Florence and Hadley were not sure as to what the evaluation was going to contain. And it was less than a day away.

She had tried to ask Julien about it, but he said that it was confidential, and that Junior and Senior Aurors were not allowed to give trainees even a single tip about how it was going to go down. He had repeated the same thing Robards had told the group when asked what the evaluation would cover, and that it was a test to see if they had internalized everything they were taught during the year.

Which was a lot.

Normally, Florence was good at studying for tests. Being a Ravenclaw gave her the advantage of a good work ethic, as well as always having the sense of staying on top her work. But this was a test she couldn't really study for, and that detail alone stressed her out. She hated when she had no control over a situation, especially something that determined her future in a career she really wanted. She thought of this rather bitterly as she sat in her living room couch, subconsciously frowning as she stared intensely at a wall, engrossed with the motions going through her head.

Fred had gone up to the apartment briefly to get some important documents, walking in to the room and immediately seeing the annoyed and contemplative look on Florence face, making him chuckle, "You have that face on again."

Florence snapped out of her trance, looking to him rather curiously, "What face?"

"That face you make when you realize some things are out of your control."

He knew her too well.

She sighed rather dramatically, "Its the evaluations. I still don't know what they are... I've asked Julien, bugged him even. I used everything I had against him at my disposal, hell I even guilt-tripped him about something. You know I hate guilt tripping people but it had to be done. He still didn't budge, though."

Fred plopped down on the couch, deciding to spare a few minutes to coax her out of her mood, "Aw, but you can't really blame him, can you? He's Junior undersecretary. A very fancy title, with a very big obligation. It will be actual Nepotism if he tells you about evaluations." he said, Florence slouching deeper in to the couch as she saw his reasons to be completely valid, "Did you try Tonks, though?"

"I wrote to her. She said the same thing." she said rather glumly, "I was thinking of going over to the Manor and pestering her myself but Sloan is there and surely he'll tell me off for doing so."

"Yeah, its not the best idea." Fred agreed, "Well... you can't just stay in here and frown at the wall. Its done nothing to deserve such hostility."

Florence sighed, "I don't know what to do, or what to prepare for. I feel so helpless."

"I know, my love. Why don't you go out? Go on a walk to clear your head a little bit." He suggested, getting up from his seat and planting a kiss on her temple, "I got to head back to work, okay? Take care on your walk."

Florence did just that, slipping on one of Fred's letter jumpers and a pair of shoes, before heading out in to the streets of Diagon Alley. It wasn't as busy  in the late afternoon, some of the shops ready to close down their businesses for the day. The air was chilly, Florence bracing herself as she made her way to Florean Fortescue's.

The ice cream shop, as Florence and Nicolai had discovered the other month, also sold very good hot chocolate. Florence thought a cup of it with extra marshmallows would be enough to take her mind off of things.

She sat down at a booth, stirring her hot chocolate with a spoon, watching the hot liquid slowly dissolve the marshmallows floating around.

She was just about to take her first sip when a person slid in to the booth with her, taking the seat opposite from hers. Florence looked up, and froze, instantly recognizing the raven-haired girl and the sinister smile on her face, "Hello, Florence. Fancy seeing you here."

Her shock turned in to anger, gripping her spoon tightly in her hand and wondering how much damage it could do if she ever needed to defend herself, "What the fuck are you doing here?" she seethed, repulsed by the calm demeanor on her face. Raegan was a wanted criminal, yet she roamed the streets as though she wasn't.

She simply laid back against the seat, crossing her arms over her chest, "Decided to pay you a visit. I've been watching you, ever since. I could never really get you alone... You know how enraged I was to hear you had survived? I thought I had rid of you successfully, even boasted about it to my mother. Imagine the shame I felt when they said you were still alive. But no matter, I'll get you again."

"In the middle of Fortescue's?" she spat, "Really, Raegan? I thought you had more class than that. But then again, you've been hiding like a rat for months, so I don't know about class."

"I'm not gonna kill you in the middle of an ice cream shop, Price. I have bigger things planned for you." she smiled, "Poor little Aurors, have no clue about the storm that's coming your way." Raegan tutted, "The Dark Lord will prevail. And I will finally avenge my father."

"You're delusional." Florence spat, making Raegan chuckle at this, "Am I really, though? I guess we'll just have to see..." she concluded, before getting up from her seat, "Good luck on your Evaluation. I hope you get in and ace the next two years, so when I kill you, you'll be Auror, just like your father was when he died."

"I could drag you to the ministry kicking and screaming right now, so you better watch your words, Fawley." Florence seethed, Raegan simply laughing at this threat, "No, you watch your words. You think I came here alone? Its not your time to die yet, so you better watch what you say." she said, and with that, she made a beeline towards the exit, leaving Florence fuming.

—————

"You saw Raegan last night... and you haven't said a word to anyone but me..." Hadley repeated, "Florence, are you crazy? She's dangerous. A Death Eater. You should have told one of our superiors."

"I don't know if they'd believe me," she said, "Even I wouldn't believe that a known Death Eater would just risk exposure by walking in to a public place, it sounds too surreal. Plus, evaluations are today. I don't want to stir up any trouble and derail today's agenda. Not for just Raegan, anyway."

"She helped organize an ambush that killed several of our colleagues. Not to mention, she stabbed you and left you to bleed out to death. I'm sure that's worth stirring up trouble for." Hadley reminded her, her arms folded over her chest. However with much persuasion, Florence was able to convince her to not tell anyone about the incident, unless Raegan started posing as a real threat. Stirring Hadley away from the topic, they started stressing about their Evaluations, which were mere hours away.

Once they arrived at the Auror wing, they were asked to sit on the floor of their training room, Mr. Robards coming in and calling up recruits one by one in no specific way order.

Hadley had been called first, Florence watching her face flush pale as she stood up from where she was sat beside Florence, and followed Robards out of the training room. Each trainee was not allowed back in to the Training room after their evaluation was over, so Florence would have to wait quite awhile to hear from Hadley about her results. Soon enough, as the day passed, Florence found herself in the room with only five other people. 

At that point, she had thought that she was going to be the last person called. That was until Mr. Robards returned, the same stoic look set on his face as the last few times he had been in the room, and called her up to join him for his evaluation. Florence got up, following him out as her heart beat loudly in her chest.

She and Mr. Robards walked towards a secluded hallway. It was long and dimly lit. At the end of the hallway was a black door. For some reason, she had felt a chill run up her spine the closer she was to it. 

Mr. Robards stopped right in front of it, before stepping aside. He drew his wand out, offering a small smile to Florence, "Okay Miss Price, I want you to think of your greatest fears, as well as your greatest joys. Think long and hard about these, if you will."

She hesitated momentarily, before nodding her head. 

He then pressed the tip of his wand against her temple, letting it linger momentarily before drawing it away, a silver wispy strand trailing from it. Florence was looking at a strand of her memories, or, a whole cluster of it, all in the glowing silver strand that Mr. Robards had then put in a vial. He handed it to her after he put the cork in. "When you are ready, enter the room and drop the vial on the floor to begin your Evaluation. 

She nodded her head, before watching him walk away. 

Just as he was nearly out of eyeshot, Florence turned to face the door. With a deep breath, she reached for the doorknob and twisted, before pushing the door open and entering.

The room was pitch black. She couldn't see or hear a thing.

Feeling the cold glass vial still in her hand, she moved her arms forward and let go of it. She heard the glass breaking on the floor, the silver strand of her memory blooming across the floor like gigantic spider webs, spreading and spreading until it illuminated the whole room. Florence shut her eyes, the sudden brightness startling her.

When she opened it, she was in her living room. 

Florence blinked rapidly, startled as she looked around. It was the exact replica of the living room in her childhood home.

"What am I doing here?" she muttered to herself, hesitantly looking around for anything unusual and finding nothing. Shortly after, she heard a faint humming noise coming from the kitchen, the voice so familiar that it made her heart skip a beat. Could it be?

She dashed towards the kitchen, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest at the sight of a familiar blonde haired woman. She had her backed turned to her, the woman facing the stove as she was cooking something. Florence felt her throat close up, as though her voice had vanished. She wanted to call out to her, but she was afraid that her heart would not be able to bear it. 

The woman turned around on her own instead, a bright smile blooming on her face as her eyes landed on Florence, "Oh, you're finally awake, dear. I'm about to serve breakfast, why don't you come help me set up the plates?"

"Mum...?" Florence whispered, before rushing across the room to hug the woman, tears now brimming in her eyes. She was aware that these were the works of her own memories, and whatever charms that the Auror department had set in the room she had walked in to, however she couldn't help herself. It looked so real, she felt so real, as Florence buried her face in to her mother's chest, "Mum... I've missed you so much, you've no idea..."

She heard her mother laugh. Merlin, it was so real too. She pulled away from the hug, looking at her mother's face up close. Her vibrant blue eyes looked down at her, her smile as warm and radiant as she had remembered. 

Everything seemed picture perfect, until she spoke again.

Florence caught a whiff of something odd.

Polyjuice potion.

Part of her training was the identification of smells of potions that could potentially be used to alter someone's identity, or indications that the person in front of you was not really the person you thought it was. 

All the sentiment vanished from her mind as she took a seat at the dining table, watching the woman who wore the face of her mother put a plate of eggs and bacon on the table. She stared down at her from the other end of the table, following the procedures she had been taught. Florence knew it was important not to give herself away. She had the upper hand during that moment, and it was best for her not to lose it. Instead, she went along with the events, eating her breakfast and engaging in small talk. Then slowly, she went in to interrogation.

"Say mum... do you happen to know where Miss Mimsy is?" she asked. The woman held a steady gaze, before smiling, "You know what, I'm not quite sure where that cat is. She's always out and about somewhere." 

So, she has an extensive amount of knowledge about the woman she was trying to pose as, Florence thought, immediately racking her brain up for information that only her mum and her knew. She went question after question, adding it carefully into their conversation so as to not tip her that she was being interrogated. This woman knew Florence's favorite color as a child, her nicknames, her favorite toys, every difficult question Florence could possibly think of. She was about to run out of difficult things to ask when she came up with one.

Her mother was an Animagus, but almost no one knew that, as she was an unregistered one like Sirius. It was one of Jane's heavily guarded secrets, mainly due to the illegality of it all. 

She took her last forkful of scrambled eggs, before looking up at the woman once more and saying, "You know I've been reading up about Animagi recently. It's pretty interesting. I thought it was always so cool how Professor McGonagall could change in to a cat at will..."

"Yes... I do believe it is very interesting," not-Jane replied, "Though the process is so long, from what I've heard. It takes many months to actually become one."

"Would you do it? Become an animagus...?"

"I would do it, if I had the time. You know how busy I am at work, Darling. A woman my age hardly has the time to be an animagus." 

The lady blanched, catching the slight arch of Florence's eyebrows at her words. She knew she tripped up. 

She reached for her wand, but Florence had been just as fast as grabbing hers too. "Stupefy!" Florence exclaimed, trying to stun the woman as she ran out of the dining room, only to miss by a few inches. She got up from her seat and chased after her, blasting stunning spells as she did so. The woman turned around, sending an impediment jinx towards Florence which slowed her down. She cursed under her breath, continuing to move despite the slowness of her motion until the jinx wore off. Florence followed her up the stairs. 

Just as she turned a corner, the lady had disarmed her, causing Florence's wand to fly out of her hands and down the banister, hearing the soft clatter of wood following after. 

She froze for a second, before jumping at the woman, trying to grab her wand from her grasp. Not-Jane fell on her back, struggling to push Florence off of her with one hand as she held tightly to her wand with the other, trying to get a good enough angle to hex her. Florence elbowed the woman in the face, moving her foot to step on her arm and prying the wand off of her hand, throwing it down to the first floor as well. They were now both wandless, an even battlefield. 

She was overpowered a second later, not-Jane recovering from the blow to her face and promptly pushing Florence off of her, quickly scrambling up to her feet to pin her down to the floor. She then put a hand around Florence's neck, squeezing as hard as she could. Florence gasped for breath, flailing desperately as she felt her air circulation cut off quickly. 

Florence, thankfully, was able to grab on to not-Jane's hair, as she was wearing it down, yanking as hard as she could muster which made her scream, her grip loosening around Florence's neck enough for her to push her off. Florence was able to regain her breath as she staggered to her feet and leaned against the banister , putting enough distance between her and not-Jane. She was about to get in to her sparring stance when she spotted a glint in the pocket of not-Jane. A sinister look bloomed across not-Jane's face as she pulled it out. It was a knife, the same knife that Raegan had used to nearly kill Florence all those months ago. 

Florence felt petrified, her eyes hyperfocused on the knife in not-Jane's hand. All the memories of that day started flooding back in to her head. The feeling of unbearable pain, the feeling of helplessness as she bled out of the floor, of fearing for death as she was convinced it was going to take her. Her blood turned cold, her breathing started to get ragged. She was too caught up in her own thoughts that she had not noticed not-Jane moving until the very last second, the blade seconds away from driving in to the same spot where she had been stabbed. 

Quickly, Florence was able to snap out of her trance, moving out of the way just as not-Jane lunged towards her. Not-Jane hit the banister with force, her torso toppling over the edge, screaming as she fell from the second floor. Florence heard a loud thud, followed by silence. 

Florence breathed out sharply, swiping her hand across her forehead to wipe her sweat. Slowly, she approached the banister, looking below to see a faceless corpse, the blade of the knife protruding from the middle of her chest.

Suddenly, the room started to dim, draining all the light and color until she found herself standing in the pitch black darkness once more. 

She saw a torch light up, followed by another one, then another, until the room was perfectly illuminated, and Florence found herself standing in front of a panel of Senior Aurors, Mr. Robards and the Minister himself. 

"Your quick thinking and assessment of your surroundings, as well as your knowledge about the proper interrogation protocols saved you from being fooled by an imposter disguised as the one person you loved the most." Mr. Robards started, "Despite the strong emotions, it did not hinder your capabilities to assess situations. Your sparring improvisation is also very commendable, Miss Price. You worked with what you had."

"You handled yourself very well, Miss Price. Well done, impressive work." Scrimgeour said with a nod of approval.

"The panel has made a unanimous decision. Congratulations, Miss Price, you have proven yourself to be worthy enough to move on to your second year of training."

/////

a.n: Whew, that was intense. Not gonna lie I had a massive headache writing chapter since I didn't really know what the hell to write for evaluation (so pls excuse typos if there are any whoops). But I hope this made sense as it kinda did to me....

Anyway, there's about more or less 11 chapters left in this book, then onto book 2! I've written a few chapters for it already and I'm so so excited! I made an announcement about it, if you'd like to have a bit more info about it go check it out on my profile :) 

Hope y'all enjoyed this. As per usual, I love ALL OF YOUUUU!

- Denise