Marlene and I paced up and down in front of the locked door.

Since the one year anniversary of the start of our training program was close, the day of our practical exam had arrived, and I was really nervous about it. This would decide whether I could stay in the Auror training, and I definitely wanted to. I really loved it so far.

It was the right mixture of thrill and detective work.

"Ugh, how long is this gonna take!?" Marlene groaned impatiently. "We've been standing here for hours!"

A grin made its way onto my lips as I looked at the watch on my hand. "Twenty minutes, actually."

Marlene gave me a frustrated look. "Still too long! I wanna know what's gonna happen! Constant vigilance, my arse, I hate that sentence!"

I loved it when Marlene got riled up about stuff. She turned even funnier when she was frustrated. The only thing missing was that she kicked the door.

We were standing in the basement of the Ministry of Magic, where a training parkour was set up. We didn't know more. All Moody had said in preparation was 'constant vigilance', so I felt Marlene's frustration.

His only instruction was to get through the parkour 'unharmed'.

"I feel you," I said. "But it shouldn't be long anymore, so be ready. We've got this."

"Of course we do." Marlene grinned and winked at me. "We're the best, duh. We've got each other's backs, so nothing's gonna happen."

I smiled at her encouraging words. "Yeah."

We didn't speak after that, only focused on the massive black door in front of us, wands in our hands.

I don't know how long we still had to wait, but after a while, the door swung open soundlessly. Behind it was an empty room, nothing more.

I breathed out and focused, then we went inside.

As soon as we stepped into the room, the door fell shut behind us and we were engulfed by complete darkness.

Marlene's wand next to me immediately lit up, but it didn't help - we could see the light, but not even Marlene's hand was visible. At least I knew where she was, though, so I hurried to light the tip of my wand up as well.

We walked a few steps further into the room, but what was strange was that it was completely quiet. We couldn't even hear our own steps.

Out of nothing, I saw that Marlene yanked her wand away from where it originally was, shouting "Stupefy!"

This time, I heard a soft thud.

The light turned on, and after I'd gotten used to the brightness by blinking repeatedly, I could see that Marlene was looking at something behind me.

I turned around and saw something that looked like a distorted ball of brown yarn as big as me.

"What in the-" I began, but Marlene cut me off.

"It brushed my arm. I think it was supposed to test our reflexes."

"Oh." I nodded. The first part of this parcour was done already, nice. "What now?" I looked at her.

Marlene turned around again and eyed the room. "That door over there wasn't here when we first got in."

She was right. It hadn't, or we would've seen it right in front of us when we'd entered, before everything had turned black.

"Let's go through it," Marlene said, taking off in the direction of the wooden door.

"Wait!" I called out. "Maybe we should prepare for what's behind it."

Marlene stopped once she stood directly in front of the door. She eyed it. "You're right. Let's take a few deep breaths first."

We did just that and waited a few seconds, before Marlene reached for the handle. "Ready?" She asked me.

I nodded.

When Marlene pushed the door open, I immediately saw a blue flash come our way. "Protego!" I instinctly shouted, although I knew that not all spells could be deflected by the shield charm.

When the white flash hit the blue shield charm, it bounced off and the shield disappeared.

As soon as that happened, a red light shot out of Marlene's wand.

We both hid behind each side of the wall next to the open door.

"Whatever just fired at us, it should be taken out," Marlene muttered.

I nodded. "The front should be clear now. We have to watch out for the sides of the hallway."

"Back-to-back?" Marlene asked shortly.

"Back-to-back." I nodded, and we entered the hallway in front of us.

I looked at the left and Marlene looked at the right. We were walking sidesteps, protecting each other's backs.

I managed a few steps, until something appeared in the wall in front of me. I didn't wait to see what it was. My gut told me it was bad, and throughout one year of Auror training, I'd learned to trust it.

"Confringo!"

I didn't watch how my spell blew and burnt a hole into the wall and just continued to walk, paying attention to every suspicious change around me.

A few times, I heard how Marlene casted her spells and how stuff blew up, but I never turned to look.

I had to trust her, just like she had to trust me.

After a few more distructive curses, we reached the end of the hallway, where yet another door was.

Marlene protected my back as I took the handle, but it didn't budge.

"It's locked," I stated the obvious.

"Switch positions," Marlene instructed, and we turned around until Marlene was standing in front of the door and I looked at the empty and pretty destroyed hallway. Holes after holes had been blasted into the walls - I wonder who did that.

"Alohomora," Marlene said, but judging the noise, that didn't work either. She sighed. "Do you think bombarda could work?"

"We're Aurors," I thought out loud. "We should never catch attention, and bombarda is not really the way do that..."

"But if Alohomora doesn't work?"

"There must be something else we can use, something that's not conspicious."

"I don't suppose you've invented a charm for that, right?" Marlene asked.

I wished I had. "No," I murmured, but right in that moment I got another idea. "Switch positions," I instructed, and we did just that.

Deep in thoughts, I bent down to the level of the handle. "Diffindo," I muttered, cutting it clear off the door and catching it with my free hand.

Then I pushed on the door again, but it was still locked. So I needed to take out the other mechanism. I used the same spell again, this time pointing my wand at the spot where the door and frame were connected.

I pushed the door carefully, and this time, it budged slightly. "Ha! Got it!" I whisper shouted, not wanting to catch the attention of whatever was behind the door.

"Going through," I announced and pushed the door completely open.

Marlene followed backwards, and the door behind us closed again. Marlene turned around and looked at the same thing that'd caught my eyes.

The room we'd entered was the size of a box room. There was a light bulb above us that illuminated the little place and made it possible to see another door, maybe five feet away from us.

We stayed where we were, but I flicked my wand at the door. There was a click and it sprang open.

My heart stopped. All blood rushed out of my face as I dropped the door handle that I'd still held in my left hand.

Marlene next to me gasped.

I knew this wasn't real. It couldn't be. But it still horrified me more than anything.

"Sirius?" Marlene's voice cracked. "He's at home, he can't be-"

She stopped mid-sentence.

We both knew that it wasn't real. We kept telling us, at least. We couldn't know for sure. And it looked so real.

It was, in fact, Sirius. Laying on the floor, motionless and covered in blood.

His empty eyes seemed to stare into my soul. I couldn't move. I felt numb.

Marlene didn't move either.

That his two victims were horrified of the same thing was a very lucky coincidence for the Boggart, really.

We were both scared to lose Sirius. We were scared of something happening to him.

I glanced at Marlene on my right. Shell-shocked and paler than a sheet of paper.

I had to do something.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a step forward. "Riddikulus."

But I couldn't think of anything funny.

Still, the scene in front of me changed.

Sirius didn't dissappear, but he was alive now, talking to Marlene. He held her hand, stroking it lovingly.

"I really don't like Freya, she's so annoying, like, honestly. How did I get stuck with her again? She's so annoying, boring, pushy, a nerd, not to mention ugly. How could anyone ever like her??"

"I know, right?" Marlene agreed. I mean, Boggart-Marlene.

"So not in our league."

More people appeared. James, Peter, Remus, even Lily... Then Aleya, Anna and Valerie.

"Such a depressive desaster!"

"Noone likes her!"

"Can't wait until she's gone."

"So talentless!"

"I can't wait to ditch her."

"Noone needs her."

"Hands up, who hates her?"

All hands were held high.

"No," I whimpered quietly. "That's not real."

Wasn't it, though?

"Too talkative!"

"I hate her humor."

"I hate her in general -"

"We all do, though."

"She even smells bad."

"Everything about her is bad!"

"Spoiled!"

"Too loud!"

"Have you ever heard her rant!?"

"She always messes up everything."

"So petty!"

"Such a jealous bitch!"

"Enough of this," a voice behind me said firmly.

"Riddikulus."

All of the people in front of us turned into clowns, jumping up and down, running into each other and into the walls.

When I turned around, I saw how Marlene snorted with a grin on her face.

Then she pointed past me, and I turned around again.

Behind all of the clowns, another door had appeared.

"Let's get out of here."

I still was in a trance, the Boggart's words echoing in my head.

Marlene walked past me, taking my arm in the process and pulling me with her.

She opened the door and we stepped foot into the next room.

We were greeted by Moody, who was holding a white clipboard in his hands. When he saw us enter, he nodded and scribbled something down.

"Passed," he said. "You can go home now. We're doing a field trip on Monday, just so you know. Don't be late."

Marlene blinked at him, startled. "That's all?"

"What's there more to say?" He grumbled, raising an eyebrow. "You passed, field trip on Monday. Bye."

"Bye," I said numbly, and Marlene pulled me away.

Only when we entered one of the lifts that would bring us upstairs to the entrance hall, she finally let go of my arm.

It was quiet when she eyed me.

"You know that's not what we think about you, right?"

That snapped me out of my trance. "Hmm?"

"Your Boggart," she said in a soft voice. "That's so not true. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about you."

As much as I appreciated the gesture, it didn't help. A part inside me knew that it wasn't true.

"What about Lina, then?"

Marlene's eyes widened in a bewildered manner. "All of this is Lina's fault!? Oh Merlin, I swear, if I get my hand on that bitch, I'm gonna-"

"But what if she's got a point?" I said pathetically. "I never knew what I've done wrong, who knows if I make other people hate me without realising it and knowing how?"

"You're not!" Marlene said harshly. "Stop saying that! You're amazing, if she doesn't like you that's her problem!"

The lift stopped and the doors opened. "Come on." Marlene grinned and took my hand, pulling me through the crowd until we exited the Ministry's busy entrance hall and stepped foot into Muggle-London.

Without a warning, Marlene disapparated us and we appeared behind a bush in Hyde Park.

Unnoticed by muggle eyes, we stepped out from behind the green bramble and sat down on the warm grass.

Marlene now took both of my hands in her own, her warm brown eyes sparkling.

"I really, really, really like you. And I know one hundred percent that Remus, James, Peter and Sirius genuinely like you, too. Sirius literally calls you one of his best friends!"

I gulped. That last sentence stirred up mixed feelings.

Still, her sweet words made my eyes water. "Thank you," I said with a wobbly smile on my lips.

When she saw it, Marlene bent over and pulled me into a warm and tight embrace.

"I don't know why your self-esteem is so low, but really. You're a great person and I'm so happy to have you as a friend. Everyone is."

I nodded into her embrace. A comforting, warm feeling spread over me, engulfing me like a blanket.

"Now." Marlene pulled back. "What do you say about going to this concert with me? I originally wanted to go with Sirius, but I always see him anyway, and you need it more than he does."

My smile widened. "When is it?"

"This weekend, Saturday. You can come early and I'll glam you up, if you want to. I don't care what your Boggart says, you're a gorgeous queen, understood?"

I let out a breathy laugh. Who'd known that Marlene was such a hype girl?

"Okay," I said.

Marlene's face lit up even more. "Great. This is gonna be the best girls night ever!"

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I soon found myself grinning with her. "Thanks," I repeated, really meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

"Of course," Marlene said, before she hesitated for a short moment. "Now, I know that this is hard and a drastic change of the topic, but it has to be said because I can't wait any longer: Since we were both so shocked when we saw- erm... That first form of the Boggart... Let's go to my place and check on him. I know it wasn't real, but still. Who knows, maybe he's even cooked lunch."

Oh Merlin, I'd almost forgotten about that.... that shape of the Boggart. My heart clenched at the mere thought of it, and I was sure that Marlene felt the same. So it was really nice of her to cheer me up first.

Marlene stood up and held out her hand for me to take again.

Together, we disapparated.