Chapter 7: Decisions

Harry had put off this moment for as long as he could. He was now nearly nineteen years old, he had completed his final N.E.W.T. exam and, in a few weeks time, his years of formal education would be over. He must finally decide about his life after Hogwarts.

All of his friends seemed to have sorted their lives out already. Ron Weaseley would be leaving school to work full-time with his older brother, George. Now that Weaseley's Wizard Wheezes had become so successful, with several shops and a mail-order department, it had been decided that the company would be rebranded as Weaseley Brothers and would diversify from merely selling jokes and magic tricks, to other goods: such as genuine school supplies and other magical accessories. There had even been some talk of Mr Olivander coming out of retirement and working at the Weaseley's Diagon Alley shop a few days a week, once again making bespoke wands. Harry had provided Fred and George Weaseley with the money to start up their business, so an offer had been made to him to join the company. However, although flattered, Harry had never really been interested enough to want to accept the offer.

Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend, had already accepted an offer to work for the Ministry of Magic, in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where she would be championing the rights of all non-human magical persons (she intensely disliked the term creatures): such as house elves, goblins, and centaurs—not to mention those who had been bitten by werewolves, such as her friend, the late Remus Lupin. As soon as they had both started work, she and Ron planned to get formally engaged.

Neville Longbottom, another of Harry's long-term close friends at Hogwarts, had become a knowledgeable and skilled Herbologist. Minerva McGonagall, the Hogwarts Headmistress, having recognised his burgeoning talents, and on the recommendation of her colleague, Pomona Sprout, had decided to offer Neville employment as an assistant teacher, so that he could continue to develop his knowledge and skills. The job was also offered with the proviso that Neville may possibly, in the future, become the Professor of Herbology himself. As Neville loved Hogwarts as much as Harry did, this seemed an ideal opportunity, which he had accepted immediately.

But what of Harry? He knew now that he loved Ginny Weaseley more than anyone he'd ever known, She was about a year younger than Harry, beautiful, intelligent, courageous, and a very talented Quidditch player. She still had another year of school left to do, to finish her N.E.W.T.'s, then she, too, would have to decide on a career path to take. Harry thought that she was just too talented not to do something special with her life. She could follow her girl-hood dream and play professional Quidditch—she had already been approached by scouts from the famous professional team, The Holyhead Harpies. Or, she could have a career at the Ministry of Magic, like her father. Harry knew that she had all the qualities needed to be a successful Auror. He had faced Lord Voldermort, he had confronted the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, and a Dragon in the Tri-Wizard Tournament; but, he really didn't know if he wanted to face a future life without Ginny Weaseley in it!

As Harry had also once expressed an interest in becoming an Auror, it was natural that he should be approached by the Ministry of Magic Auror Office. However, he had told them that he was sorry, that he was not now sure that this was his preferred career choice. Harry was young, but he was not naïve, he knew that in a society that lived by magical principles, there would always be those, like Mundungus Fletcher, who would try to exploit them for personal gain. He knew, too, that because magic is such a powerful and potentially corrupting force—especially when it is wielded by a particular type of ambitious and egotistical individual—history periodically throws up a would-be despot, who will use any means at their disposal to try to establish an authoritarian dictatorship based on fear and brutal repression. During the last hundred years or so, there had been Gellert Grindelwald and the Tom Riddle/Lord Voldermort incarnation, both of whom had harboured grandiose aspirations for total domination. Against such a fanatic, it was necessary, he knew, to employ tough, intelligent wizards and witches, experienced in fighting the Dark Arts. So there must always be a counterforce, like the Ministry Auror Office, waiting in readiness and prepared to oppose them.

It was probably because Harry had grown up knowing many of the Ministry Aurors, such as Kingsley Shacklebolt; the old-school fighter "Mad-Eye" Moody; and his protégé, "Tonks" Lupin, who had also all been in the Order of the Phoenix, that as an impressionable boy, who was still relatively new to magic, he had seen them as role-models.

But as Harry had grown older, he had begun to think that he was much closer in attitude and philosophy to Albus Dumbledore, who also had great skills as a wizard—he was certainly the very best of his generation—but who had always advocated patience, reason and persuasion before he would use force: and then only as the absolute last resort. Dumbledore knew that anyone who was willing to use the forces of dark magic would probably be unlikely to want to sit down and debate their options—so he would have to think of alternative ways to divert the conflict away from violence, before it became necessary to fight. Like a chess Grand Master, he always thought many moves ahead. Harry thought that this was one of Dumbledore's greatest strengths.

Harry knew that he was developing into a skilled wizard, who had faced equal or more skilled opponents on more than one occasion: but he also knew that he had never wanted to gloat or celebrate his 'victories'. He had always been ready to acknowledge the part that luck and circumstance had often played and he had felt remorse and regret that the conflicts had been necessary at all—especially when he recalled the cost in lives that it had often taken to achieve them.

While the Auror Office may always be necessary, Harry reasoned, to ensure that both the Muggle and magical worlds were safeguarded from extreme misuses of magical powers, there would always be brave witches and wizards who would be prepared to risk their lives to achieve this objective. He knew that the Ministry had already found several suitable potential trainee Aurors at Hogwarts, one of whom was Harry's friend, Dean Thomas. Harry, however, thought that for as long as his conscience or practical necessity allowed it, in his life choices he would now choose to take the other way: the Dumbledore Way.

Of course, he knew that he would never abandon his friends; they had believed in him enough to risk their lives, and that if he was ever called upon to fight for a just cause, he would. But he also believed that he had already seen and felt too much pain and suffering in his short life, and that while it may not be literally true that the quill is mightier than the wand, he really wanted to believe that enlightenment would always be preferable to force. Harry had always respected Professor McGonagall's judgement, so he had made an appointment to see her, to discuss his options.