Tonks snuggled down under the blanket, burrowing her nose under the flat pillow. She frowned sleepily, eyes still closed, then woke with a start, blinking as she crooked her head to peer sideways around the room in confusion. She relaxed, brow creasing as she recognized the familiar scratchy sheets and faded green walls of St. Mungo's. This was not the first time an escapade had led her here, though this did seem to be a single room – she'd never before rated so highly.

She turned her head sharply at an almost-polite cough, wincing as she looked up into a striking sharp-planed face topped by silver spikes easily the match of her own favorite pink. She knew this woman. Hooch from Hogwarts - the flying teacher and Quidditch coach. Definitely not a Death Eater, not with those kind but inhuman eyes - they didn't approve of hybrids anymore than they did of Muggleborns, and sometimes less. Not Order, though, at least not in the last eight months, but not, she thought, entirely oblivious to its activities and aims.

"So, as I'm in St. Mungo's and not tied to the bed, can I brag about winning?" Tonks asked groggily, struggling to roll over to face this possible-enemy, probable-friend.

The other woman snorted impatiently and reached down to help her roll over. "You're alive and the "Dark Lord" is back in his hole, if that's what you mean." Despite her brusque manner, her hands were gentle and reassuring as she helped Tonks to settle herself on her back. The auror was starting to notice specific aches and pains and a peculiar double vision that was somewhat alarming, as it wasn't clearing as she blinked.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Auror. Now, you know where you are -- I take it you also know who you are, who the Minister of Magic is, the current calendar year?"

Tonks smiled at her in thanks, squinting against the late afternoon sunlight streaming in the narrow window. "I'm Gawd-awful-forename Nymphadora, don't-call-me-that Tonks, the Minister is a saccharine piece of candy, you're Madame Hooch of Hogwarts, and it's 1995."

Hooch offered her a dry smile in return. "Good enough."

"Especially for you, young Tonks," offered another, not all-together approving voice from Tonks' other side. She turned her head too sharply, not altogether successfully suppressing a wince.

"Young Tonks! – I'm a bare decade younger'n you, Kingsley," she mocked, yawning, further relaxing at the sight of her sometimes pompous but trustworthy senior.

"Now..." Hooch hesitated, her face sobering, golden eyes flicking over Tonks's face. "What do you remember about last night?" Kingsley Shacklebolt moved to stand next to the professor, exhaustion showing in the drawn lines and tight lips of his face just visible against the light.

"I hope this isn't a reference to the night-before... I really don't like it this rough," Tonks tried to joke uneasily, a growing sense of worry seeping into her thoughts.

Kingsley snorted but remained silent. He had never approved of Tonks' sense of humor. The other woman smiled faintly, "Do you remember a visit to the Department of Mysteries? Young Potter and his friends?"

"Death Eaters... Department of Mysteries, lovely auntie Bellatrix, flying brains – what was in theirs, I wonder – the kids!" She winced as she jerked up, the missing events streaming into her mind.

"The Potter boy and company are fine, several Death Eaters have been exposed, and the Ministry is acknowledging the return of the Dark Lord..." Kingsley broke in.

"Everyone knows that Voldemort is back, and you'll live to fight another day," Hooch reached to settle Tonks back into the cot, attempting to soothe her by her words.

Tonks sighed with relief, sagging back into the bed, then her eyes, a stormy gray today, shot up to catch golden ones. "So why are you two dancing around if everything's fine besides this?" her hand jerking lightly over the blankets covering her midriff. "Wait... I''ll live to fight another day... So... who won't?" She looked from Hooch to Kingsley with unwonted seriousness.

Hooch rested her hands on the blankets, struggling to answer the impatient Auror's question. "Everything wasn't fine – Tonks, I'm sorry, I hear he was your cousin and innocent from Kingsley here and from Dumbledore, but Sirius Black was killed after you were hexed."

Tonks gasped, eyes flicking down, mouth thinning out. She stared at her hands next to Hooch's against her blankets, finally looking up Kingsley, then at the Quidditch mistress firmly. "How... How did he die? What else happened? How's Harry, and the other kids?" Her voice was steady, no trace of her usual humor, but her mouth was very tight. "And why are you here, not that you aren't welcome, but? You aren't an Auror – how do you know about Sirius – was he cleared, at the end?"

"First, no, I'm not an Auror, but I was once, of sorts, and I still work with some... special operations. More importantly, I'm Dumbledore's. He – and Senior Auror Shacklebolt here – asked me to give you some... 'extra tuition' when you're well enough – not on the sly. I've studied various forms of Muggle and wizard martial arts for many years, and this won't be the first time I've done this for an Auror in particular need of those skills. I know about Black's innocence – of those charges, at least – because Albus told me right before I came here. No, he wasn't cleared – that particular Death Eater escaped, or was never there that night."

She reached up and rubbed her eyes wearily, then went on, "As for that night – well, I'll let Kingsley start, as he was there with you..." She and Kingsley continued on to tell the sober Tonks of the events of the last two days, including the public reaction and Fudge's retraction of his denial. Kingsley left in the middle of this recitation in response to a knocking mediwitch's delivered note, but Hooch stayed quietly beside the younger woman after she finished, curling her hand gently around Tonks's when the Auror sought hers out as she continued her recitation. She offered silent support while the younger woman brooded, and only left when the Mediwitch shooed her out to give Tonks her dinner.

"And you need to eat yourself, Professor, and when did you last sleep? Not for two days at least, if I'm any judge, and I think I am. Level One Mediwitch qualifications do not qualify you to ignore your own health..." The round-faced witch, young enough that she had been one of Hooch's students, frowned officiously at her former professor.

Hooch rose to her full height - slight though it was, bowed gracefully with dignity to the suddenly pink-cheeked nurse, and then to the unusually silent Tonks in her cot. "I'll return to discuss some things with you tomorrow around tea-time, and to give you a ride home, shall I?"

Tonks managed a smile for her – "I'd appreciate that," well aware that she didn't have much option to refuse, yet grateful in spite of herself. "You'll need to wear Muggle clothes, though, if you want to visit my little garret."

"Hooch – Madame Hooch? Thank you." Tonks' gray eyes slid shyly to the side, then flicked back up to look at the other woman.

"You're welcome. And I think I can dress appropriately." She smiled faintly, and then swept out, robes catching and sliding free from the iron cot frames she passed.