THC, Interhouse Bonus Round.

Name, House and position of Player 1: accio_broom, Hufflepuff, Muggle Studies

Name, House, and position of Player 2: VanillaAshes, Slytherin, Head of House

Prompt(s): 1. [Location] Train Station/on a train. 2. [Dialogue] "I never imagined you to be this stupid."

Word Count: 1404

Beta(s): Butterflies765, Yippie

"This is the 12:40 train from London to Newcastle, calling at Peterborough, Doncaster, York…"

The announcer trailed off as Tonks glared down at the orange ticket in her hand. Across the small plastic table, Mad-Eye was snoozing away; a hat dipped low on his face to hide his magical eye. Her cheeks were flushed, and her stomach churned as the train conductor continued to list the stops between London and Newcastle. It took all of her self-control to stop her hair from changing to a gloomy black.

She had warned the Senior Auror that her knowledge of Geography hadn't been that great, but even she knew that Newcastle was nowhere near Manchester.

Nymphadora cast her eyes out the window, watching the green hills and trees flash by, interspersed with glimpses of muggle housing. They gave her no indication of where they were in the country.

This was bad.

"What's wrong?" Mad-Eye asked, not even gracing her with a glance. His eyes remained closed, and had he not just spoken, she would have believed he was sleeping.

Her words caught in her mouth at first. Tonks was afraid that if she told the Senior Auror the truth, he might remove her from the mission, and it had taken her a long time to get onto Moody's good side.

"So, you know you said we'd find Moreton on the muggle train to Manchester? I don't suppose he sometimes takes the train to Newcastle, instead?"

A single eye opened as he looked at her. It felt like he was boring into her soul. "No," was his one-word reply.

"Not even one time because he fancied a change of scenery?" Her stomach squirmed uncomfortably as if a bag of flobberworms had been emptied inside.

Mad-Eye tilted his hat up as his eye darted around the train. Towards the doors, the window, the passengers, the tickers, the electronic screen showing them on repeat the stops this train would take.

He looked at her dead in the eyes. "I never imagined you to be this stupid." Though his tone had been calm, she could clearly hear the scrutiny. "Maybe you are too naive, too ambitious to prove yourself."

Panic rose like bile from her stomach. Her career was going to be over before it had even begun. A thousand excuses raced through her brain, but she pushed each one away. She had to take responsibility for her carelessness.

"I'm so sorry, Mad-Eye." She cursed herself inwardly. She knew she should have asked her dad for advice before buying the tickets. But North was North, or so she thought, and she hated needing help, especially for Auror missions.

His glance told her everything she needed to know; she had messed up big time. Mad-Eye stood up and looked around the train once more. "Come on," he ordered, leading her towards the next cart.

Tonks followed him, watching his mismatched feet as they stomped through the carriage. She daren't look up; she knew his magical eye would be watching her, and she wanted to show just how sorry she was.

Suddenly, he grabbed hold of her arm and before she could protest, she felt the usual squeeze of Apparition, and suddenly, they were once again at headquarters.

"You're back early," Robards stated.

"Mission was a bust."

Nymphadora was relieved when she got the internal memo notifying her that Robards and Mad-Eye were given her a second chance. It had been a nervous two days' wait, during which she'd spent the time collecting train schedules from all the major stations in London. She was determined not to mess this up. Again.

She started at the note, her heart thumping a tattoo against her ribcage as she contemplated it. It was simple, but Moody's scrawl was clear enough.

Moreton Sting

Muggle London Trainstation; St Pancras.

Aim: Capture discreetly.

Aurors: Alastor and Nymphadora

Get it right!

It was that little 'get it right' at the bottom of the note that told her this would likely be her last chance. Nobody would take a disaster/mission risk with them on a mission. She didn't want to be deemed as 'stupid' or incompetent.

Tonks glanced at the schedules that now decorated her desk before flipping over the internal memo and starting to copy out the route for the right train journey onto the back of the parchment. This time, there'd be no mistakes.

They Apparated to the secluded corner of St. Pancras. As soon as Nymphadora got her bearings, she strode out onto the concourse, her head held high in confidence. She had the right tickets, she'd researched each and every train Moreton could take to get to Manchester, and she even knew which engine left from which platform.

"Still, one last check of the Departure board won't hurt," she muttered, more to herself.

"Target in sight. Stay alert," Mad-Eye stated simply before he moved away from her discreetly, his hood up, as he pretended to look at the board a few metres away from Moreton.

Tonks stayed rooted in her spot, her eyes cast up at the departure times, using her peripheral to search for the culprit. Finally, she set eyes on the man, although she almost didn't recognise him from the mugshot they had on file. His once thick, brown hair now hung limp and oily over his face, which although still looked handsome, now had a layer of grime covering his features. Moreton's clothes were threadbare, giving him the look of a muggle homeless person, and Nymphadora couldn't help but give him kudos on his disguise. If she hadn't been intentionally looking for him, he would have just disappeared into the scenery.

"Got him. There are too many muggles around to use Stupefy on him, though," she murmured.

"Create a distraction," her superior ordered before walking to the other side of Moreton.

However, Tonk noticed that their target suddenly got twitchy when he caught sight of Alastor; he wasn't the most subtle if anybody knew who he was. After all, he did have a wooden leg.

Knowing she had to move quickly, she spun quickly on the spot. With her eyes set on her target, she wriggled her shoulders and steeled herself. Suddenly, Tonks took off at high speed across the concourse. Her feet hit the wet patch of marble, and her world was turned upside, and she slipped, losing her balance and flying into the air before landing hard on her back. She screamed out loud. Fortunately, she'd managed to get a quick cushioning charm around her before she hit the floor, but it still bloody hurt.

Finally, her natural clumsiness was helpful for something.

A crowd began to surround her, all filled with concerned comments. "Are you okay?" and "Do you need any help." She simply nodded them away as she watched out of the corner of her eye.

Alastor grabbed Moreton, his wand barely visible as it pressed into his side. They backed away, and even though Tonks couldn't hear the familiar 'pop' sound of Apparition, she knew that that is what had happened.

She pushed herself up from the floor and dusted herself off, ignoring the exclamations of the surrounding muggles. She cracked her neck, thanked everyone for being so kind and considerate before hurrying away, this time being a lot more careful about where she put her feet. As soon as she was out of sight of the concourse, she turned on the spot and Disapparated.

Her feet hit the floor in the Auror department, and she immediately sought out Moody. She found him booking in Moreton to the holding cell.

"Good job, kid. Only you could make a fail into a success."

She rubbed the small of her back, where she was pretty sure a bruise was already forming and winced. "Yeah, well, don't expect me to fall like that for every mission. That was a one-off. That's if I get any more missions…" She glanced up at him expectantly.

Mad-eye gave her a courtesy glance. "There's potential."

Tonks felt a buzz of excitement, although she tried not to let it show on her face. She really wanted to just keep her cool and impress Alastor. Instead, she nodded. "I best get started on the paperwork then!"

She turned and made her way to her office. Only when her back was turned to the Senior Auror did she allow the large smile to spread across her face.