Chapter 27.2- Doom Days

“Thank you. You were quite convincing— the facts were just against you” I said accepting his handshake. Refusing a handshake was a big no no in Wizarding tradition. The kind of things honour duels were fought over.

“Indeed. I am sure from your end it might seem like I was pulling things out of the aether, but Minister Fudge did truly convince me of his truth. He and I will be having words after this for sure” The man said, sounding menacing even with a bright politician’s smile on his face.

“You’ll get in line, Charles.” Madame Bones stepped towards us.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter”

“You as well, Madame Bones. Your reputation precedes you” I said.

“I wonder what you would have heard. But that can be discussed on another day. I thought the first time I would meet you in person, it would be inviting you to join the auror corps from what I saw of your fight against the Hellhounds and your duels against your fellow champions. But now I wonder if we won’t be seeing you as one of our prosecutors one day” She said with a smile that was less practiced that Forswythe’s, but a good deal more honest.

“You flatter me” I said.

“I wish I did. Do reach out if I could do anything for you or your Godfather” She said.

“Great work once again, Mr. Potter” Forwythe added.

“Let’s go, Charles. Before our dear Minister gets us sued again” She said, dragging him towards where Fudge was saying something that Sirius definitely wasn’t enjoying having to hear.

In no time, the three of them were on their way, leaving Sirius and I standing outside the ICW meeting hall.

“How does it feel? Freedom” I asked.

“Better than a thousand woman with knockers as big as Bones’” I chuckled before falling into full blown laughter.

“Let’s get out of here, Sirius”

—

The good part about already being in Geneva was that even as the ICW meeting went into its second straight day of deliberations, I could make progress on my goals. The relevant one here being my IOWLS- International Ordinary Wizarding Levels. I’d scheduled the exam by post to take place today, and was almost surprised to find the hall filled to the brim with testtakers. It wasn’t like I’d picked the date myself, it was one of half a dozen dates available in the month so there should have been people here, but so many was a shock.

I couldn’t recognise any of them but that didn’t matter much. I took the seat with my Examination Number on it and waited for the test papers to be passed out.

-

The thing that made the IOWLS grueling when compared to local equivalents was the fact that all written exams took place on the same day, and all practicals the day after. That means I went from discussing Gamp’s laws to outlining the merits of using powdered root of asphodel over crushed root of asphodel in the Drought of Living Death. My chosen courses- Transfiguration, Charms, Care and Combat of Magical Creatures, Dark Arts, Magical Defence and Combat, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Magical History, Potions, and Herbology meant I was left writing in the hall even long after most others had finished. The written exams had started at dawn, and apart from a lunch break and trips to the bathroom, I didn’t leave the hall until the Sun had set.