When Corben came to stand in front of the mirror in his bedroom, he had a towel wrapped around his torso and his short hair was dripping wet. Droplets of water dripped down to his shoulders and back, but he paid no mind as his eyes flicked down to his body.
His ribs were visible through his skin, and he felt that if he looked hard enough, he could distinguish and count all of them. Standing at six feet four tall, he looked even taller due to his skinniness – something which he had been proud of in his earlier years, but that now came as nothing but a curse. He hadn't met the requirement for weight when he had applied for Auror training, which was why he had to work hard in other areas in order to make them consider him as a suitable candidate.
Corben had tried eating everything, but it seemed like his body just shed off the excess fat, for he just couldn't gain more weight. It frustrated him greatly, and even though he had crossed the first step on his way to become an Auror, the plaguing fear still remained that his lack of strength in his body would result in failure in the tests that would follow soon after the training was over.
Letting out a slow, tired breath, he yanked his shirt from his bed and put it on roughly, attempting to calm his mind by showering his emotions on the poor garment. After he had put on his pants, he swung his robes over his shoulders and left the apartment hastily, hoping that the hours of training wouldn't go to waste.
But it wasn't the time that he was worried about, but rather, disappointing his mentor, Audra Fenwick, who has been an Auror since thirty years and who has fought in the First Wizarding War. Despite having met only twice before, Corben has grown a deep sense of respect for the woman, and this was one of the reasons for which he was pushing himself harder to become an Auror.
He reached the Ministry early and went to the café to have his breakfast. Since he wasn't an employee, he wasn't allowed access to a lot of the places, but fortunately the café wasn't one of them. He was given an ID card which he had to carry around with him to prove that he wasn't an intruder, and the card was currently hung around his neck as he took a large bite of his sandwich.
After receiving two rejection letters from the Auror Department, Corben had willed himself to eat more and healthier foods in an effort to gain more weight. He wasn't sure if it would work – for it has been months and yet he was the skinny person that he always has been.
There were times when he woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in his stomach, perhaps due to having eaten something that his system couldn't hold, or simply because of having eaten too much. And yet, he hadn't stopped. Everyday, he brought home oily or fatty foods, hoping that the fats would eventually deposit on his body, but more often than not, he ended up sick.
When he was done eating his sandwich, he considered buying another one, before he realised that he had to be at Audra's office in five minutes. Thus, he leapt out of his seat, paid for his breakfast and jogged out of the café, taking the stairs two at a time, until he reached the office of his mentor.
The room was large and well furnished, with two tall shelves dominating half the area. A large window on one of the walls let streams of sunlight to filter into the room, although Corben has learnt on his very first day of training, that it was fake, for the Ministry was deep under the ground, and admittedly, the revelation had disappointed him a little. A cupboard was placed, rather haphazardly, in one corner and out of its drawers were spilling out several parchment scrolls and pieces. Amidst all the huge pieces of furniture and the mess, was, hardly visible, a table, on the opposite side of which sat a woman in her late sixties, with a shock of white hair on her head and glasses that magnified her eyes to an unbelievable size. She was bent over her desk in deep concentration, perusing a thick dogeared book with pages faded into a crisp yellow.
Corben grinned upon seeing her and sat down on the chair opposite. Audra frowned up at him, as though having forgotten that he was supposed to come, but she put her book away and returned his smile.
"So, Ms Fenwick," he began, tapping his fingers on the desk, while he eyed the large book with apprehension, wondering if he had to read such hideous things if he became an Auror, "what are we going to learn today?"
"Today," she began, with a tinge of dramatic tone in her voice, "we will be on an actual battlefield. And you will watch."
Corben's eyes widened and he stopped tapping his fingers. "What?" he muttered stupidly.
"Well, Auror is more about practical than theory," Audra said as she casually put on her cloak, as though she wasn't taking an amateur to an actual battlefield.
"But, Ms –" he stuttered, unable to process the information that he really was being dragged into a fight.
Ms Fenwick pocketed her wand and gave him a mischievous smile. "I was joking. We aren't going to battle. But the smuggler we have been looking for for three months has been murdered, and we are going to investigate that. You will be there as my assistant, and also to observe how the field work is carried out."
Corben let out a sigh of relief, and glared silently at his mentor for a few seconds, allowing his heart rate to return to normal. But she paid him no mind as she strode out of the room, and Corben leapt to his feet to follow her.
"So, you still do these kinds of work?" he asked once he had caught up with her. "Like catching petty thieves?"
Ms Fenwick shot him a look over her shoulder. "Never underestimate your enemies, Mr Zabini," was all she said.
••• •••
"So you're going to be the stubborn one and not talk to him, huh?"
Harry bent down to pick up the pen which had fallen, and sighed in response to Hermione's words. However, he didn't say anything and instead continued to pack his bag, relishing, rather selfishly, in the long exasperated groan that she let out.
"Harry, sit down and listen to me!" she said sternly. Yanking his bag off his hands, she pushed him and forced him to sit down on his chair, before she dropped the bag and sat on his table. "You know how Ron is," she began, and he rolled his eyes, bringing his head down to hide his face in his hands. "He's just protective of his sister. If you just talk and explain to him – Ginny and I both tried, but it's you he will listen to."
"Look, Hermione," he said quickly before she could speak any further. "It's not my job to spoonfeed him every explanation he can make for himself – he is old enough to do that. I'm glad you tried to talk to him, I appreciate it. But he has to realise that his little sister isn't little anymore."
"Harry, I know but –"
He didn't get to hear the rest of her sentence for he had already stormed off his office, but he did hear her frustrated shriek as she cursed the egocentrism of men. He slowed down and stopped once he reached the lift, and waited for it to arrive.
Harry hadn't had much to do today. The Auror team has been trying to catch a smuggler who has been illegally transporting native magical plants of Britain to Africa. The locations of his hideout was revealed to them by an anonymous person, but the place was empty when they went to investigate. Recently, however, the corpse of the smuggler was found in that very place, and judging by the way it was mangled, it was very obviously a murder.
The team has gone to look into it, but Harry hasn't been part of the team. Thus, he was left with mostly a free day after he was done doing his day's work, but due to Ron blatantly refusing to talk to him, he was left on his own, with Hermione being busy in her own department.
The lift opened, and Harry came face to face with none other than Ron.
He raised an eyebrow when their eyes met, and Ron began to look slightly uncomfortable. He lowered his eyes and hastily shuffled away with the rest of his group, which consisted of the Aurors who have gone to investigate the murder. Harry stepped aside to let them move, before deciding to follow them in order to get results of the investigation. He found Corben at the back of the group, looking mildly embarrassed, though Harry couldn't figure out why.
The meeting was short – Vance simply gave them a brief overview of their findings before they were dismissed. Ron left the room quickly, and with a sigh, Harry stood in one corner, waiting for Corben to finish talking with his mentor.
A moment later, he understood why he has been looking embarrassed. Fenwick was scolding him, but her tone sounded more frustrated than angry, which led him to believe that he must have done something he shouldn't have, though it probably wasn't something serious, for Ms Fenwick, composed and calm though she was, could unleash an angry demon when she wanted to. Corben raised his head to say something, and caught Harry's eyes.
Immediately, colour rose to his cheeks and Harry saw him stuttering. He suppressed a smile and looked away, pretending to be interested in one of the posters pinned to the board on the wall, upon which was a moving picture of a former death eater who was believed to be making hard, but futile, attempts to resurrect Voldemort through a series of ridiculous methods usually seen practised in muggle movies. A few minutes later, Corben appeared beside him, a small, bashful smile on his face.
"Hello, Just Harry," he greeted him. "Did you have fun watching me being scolded like a six year old who has stolen a chocolate from his father's hidden stash?"
Harry smiled. "What did you do?"
"Nothing particular," he shrugged. "I tend to get overexcited by simple matters and I might have caused some slight disturbances because I kept running around and asking questions."
"Well, at least you know you're enjoying the work."
Corben didn't have anymore to do at the Ministry, and thus they left together, deciding, once more, to have dinner at the bar. While Harry wasn't really planning to go there initially, he didn't refuse as he usually felt lonely eating at home alone, especially now that he wasn't talking to Ron.
"So they actually took you to the field work?" Harry asked as he poured gravy over his potatoes. "That must have been scary."
Corben frowned up at him. "They never took you to an actual field work during your training?"
"I didn't need any training," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Kingsley thought that people who fought actively in the war without breaking down or changing sides, possessed all the skills and determination needed to become an Auror. So, Ron, Neville and I joined the Auror department soon after the war was over, although Neville quit a month later to become a teacher of Herbology."
Corben nodded his head rather absentmindedly, for he seemed to be too engrossed in his dinner, gulping his potatoes rather wolfishly, and Harry could tell how much energy Auror training consumed. Although it wasn't nearly as dangerous as the actual work they did, it was rather needless to say that the training wasn't any less exhausting than the real job.
"So, you became an Auror without training," said Corben, sniffing a cube of potato before putting it in his mouth, "and I would have to go through rigorous training for three years? That hardly seems fair."
Harry, however, couldn't agree. His jaws went tight as he responded, "Would you rather fight in a war with no real training at the age of seventeen, than be trained by a loving and experienced mentor?"
A series of persistent coughs followed his question, as Corben choked on his food. Emotionlessly, Harry passed him a glass of orange juice, which he downed entirely, and only then did his coughing cease. Dabbing his mouth with a tissue paper which he had pulled out of his pocket, Corben looked apologetically at him.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean it that way."
He shook his head minutely. "Never mind."
The rest of the dinner passed in silence, and Corben finished his rather quickly, perhaps wanting to get away from the embarrassing situation he had initiated. Harry waited quietly for him, drumming his fingers on the tabletop, which more than likely gave off the impression that he was getting impatient, and which was probably the reason that the boy nearly choked two more times when he tried to eat more than he could muster.
Harry knew he was being unfair, for Corben was just a boy, freshly graduated from school with high ambitions to become an Auror, who hasn't experienced the horrors of the war like he has, who was protected from any of the nightmares just due to having an influential parent. What did he know about the battle and the tragedy and the tears that have swept through the country? He was probably hiding behind his brother during his school year, just before the war broke out, and wasn't likely to have experienced any wrath from the Carrows.
And yet, Harry didn't apologise. The war changed people, and it had changed him. As much as he'd like to believe otherwise, he wasn't the same person as he was when he had first stepped into the Hogwarts castle, small and innocent and wonder struck, for it hadn't taken him long to realise that the wonders he had felt during his first year were tainted with darkness and secrets and lies, of which he had been the victim of several times. Hell, he probably wasn't the same person as he had become after Sirius's death. There was something about fighting actively in a war – with real danger and no walls to protect you, with hiding and not knowing which moment might be the last, when the final blow might strike and take you down – that took a part away from you. It had taken something from Harry – was it his ability to trust easily? his willingness to give love to others? – he couldn't be sure what it was, but it was as clear as the day that whatever the war has taken from him, he couldn't get it back.
Outside the bar, Corben hopped from one feet to another, making Harry think that he was being anxious for something, though he realised a moment later that it was probably just the way he was – with too much energy in his body. They walked a small distance away to a secluded place, where no prying muggles would be present to witness two men disappearing into the air.
Harry spoke finally. "Well, bye. See you – when do you have training next?"
Corben stopped hopping, seemingly surprised that Harry wanted to see him at all. "Day after tomorrow," he answered quietly.
"See you then."
A smile broke into his face. He took a step toward him and said, with a genuinely apologetic voice, "I really am sorry, Harry. For what I said. I didn't realise –"
"It's okay, Corben," he interrupted him. "Just be sure next time that you aren't careless with what you say."
He grinned and did a mock salute, before he responded with, "Well, bye Just Harry," and disappeared with a crack.
••• •••
i'm working on a Theo/Blaise story, which is currently in drafts. it will have Corben as a side character, and you will get to see him during his fifth year, ie, during the carrow rule :)