"I can see you, Nymphadora," Alastor Moody growled.

"Of course you can," Tonks replied, rolling her eyes. It was impossible to approach him from behind without being spotted. "And I told you not to call me that!"

He chuckled. It was always strange to hear the grumpy old Auror laugh. "Do you want tea?" he asked. Tonks peered over his shoulder and saw he had a cup out, already about to make some for himself.

"Sure," she responded, coming closer to Moody. "Not poisoned, is it, Mad-Eye?" she joked.

"Hmpf," was all he said. He took a second mug down from the grimy, dusty kitchen shelf and inspected it for a good twenty seconds, then took it to the sink and quickly washed it before he started making the tea. He couldn't see anything particularly wrong with it, but it was better safe than sorry.

"…Hey, you're all right, aren't you?"

"What?" he paused. "What are you on about?"

"After that guy locked you in your box and stuff."

He seemed surprised that she'd brought that up. "That was a while ago now," he said gruffly. "I'm over it."

"Okay, good. I just thought you might've been a bit shaken up." She took her tea when he passed it to her.

"Mm-hmm. I'm fine."

"Of course you are – you're Mad-Eye Moody," she said with amusement. "You're not afraid of anything, are you?"

He was silent for a while. "…Everyone has something they're scared of," he finally said. "Some show it more than others, obviously, but nobody's completely unafraid."

"I… guess you're right," said Tonks thoughtfully. She hadn't expected the conversation to become so serious.

"As much as I wish I could be completely fearless like people think I am…" he gazed down into his tea with his normal eye, while his magical one was fixed on Tonks. He never finished his sentence, but she knew what he meant.

"Does it get annoying?" she asked him curiously, slowly sipping her tea. "When people assume you're not scared of anything, I mean."

"Does it get annoying when I hear people calling me mad? Yes, but I can ignore it," he growled. "I can ignore a lot of things people say to me, Nymphadora."

She chose to ignore the fact that he'd used her first name and stood in silence for about a minute, drinking her tea thoughtfully. How did he actually feel when people talked about his paranoia? Was he in any way hurt by it, or did he just not care what anyone thought of him? She wouldn't have thought he'd mind too much, but he clearly liked to keep his feelings hidden away. She'd probably never know everything about him.

Alastor didn't try to make any more conversation, instead just enjoying his own drink.

"...Well, nobody can doubt that you're still pretty great," Tonks finally said as she shrugged, smiling. "Whatever you're secretly afraid of."

"Cheers," he said, his voice as rough as ever but with with a tone of appreciation. He finished his tea and plonked the cup on the counter with clack. "I learned a long time ago not to let fear get in my way. You can't really be an Auror if you're scared of everything, eh?"