Disclaimer : Skip back to chapter one
Chapter 5 - Questions
It was five minutes early, that Tonks arrived at the Auror Department on Tuesday morning.
She was wearing her new red robe and she had to admit, that they fitted her size just perfectly. The sleeves hung slack around her arms. All in all, it was tailored fine. Nothing like her former school robes, hiding all her curves. The rest of her outfit contrasted her robe's colour. Her hair, which was a shiny black today, was still about shoulder length. Blue jeans, grey sweater, leather boots and dark leather bracelets to complete her style.
As Tonks entered the office, she noticed quite a number of people coming towards her. Not towards her actually, they were heading to the door, so she stepped aside, watching them leave.
'Another emergency ?' she wondered.
Glancing around the room, her eyes fell upon Gerry, who was having a conversation with Kingsley.
"Yes, usually you would be right but for today we have to make an exception." After Kingsley finished his sentence, he greeted Tonks with a polite nod.
"Good morning."
She smiled at Kingsley and replied with a joyful, "Wotcher." Gerry didn't say a word. He looked upset about something and left for his desk, brows knitted.
Tonks was curious now. "Is there something wrong ?"
"Kind of. Half an hour ago, there has been a train accident in the London Underground. Several wagon's went off the rails. We don't know for sure how many muggles were injured nor what caused the accident. We have to make certain that no wizard or witch caused this. That's why we are investigating."
She listened afire. 'Well that sounds really interesting. I wish I could go there too and help. But what's the matter with Gerry then ? Why would he be upset about a train accident in this sort of way ?'
"That leads us to a little problem." he paused and Tonks looked at him questioningly. "As I've just told Gerry, I need to inform you as well, that your courses have been cancelled until noon. We need almost everyone available, particularly the Speciality Aurors. Good that you two were early, so I could tell you personally. In former times you will need to check your desk for any memo's, concerning such matters. It's the common communication path in the ministry."
She nodded. "Yeah, I heard that already. So what are we supposed to do until then ?"
"You are free to go. But return to your after lunch courses. You could also stay here and use the gym or practice room as they'll be free during that time. Some Junior Aurors like the opportunity to train on their own, once courses get cancelled. Anyway, I need to leave, too. Good day miss Tonks."
"Okay, good luck."
He left and Tonks looked around. 'Nobody's here, not even Gerry. Must have left when I listened to Kingsley. Now might be a good time to take a look at gym and the practice room.'
Tonks eyebrows rose up high. The gym's dimensions astonished her. 'Wow. This room is possibly as large as the great hall at Hogwarts.'
A terrace was located at the wall to her right, with several rows of seats, that reminded Tonks of a muggle soccer stadium. Looking up, she noticed that there were scoring hoops hanging up high from the ceiling, at the far end of the wall, opposite to where she was standing.
'Heck, they are playing Quidditch as well ?' She tilted her head back to find a similar pair of scoring hoops was hanging right above. 'Looks like it.'
However, the most impressive thing about the gym was the giant bathing pool in the middle of it. The water's surface was sparkling, and reflecting the light of, what looked like, hundreds of magical globes that were floating through the air.
Tonks moved to the pool's edge and peered down. Certainly, she could see the bottom, but it was deep for sure.
"Something interesting down there ?"
Tonks jerked around, startled, and swayed alarmingly close at the edge of the pool. Strong hands reached forward, to steady her.
"Sorry."
She looked into the face of a tall young man, with dark hair.
'Blimey, those look nice.' she thought. He had fascinating eyes. The irises seemed to be white, with slight shades of a light grey colour, which gave both eyes a sparkling effect. The outer edges were dark lines. He removed his hands from her shoulders.
"It's okay, thanks to you, I didn't get wet." Smiling up at him, she extended her hand. "Hi I am Tonks, new trainee Auror."
They shook hands. "Tonks ? That's an extraordinary name. Mine is Connor, I am a junior Auror."
"Nice to meet you and yeah... it's actually my last name." She replied. "You seem to have a different accent !?"
"Yes, that's because I am American." He scratched the short stubbles of his chin beard.
"Cool. But what do you do here then ?" Tonks asked curiously. "Is there no Auror training available in America ?"
He smirked at her directness. "Well, there is, but the British Auror Department is known as one of the best, worldwide."
"Huh. I didn't know that."
He shrugged. "Always liked Great Britain, so it wasn't a hard decision to come over here, when I wanted to start with the training."
After a short pause, he continued. "What's your first name then ?"
'Of course he had to ask that ! Thanks again mum and dad for that lovely name of mine.'
"My first name," she sighed, "is Nymphadora. Forget about it immediately and leave it at Tonks, okay ?"
He chuckled. "Alright."
'Connor seems really nice. Yes, yes yes !'
"So Connor, 'wanna be my new victim ?"
He frowned. "Victim ? For what ?"
Grinning, she replied. "I've got hundreds, no, thousands of questions that just neeeeeed to be answered. If you got time for that."
"Fair enough, Tonks." He emphasised her name, but not in a negative way. "Let's move over there."
She followed him and they took a seat in the lowest row of the terrace.
He leaned back in his seat to eye her expectantly. "Fire away."
"Gosh, where to start...oh I think I have it. Right. How many junior Aurors are there ?"
"Currently five, including me. Two are in their last year, three in their second."
"And you ?" she asked, looking more curious, if that was even possible.
He smiled. "Second year."
"Does it happen often, that classes need to be cancelled ?"
"Now and then. Hard to determine what you mean by often. Around here," he gestured to the entrance doors, leading to the office, "you'll never know what happens next."
"What do you do usually, when classes get cancelled ?"
"You mean, when I don't get pestered with questions by curious young ladies ?"
She rolled her eyes playfully and he grinned in return. "Usually, I'll grab a book and do self study for certain courses. Just wait a few weeks and you'll saint your free time. There'll always be something useful to do."
"And the others ? What do they do ?"
"The third years, Nolan and Judy are actually a couple. Yes," he nodded as he noticed her raised eyebrows,"it was quite a 'shock' to the Department. There hasn't been a hotter topic around here for weeks, when they made it official last year."
"Is that allowed ? I mean, they are kind of colleagues and all that."
"True thing. There were many official discussions. No rule states, that colleagues mustn't be romantically involved. It's only forbidden when it interferes with the ability to do the job."
"Ah I see. And... what were their names again ?"
"Nolan and Judy."
"Thanks. So Nolan and Judy spend lots of time on their own I suppose ?"
"Yes. And before you can ask, " he smirked once more, "Steve and Glenn are the other two guys. They're best mates and do all their stuff together. Mostly, they are playing Quidditch in their free time."
"Okay." For a moment she seemed to be deep in thoughts. 'Sounds like he is hanging around alone most of the time.'
"What, you're finished already ?"
"Ha-Ha. Not quite. I'd really like to know... what this mentorship thing is about."
Now Connor's eyebrows rose up high. "Where did you hear about that ?"
She frowned. "Well...Dawlish has mentioned it to Kingsley yesterday. I didn't really get it though."
"What did he say in particular ?"
"He told Kingsley to add a form to Gerry's file. He is the other trainee Auror."
Connor leaned forward. "What ? He took over the mentorship of the other trainee ?"
Tonks shrugged. "I don't know for sure. Dawlish said he would sign it or something."
"Wicked. Then he is his mentor now." He scratched his chin, staring off into space.
"Yeah, but what does it mean ?"
He thought for a moment. "It's very special and hasn't occurred for a while. You get lots of advantages by having a mentor. The mentor himself is free to reject upcoming cases. He is allowed to stay at the Department, to teach his protégé, when his or her classes would otherwise be cancelled. In return, you kind of become your mentor's assistant. He can assign you tasks, even in your course time. He can also decide on giving private courses whenever he wants. I was just wondering, " he fixed his eyes on Tonks again, "what did the boy do on his first day, to impress Dawlish that much ?"
Tonks thought about what he had been saying. "Looks like Gerry is Dawlish's nephew."
"Mhhh. I see. But that shouldn't be the only reason for establishing a mentorship, you know. At least in my opinion."
She shrugged. "I don't know. Thanks a lot for explaining anyway."
'Was that the reason for Gerry, being upset this morning ? I've seen Dawlish leaving when I came in. Was he angry that his classes got cancelled and Dawlish didn't stay to teach him ?'
"A Knut for your thoughts."
"Huh ?" She had been staring at her feet, lost in thoughts.
"Are you always such a brooder ?" he arched an eyebrow at her.
"No, not really. One could call me hyperactive at times." That caused him to chuckle.
Suddenly, their comfortable conversation got interrupted. A patronus appeared in front of them. It was a huge grizzly bear, opening the mouth to growl. "Come to practice room." The silvery shape vanished as sudden as it had appeared.
Tonks was surprised. "Merlin's balls ! Didn't know you could make them talk !" That was the first patronus she had ever seen, but she read about it before.
Connor got up. "Yes, it's a useful way to communicate."
"And quite cool !"
He looked over his shoulder, smiling again. "That too."
"Whose was it Connor ?" They made their way over to the doors.
"You'll find out soon enough." he teased and with that, he disappeared into the men's locker room.
Moments later, Tonks entered the practice room for the first time. Kingsley had explained that the room contained a certain amount of magic, and could change itself to suit to various utilisation. However, she didn't really get what he had been trying to explain, but she was sure that she would find out sooner or later.
Tonks took a look around. There was no one in here, except for Connor, leaning against the wall to her right with his shoulder, arms crossed in front of his chest. Their eyes met.
"Doesn't look too magical I think. Just an ordinary, empty room, plastered with several mats on the floor." She claimed.
Connor smiled at her. "Just wait until later and it will look like a classroom with a couple of desks and chairs, or like a lab."
"So it wasn't a joke ? The room can really change it's shape ?" He nodded once. "Right. Now, for whom are we waiting Connor? And where did you leave your robe ? Thought we were supposed to wear them around the department."
"Yepp. But we won't need them now, looks like we're going to duel."
She frowned. "How do 'ya know that ?"
"It's a simple assumption." He sounded amused. 'I cannot shake off the feeling, that he knows something I don't.'
Tonks got the answer to her question seconds later, as Alastor Moody stepped inside the practice room. "Wands out." He grumbled. He leaned onto his wooden stick and was fixing Connor with his natural eye and Tonks with the magical one. The latter was a bit surprised. 'Mhh. Connor doesn't look surprised at all, so he expected Moody to come. Did he recognise the patronus' voice or something !?'
She watched Connor push himself from the wall, drawing his wand quickly, and did the same. Moody grumbled again. "Try to disarm each other. Counting down now. 3..."
"..2.."
'What !? Awesome... my movement is restricted with those robes.' she thought slightly annoyed.
"..1... GO !"
Tonks decided to throw up a shield first. "Protego." The spell covered her but nothing happened. Connor pointed with his wand at Tonks but didn't perform any magic. 'Huh ?' she frowned and concentrated on holding up the shield. He took some small steps towards her. She backed up instead.
Moody coughed behind of her. She got distracted in that moment and her shield slipped. "Expelliarmus !" Connor's spell hit and her wand flew to the other side of the room.
"Never lose your focus !" the Auror scolded her. "Again. 3..." Tonks' wand lay still far away. 'Damn.' She sprinted to catch it in time.
"..2.."
Tonks jumped forward...
"..1.."
...and landed on her knees.
"..GO !"
Fingers embraced around the wand a tiny bit too late. "Expelliarmus." She lost it again.
"You wasted your time, girl. In battle you have to get your wand back as quickly as possible !" Moody barked.
"Okay." She mumbled, while getting back up to her feet. Meanwhile, her face had blushed deeply. Connor had catched her wand this time and approached her, smiling encouragingly. "Don't ya worry. You'll get used to it." He whispered, only for her to hear.
Tonks gave a small smile back at him, as she took her wand from his outstretched hand.
The men's entrance door opened again and two young men joined them, greeting with a short "Hello." She eyed the newcomers with interest. Both were tall, broad-shouldered and had brown hair.
'That must be...'
"Glenn and Steve." Connor told her quietly. She nodded. 'So I guessed right.'
He continued his explanation, as Moody turned to face the two men. "Steve is the bearded one."
"Thanks."
He smirked. "It's alright."
"About time. You two practise stunners today. Move over there." Moody pointed at a corner. Suddenly, his head snapped around and he scrutinised Connor and her. "Did I tell you to stop ? Continue !"