Florence felt a sense of relief waking up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after, and all the following days. For the past week, she felt a sense of comfort that she could not quite point out. Julien had noticed it slightly, seeing that she was in a slightly better mood in the mornings. Though she never really vocally acknowledged the feeling of having a lighter burden, she knew it was there. She was able to focus more at work, her sparring and wand dueling getting significantly better as the days passed.

A look of evident shock dawned on Hadley's face as Florence was able to knock her down to the ground, the look of surprise eventually turning to a smile, "That was bloody brilliant! You're definitely keeping up already!"

"Thanks," she managed to say inbetween pants, offering Hadley a hand to get up, "Think I'll be able to go toe to toe with you?"

"With that rate of improvement? I think so."

They had about three weeks to get ready for the dry run operation that was going to be conducted for elimination purposes. People in the program had been stressing about it nonstop ever since it was announced, in fear of being cut from the Auror Department. Even Julien, who was trusted and confided in most of the time by the Senior Undersecretary, had no clue about the criterion, or so he said. Not that Florence was bugging him about it for her own personal need. Hadley was one of the many people who has been greatly unsettled by the news of elimination that she wanted to help in any way.

Alas, like everyone else, the two were left in the dark about it. Training became more intense, their hours growing longer and ending deeper in to the night each day. Florence and Julien would arrive home so late that even Sloan would already be in bed. They had made it a tradition to eat their late dinner leftovers in the living room and pass out on the couch.

Alanna would just leave them pillows and blankets in the living room because of this.

Sirius had also officially moved in to the price manor on the last week of July, this time without his hippogriff companion, as buckbeak was turned in to the care of a professional magical creature caretaker. Florence was slightly thankful with that. She wasn't sure if she was ready to live with the racket of an animal living in her attic. 

"It would have been nice," said Alanna, contributing to the dinner discussion about buckbeak, "Miss Mimsy would have had a friend."

The cat meowed from where she sat on Alanna's lap, as if agreeing with her. The younger girl picked up a stick of carrot from her plate and feeding it to the cat. Florence stared at them, quite concerned that Miss Mimsy was going to get used to sitting at the dining table with them. The cat had somewhat been her enemy when her mother was still alive, but over the course of the past few months, neither Florence or Miss Mimsy minded when they were in each other's company. She would go as far as saying that their relationship was improving, since sometimes Florence would catch herself petting the cat whenever she would find herself sitting next to her. 

"Buckbeak's lived in the manor before," said Sirius, taking a sip from his glass of water before speaking again, "I don't think Miss Mimsy made a good first impression."

"Really? But she's the sweetest thing." Alanna cooed, before scratching the top of the cat's head fondly. 

A comfortable silence fell amongst them once more, only the scraping of silverware against ceramic plates heard for a few good minutes. Sloan cleared his throat, before looking at Florence, "It's going to be your birthday in a few weeks." he said, "Is there anything you want to do that you have in mind?"

Florence paused, the reality setting that it was going to be the first birthday she was going to spend without her mother. Without a parent. She felt her throat closing up.

"No," she said after a few beats of silence, "Really, we don't have to make a big fuss out of it. Besides, Jules and I will be busy preparing for the Auror dry run that's going to be a week after."

"But it's your birthday, Flo." Julien interjected, "I'm sure we could have a small party...? Invite your friends."

"Thanks," she smiled, looking at all their hopeful faces, "But I'm just gonna have to sit this one out. There will be more to celebrate, I'm sure."

Sirius let out a small sigh, sharing a disappointed look with Sloan, "Okay. If you insist."

They completely dropped the topic about her birthday celebration after that, going about their own business after they had finished putting everything away for dinner. Alanna and Julien had locked themselves in the office to talk to their mother via floo network, while Sirius placed himself in the mini library, cracking a book open and reading away. 

Florence decided to head up and catch some sleep, since it was almost a rarity to have so much spare time in her hands. Exhaustion consumed her the minute her head touched the pillow, light snores escaping her lips as she drifted off into a dreamless slumber. 

The next day was pretty much the same normal training day for Florence. She got up before daybreak, a little over ten minutes after Julien's normal rising time, and the two headed out together after freshening up and having a little bit to eat. It was always a bad idea to train on a full stomach, as Florence witnessed multiple times during the first few weeks of training when her classmates would hurl out their breakfasts after a physically demanding activity. 

The pair would almost always be the first few people to arrive at the Auror wing of the ministry. However, Julien was caught off guard when they walked in and saw a platoon of official Aurors inside the training room, bustling about. Some were gathering supplies, while the majority were strapping protective gear around themselves. Mr. Robards emerged from the sea of scurrying Aurors, making a beeline towards Julien, a look of urgency on his face. 

"Scrimgeour just sent out word to deploy all available Aurors this morning. They caught a lead for the Death Eater escapees. I suggest you prepare yourself, Mr. Price. You will be needed as well. I have sent word to your father, he will arrive shortly."

"Who's going to facilitate training today?" he asked skeptically, eyeing Florence, who had walked over to the group of trainees huddled at the corner of the training room, watching the preparatory procedures with an observing eye. 

"Mr. Darby will take care of the lot..." Mr. Robards' voice faltered, clearly troubled, "Mr. Price, I'm afraid I received even more alarming instructions from the Minister, regarding our trainees."

"What about them?" Julien frowned.

"He insisted that the dry run be executed as early as possible. He wants it to be done tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Julien sounded perplexed, "With all due respect to you and the Minister, but we simply can't have them do it tomorrow, Mr. Robards. They have two more weeks of valuable training left to learn before they're fit to be released out into a dry run."

"I have argued that case with the Minister, Mr. Price. He simply won't see reason." his voice dropped down to a whisper, "Today's operation is going to go two ways. But whether it's the positive outcome or the negative outcome, the Minister is expecting us to lose a good amount of our current troops. I am expecting it too. He wants our new trainees to be trained as early as possible, so that if it comes down to it--and I hope to Merlin it doesn't-- they'll be deployed on missions with the other Aurors."

"This is insane, Mr. Robards." Julien breathed out, glancing at the trainees again, catching a glimpse of his cousin laughing at something Hadley had said, "They're not ready."

"I agree..." he sighed, putting a hand on Julien's shoulder, "But right now, we should see the glass half full, Mr. Price. At least its only going to be a dry run. It won't be as dangerous. I have given Mr. Darby strict orders to prepare them as best as he can today."

"Its still not enough..." he muttered, Mr. Robards shooting him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, I really am. But as of the moment, there is nothing that we can do. The Minister has made up his mind... I suggest you join your peers and prepare yourself. We will be leaving in an hour."

                                                                              --------

"I'm sorry, Mr. Darby, I don't think I heard you right, but did you say the dry run is tomorrow?" a girl with curly brown locks said incredulously, the hind legs of the chair scraping backwards against the floor as she stood up from it. 

"You heard correct, Ms. Peters. Tomorrow."

A wave of murmurs and gasps washed through the entire room, Florence turning to Hadley with a worried expression on her face, "It can't be tomorrow. We're not ready."

"We had two more weeks to train!" a boy from the front of the room protested, before he was joined by his other friends, and soon there was an uproar that consisted mostly of anger and confusion. Mr. Darby made a sweeping gesture with his arms, immediately silencing the room. 

"Oh come on," Reagan Fawley half snickered from her seat in the middle of the room. She propped her feet up on her desk, as if making a statement, "Don't tell me you guys are seriously scared of doing a dry run."

"It's not that we're scared," the boy from earlier argued, "It's just that we still have a lot we need to learn."

"Oh please," Reagan sneered, "Its a dry run. Senior Aurors will be facilitating it. There's no real threat at all, and the worst thing you could possibly get is a scratch."

"Could we ask why they moved it up?" Florence asked loudly, cutting off Reagan's mocking remarks, before sending a glare her way.

"I cannot go into the specifics, but all I know is that the Minister firmly insisted that you lot be put under training as soon as possible, which, in this case, is tomorrow." Mr. Darby argued. "I will be bringing you back to the training room in a few, and I shall run you through some of the most important things you need to remember--"

"Wait, but where's Mr. Price?" Hadley interjected, "Is he not going to be preparing us?"

"Mr. Price will be unable to join us for today, but rest assured that he will be present tomorrow for your evaluation. Remember, this dry run not only determines your physical capabilities, but as well as whether or not you are worthy to remain in the program. People will be cut from the program, so I suggest you lot focus your energy on how to remain efficient as both an individual and a member of a team."

Florence did not see Julien for the rest of the day, as Mr. Darby had said. She figured that he was out with the rest of the Aurors, doing whatever it is that they were preparing for in the morning. Mr. Darby did a run through of almost everything they learned so far. They even had to extend their day, as others were not allowed to leave until he was certain that everyone was as prepared as they could be for the next day. By the time they were allowed to leave, Florence was famished. 

She apparated straight home as soon as she said goodbye to Hadley outside, the blonde girl looking as tired and beat up as she was. 

By the time she walked in to the threshold of her own home, she stopped dead in her tracks, her bag dropping to the floor with a thud just as the door closed behind her. 

"Jules, Sloan! What in Merlin's name happened?" she gasped, flinging herself to their side as the two of them laid on each couch, bloody and bruised. 

Alanna had been holding a basin filled with blood stained water, dabbing a washcloth gently on Julien's face with traces of tears on her own cheeks. Remus and Tonks were there too, helping with caring for Sloan who looked far worse than his son. 

Sloan extended his arm out, touching Florence's arm faintly, "We're okay. Don't worry about it."

"No, no you're not! You're far from okay." she turned to Remus, who looked solemn, "Why are they here? Why didn't any of you bring them to St. Mungo's?"

"The wards were full, Florence," Tonks answered in Remus's behalf, "There was a death eater operation today. Many were hurt, badly. Far worse. There was no more room in St. Mungo's."

"That's impossible. They can't run out of room."

"Many were hurt," Tonks said again, "I was there, Florence. Lucky enough that I'm not one of them, yes, but I was there. Too many were injured. And with Sloan and Julien's injuries, they simply cannot be put in to the hospital. There were far worse injuries to prioritize."

"They're going to be okay, Florence." Alanna insisted, "Please, calm down."

"Where's Sirius?" she asked, noticing the absence of the raven-haired man, panic settling in the pit of her stomach. 

"He's fine. Just upstairs sending Dumbledore a message," Remus said, "I suggest you get as much rest as you can, Florence. You have a big day tomorrow, too."

"I can't do that. I'm staying here. I need to see if they'll be okay."

"Oh Florence, you're as stubborn as Gabby aren't you?" Sloan said weakly from where he laid, "Jules and I are fine. Nothing broken. We'll be up and running tomorrow, isn't that right, Julien?"

"Yes," he coughed, "We're okay, Florence. Get some rest, will you?"

She frowned. Clearly outnumbered, she picked up the bag she had dropped before marching up the stairs, the events of the day much too overwhelming for her. Flopping down on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling, deciding to let sleep slowly consume her.