The Badge
1965
Alastor Moody is just shy of twenty when he earns his Auror's badge; sooner than most apprentices, but he has wanted it more than most, has studied harder and reached farther in his attempt to gain it. For nearly three years he has devoted himself to this above all else. He has sacrificed nearly everything for this moment. When others were spinning through the brilliant lights of London's nightlife, Moody was standing still, buried in stacks of books and piles of notes, terrifying neighborhood cats as he studied for practical exams.
He has given up a lot to get this far, but he doesn't consider these things to have been great sacrifices. He'd rather be cautious than inebriated, and he has very little in common with most of his classmates anyway. Once in a while he can be persuaded to leave his books behind for a few hours, to have dinner or perhaps a drink- only one -with a few of the classmates he does like, Frank Longbottom and Moody's cousin Alice. One night they didn't have to twist his arm too hard was when he learned he would be apprenticed to one of the senior Aurors, Erik Vance.
It is Vance who presents Moody with his badge, nearly a year after that apprenticeship began.
"You'll do," Vance says on the night Moody returns, bruised and bleeding, but triumphant, from leading his first raid.
"Sir?" Moody asks.
"You'll be needing this, I should think." Vance tosses him a small box. "Congratulations, Auror Moody."
Inside the box is an Auror's badge.
Muse: Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
Fandom: Harry Potter
Words: 261
Alastor Moody is just shy of twenty when he earns his Auror's badge; sooner than most apprentices, but he has wanted it more than most, has studied harder and reached farther in his attempt to gain it. For nearly three years he has devoted himself to this above all else. He has sacrificed nearly everything for this moment. When others were spinning through the brilliant lights of London's nightlife, Moody was standing still, buried in stacks of books and piles of notes, terrifying neighborhood cats as he studied for practical exams.
He has given up a lot to get this far, but he doesn't consider these things to have been great sacrifices. He'd rather be cautious than inebriated, and he has very little in common with most of his classmates anyway. Once in a while he can be persuaded to leave his books behind for a few hours, to have dinner or perhaps a drink- only one -with a few of the classmates he does like, Frank Longbottom and Moody's cousin Alice. One night they didn't have to twist his arm too hard was when he learned he would be apprenticed to one of the senior Aurors, Erik Vance.
It is Vance who presents Moody with his badge, nearly a year after that apprenticeship began.
"You'll do," Vance says on the night Moody returns, bruised and bleeding, but triumphant, from leading his first raid.
"Sir?" Moody asks.
"You'll be needing this, I should think." Vance tosses him a small box. "Congratulations, Auror Moody."
Inside the box is an Auror's badge.
Muse: Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
Fandom: Harry Potter
Words: 261