Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 107 Auror Training
When Damon stepped into the transition room of the Ministry of Magic's training grounds, the five people in the room all turned to look at him. Damon focused his attention on the one-eyed giant wearing an eyepatch.

Damon recognized him almost instantly upon seeing him—Mad-Eye Moody, a veteran Auror, one of the first members of the Order of the Phoenix, and very famous in the 70s.

He was probably their teacher.

It was only after Damon decided to become an Auror that he truly realized how weak the Ministry of Magic's fighting force really was.

It is said that when the Magical Congress of America was first established, there were only ten Aurors in total.

The British Ministry of Magic has very high standards for recruiting Aurors, and it competes with other departments for talent. In addition, the job is extremely dangerous. As a result, the Ministry of Magic has managed to maintain a mere thirty Aurors at present.

Furthermore, according to Amelia, because the training to become an Auror is extremely difficult and there are very few qualified job seekers, the Ministry of Magic may stop hiring Aurors in a few years.

Damon couldn't understand it, and even thought the people in the wizarding world were adorably silly.

These people are far too naive; a country's political system doesn't rely on armed forces for protection at all, but instead depends mostly on the self-discipline of its people.
This is probably why Voldemort was able to wreak havoc in the British wizarding world with only fifty or so Death Eaters.

"You are Caliban Mortos?"

As Damon sized up the crowd, Moody was also sizing him up, his tone sounding rather aggressive.

"it's me."

"I know about your situation. The fact that Burns vouched for you means I hope you can show something different, otherwise I might not be so accommodating from now on."

"Now, get to know your four temporary comrades. You can choose one of them to be your teammate for the next mission."

“Hello, I am Alph Rupert. I previously worked in the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters. Minister Burns transferred me here, hoping that I could transfer to the Auror Department.”

As he spoke, he winked at Damon to show his closeness. If Moody hadn't spoken up earlier, he wouldn't have known that this person was actually a relative recommended by Minister Burns. They all knew that person's character; he was upright and incorruptible. For her to make an exception for him, this person must have some skills.

After that, three more older wizards came out. They were all Ministry of Magic members like Rupert, who had been seconded from other places by Amelia to participate in Auror training.

It seems that this was one of Amelia's responses after learning about Voldemort—drawing manpower from other parts of the Ministry of Magic to train more ready-made Aurors.

No wonder so many people participated in this year's Auror training program—in fact, there was only one true participant.

"Hello, my name is Carl Flint. I graduated from Hogwarts. My house was Slytherin. I was the student council president when I was there. It's nice to meet you."

Flint was much more enthusiastic than the others, greeting Damon respectfully—after all, he now outwardly appeared to be a mature and experienced wizard.

"Hello, Caliban Mortos."

After shaking hands with him, Damon glanced at the crowd and returned his gaze to the first person he had ever interacted with.

"I choose Rupert as my teammate."

Aside from Flint's slight regret, the other three adult wizards wore indifferent expressions. Although they didn't mind using the three-year training to become stronger, they weren't particularly enthusiastic about becoming Aurors—the job was too dangerous. They considered their spellcasting skills to be decent, but compared to the Aurors, there was still a gap, and they really didn't want to take the risk.

But Amelia's power was too great, and no one dared to disobey her.

"Now that you've made your choices and everyone else has rested, let's begin the afternoon training plan! Now, I'll explain it to you one last time!"

Mad-Eye Moody slammed his hand on the table, on which was drawn a circle containing many miniature architectural details.

The Auror training seems to start with simulation training. Their task is to enter a training scenario designed by the Ministry of Magic, evade the detection of magical golems, obtain a pre-placed mission scroll, and deliver it to a designated location.

"Therefore, you will need to master two skills: reconnaissance and stealth. The spells involved include Deflection Charm, Disillusionment Charm, and Prototype Charm."

After the explanation ended and everyone headed to the training grounds, Rupert stood next to Damon and whispered:
"He said it again specifically for you. We already heard it this morning, although his performance in actual combat wasn't very good."

To be honest, I haven't been in a physical fight with anyone for ten years. Suddenly having to do these things again is really a bit strange.

Rupert had light orange hair and looked like any ordinary middle-aged man you'd see on the street. The way he was muttering to himself next to Damon reminded him of Lockhart—except for not being as flamboyant, the two were almost identical.

“I will show him with results that I deserve his attention.”

Damon smiled at Rupert. "How are your Disillusionment and Deflection spells going? Show me."

"Oh, I'm not very good at it, but don't worry, I won't hold you back."

After half an hour.

Damon completed the mission perfectly, even covering up the commotion caused by Rupert's mistake, leaving the other three members of the team dumbfounded—it was only then that he realized that before he arrived, the four of them were originally a team, and Rupert had essentially been forcibly taken over by him.

However, it seems that Rupert has actually benefited from this, although apart from Flint, the recent graduate, the other wizards don't seem to care much about the training results.

But Mad-Eye Moody had no intention of letting them have a peaceful time.

They then began the second training session, but teams that failed to meet the standards in the first session would still have to undergo additional training.

Damon was engrossed in it and found it quite interesting—the fire dragon Nobeta had already practiced with him a lot about combat, although it was a bit monotonous, but they had managed to get by.

He really hadn't had much experience with specialized skills like tracking and counter-tracking, or reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to remain unaware of being followed by ghosts for so long. Although this was also related to his time at Hogwarts, where he was too relaxed. Inside Hogwarts Castle, there was indeed no need to worry about encountering any danger.

However, with Lockhart's addition, he has to be somewhat cautious.

In this light, the Auror training wasn't entirely a waste of his time; in fact, it was quite helpful.

(End of this chapter)