After a few weeks of training together and learning all sorts of stuff about her group members, Isabelle can safely say that these three men she's been partnered with are some of the nicest and friendliest people she's ever met. In fact, they remind her an awful lot of her friendship with Maisie, Noah and Ollie, and just how easy it all was.

Isabelle feels the closest with Sebastian, who she can easily spend hour after hour talking with, their conversations full of interesting information that they both remember, and their shared love for books and knowledge and dragons, in particular. In fact, Isabelle would say that Seb's probably the smartest guy she's ever met. He almost certainly has a photographic memory, able to retain pretty much everything he hears or reads. It's safe to say he's a library of knowledge.

But it's not just his extensive knowledge that drew Isabelle to Seb, but his kind and calm nature. He's so patient with everyone, always listening to what they have to say, even if he thinks it's a stupid idea, and seems to take absolutely everything into account before he makes a decision. While he's mostly quiet in the conversations they have in their little group of four, with mainly Isabelle and Jack doing all the talking, he never fails to jump in with a sarcastic or witty comment, more often than not putting Jack in his place. It makes Isabelle grin every time.

Isabelle of course loves Jack as well, the easygoing Aussie, who always manages to start up a conversation and keep it going, often changing the subject a million times in one sitting. Keeps it interesting, that's for sure, and Isabelle seems to be his favourite to talk to, him asking her heaps about France and her countering it with questions about Australia.

Turns out he has no idea how to surf but likes to pretend he does, walking along the beaches with a wetsuit on and a surfboard under his arm to see how many girls he can attract. Seb snorted at this and shook his head, very clearly judging him, and Isabelle grinned and joined in, the two of them starting to tease Jack about it, until he threw his hands in the air in mock surrender and said rather dramatically that it looks like he'll have to quit all his hobbies now.

Isabelle also likes Grayson, the most silent out of the four, barely speaking at all when they all gather together, just observing their interactions quietly and standing there with his arms folded and his face set. To most other people, he looks extremely unapproachable, but to Isabelle, who notices the changes in emotions in his eyes — his eyes twinkling when he finds their conversation amusing or growing dark when he notices something bad or dangerous happening around the room — she thinks he's really sweet, and often grins at him.

This, as it turns out, is pretty much the only thing that can cause a change in Grayson's expression, a tiny bit of colour entering into his cheeks every time Isabelle does so. It makes her chuckle quietly to herself each time, and smile in the knowledge that just because Grayson appears somewhat hostile, that doesn't mean he is in the slightest.

"Alright, everyone, quiet down and listen up!" Prickle's sharp voice shuts them all up, making all thirty-two of the Ministry workers turn around and face her as she enters into the room before them, three very official-looking wizards trailing behind her. Her guards of some sort?

Isabelle catches Charlie's eye from across the room, and he shrugs slightly at her, letting her know he has no idea what's going on or who these people are, either.

Charlie's talked to her all about his group, too, of course, and how he's starting to warm up to them all. He was grouped with the light blond-haired Planner, Logan, and the dark brown-haired, narrow-eyed Brain, Joseph. Charlie says he gets along with the two of them quite well, but he says he's closest with that red-headed, mean-looking Fighter, Ava.

Isabelle would be fine with this, she thinks, if only Ava wasn't blatantly flirting with Charlie. It's not a subtle thing anymore, like it was at the start, when she was just nice and polite to him. Ava's seemed to gather that Isabelle and Charlie are together, and now whenever Ava touches Charlie's arm or chest and laughs at his jokes and sidles up to him, she shoots a smug look over in Isabelle's direction, just to see the French girl's strained expression.

She told Charlie about it, of course, but the red-headed man just scoffed and said that the whole notion of Ava flirting with him is absolute bullshit, and that she's just being nice. Isabelle bit her lip to prevent herself from retaliating and just nodded along, happy in the knowledge that Charlie was very much infatuated with her and not Ava, but miserable in the knowledge that Ava is indeed a bitch that will try to make Isabelle jealous, whether she's actually interested in Charlie or not.

Sebastian and Grayson have both noticed this silent battle between the two girls and the obliviousness of Charlie, and Grayson, whilst not taking any action against Ava, now glares at her from across the room whenever he notices her doing something with Charlie that she shouldn't. This glare is often the thing that alerts Isabelle to the whole thing in the first place, as Grayson's eyes are much keener than her own, but he always gives her a meaningful look afterwards, which Isabelle knows means that he will do something if she wants him to.

Seb, on the other hand, has started to imitate what Ava does to Charlie, to Isabelle. When she touches his arm and laughs at his jokes, Seb wraps an arm around Isabelle's shoulders and smiles down at her. Charlie rarely notices this, but Ava does, and it makes the red-haired girl scowl every time Seb does something, which coincidentally makes Isabelle grin.

In fact, Seb has his arm draped around Isabelle's shoulders at the moment, as all of them face Prickle at the front of the room.

"I have just heard of the first three assignments I will need a group of you to complete," she announces to the silent room. "Firstly, a dragon has escaped a nearby sanctuary and is heading towards a Muggle village. I need one group to track down this Common Welsh Green and redirect its flight back to the Sanctuary. Is that clear?"

Everyone nods.

"Good. Then, will you four please follow this associate of mine, and he will further instruct you," Prickle orders a group near the front, made up of two boys and two girls. They nod instantly and head off with one of the wizards behind her, who leads them out of the room.

Charlie turns to look at Isabelle again, but she's not facing his way. He does, however, notice Seb's arm draped around her, and immediately frowns, his jaw clenching.

What the fuck is that guy playing at?

But then the pressure on his own arm increases and he realises that Ava's clinging to his bicep, squeezing it slightly as she watches the first group of four disappear.

Charlie frowns further and shrugs Ava off his arm. She looks a little butt-hurt, but Charlie doesn't care. Cause as soon as Ava's stepped away from him, the black guy's arm falls from Isabelle's shoulder.

Ah, so that's what that guy's playing at.

"The second assignment," Prickle continues once the group of four has followed the official-looking wizard out of the room, "involves a number of stolen dragon eggs from a wild Swedish Short-Snout that we've been monitoring. You will work with a small group of Aurors to find these dragon eggs, arrest the thieves and take care of the eggs as you bring them back to their original location safely. Is that clear?"

Once again, everyone nods.

"Alright, then, you four will follow my associate and he will introduce you to the Aurors and give you more information in the matter," Prickle instructs, pointing to a group further down the back of the room, who immediately nod and do as they're told, heading out of the room.

"And now," Prickle says when that group has left, "one of the more dangerous tasks."

Isabelle glances up at Seb, and they share a look — all these other tasks have seemed dangerous or risky in some way already... what could be worse?

"A Hungarian Horntail has crossed the border of Hungary, into Austria, and now is causing destruction all throughout many Muggle civilisations in Austria as it makes its way up north towards the Czech Republic. We have sent Ministry Officials down there to Obliviate the Muggles and fix the damage caused, but we still need a group of you to head over there and catch the Horntail and take it back to Hungary."

Ah, so that's what could be worse.

There's silence following her words, Isabelle looking up at Grayson, whose face is tense. She agrees with his unspoken words — this task does sound extraordinarily dangerous.

"So," Prickle continues in the resounding silence, "you four will follow my last associate, and he will inform you in more detail of what you need to do."

Isabelle's eyes widen in shock as Prickle points directly at her group. Grayson's stoic eyes become even more shadowed, Jack's usual easygoing grin has disappeared from his face, and Seb breathes in sharply.

All the same, Isabelle feels her feet moving forwards, following the Ministry official out of the room with the three men. She turns around just before she leaves, catching Charlie's eyes, which are wide in fear. And understandably so. Isabelle's own heart rate picks up as they leave the large room behind, heading along a corridor after the wizard in front of them, and into a much smaller room.

Every wall is lined with shelves, upon which so many items are stacked, all sorts of clothing, bags, weapons, nets, chains, ropes, and much more. Seb steps closer to Isabelle when the wizard finally turns to the four of them, silently letting her know that he's there for her and they'll be ok.

She certainly hopes so.