to pass his exam for Herbology if only because of the help Neville had given him while studying. He thought he had managed to identify each plant correctly but had not been able to repot the Narcissistic Newt Vine without allowing it a glimpse of its own crystallized roots. Unfortunately, it started swooning as it became enamoured with itself and refused to be buried again without some forceful convincing on Harry's part. It left the poor plant heartbroken and no doubt earned Harry some bad marks.

And last but not least, Harry had to struggle through his charms exam. It had been rather difficult to charm what Harry could only describe as a rabbit raccoon into submission but he thought he had done a pretty good job at it. He had calmed it down considerably and had even dared to pet the raccoon. Unfortunately, the racoon had bitten him in the end when his charm had worn off too quickly. Harry thought he would have flunked for sure. His only hope was the extra points he would have gotten for performing the spell non-verbally.

Naturally, by the end of it all, Hermione was stressing about all of her subjects, worrying about the slightest errors while Ron was just happy to have it all behind him and took to leisurely lounging about the common room. He vowed to never set foot in the library again. Even Harry took a break after he was done with his N.E.W.T's and joined Ron in games of chess and flew around the quidditch pitch with both Draco – who was absolutely positive that he passed every subject – and Ron. With Luna, he spent many a peacefully casual moment in the confines of empty classrooms and forgotten clearings in the Forbidden Forest.

And then – at last – the day had finally come for the seventh-years to receive their N.E.W.T. results. Unlike the OWL's, which were sent by owl post during the summer break – these results were announced on the very last day of school so the students would know just what steps they could take next.

That's how Harry found himself in McGonagall's office once again, staring down into a very large cup – not unlike the house cup – in which a crystal blue concoction swirled, white wisps of cold smoke escaping its vortex.

"Are you ready for this, Mr Potter?" McGonagall asked, a small smile tugging on her lips.

Harry smiled nervously. "I don't suppose you can give me a hint?" he asked, only half-joking.

"Even if I wanted to, I can't," McGonagall told him frankly. "I don't know the results myself, either." She handed Harry a piece of parchment with nothing but his name on it and gestured towards the cup. "Let's find out together, shall we? Just toss in your name, if you will."

Harry chuckled. "I couldn't have just opened a letter or something, could I?" he said.

McGonagall smiled at him. "The headmaster does like to add a bit of magic to every experience," she said fondly. "At least I've been able to stop him from charming the toilets to speak to their occupants."

Harry laughed, more because of his nervousness than the joke but he appreciated McGonagall's attempt to distract him. He took one more deep breath and tossed in the piece of parchment. It dissolved quickly in the seemingly acidic liquid and the white wisps rose and changed to a golden colour as they formed words and letters.

Potions: O
Transfiguration: E
Defence Against The Dark Arts: O
Herbology: E
Charms: A

Harry grinned broadly as he took in his marks. He passed all five of his N.E.W.T.'s, even if he had been cutting it kind of close with charms. He glanced over at his head of house who was beaming at him brightly and felt oddly aware of the fact that she would no longer be in charge of him very soon.

"Well done, Mr Potter," she told him fondly. "Though I must admit that I never had any doubt in your abilities."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied proudly. "I couldn't have done it without your guidance."

And that's that. Are you happy with where this is headed, I wonder? Can you imagine what will happen next? Please don't forget to send a review my way. It will make me all the happier. As for tomorrow, I have another Christmas party that starts at a somewhat awkward time so I might be updating either a lot earlier or a lot later than usual. We'll see.