Of Partners and Protégées
Alastor Moody watches his students graduate from the auror academy and remembers an old friend.
QLFC Round 11: Character Descriptions
Tutshill Tornados, Chaser 3
Prompt: Fighter - Write about a character who is very skilled in battle (weapons/wand movements).
Words: 1884
Optional prompts:
[Word] Lighten
[Word] Board game
[Colour] Lilac
A/N: I decided to spin the prompt on its head and imagine someone who is losing this attribute, but I hope that it's still valid.
Warning: Minor character death
Moody snorted into his drink as he watched the group of students from across the pub.
They had just exploded into raucous and drunken singing that he would have usually been incredibly annoyed with, but this time he let it slide. The kids were his graduates after all and they were celebrating leaving the auror training program. If he didn't want to put up with their noise then he shouldn't have passed them.
Instead, he just turned back towards his tablemate and the game of chess that they had been playing. Unsurprisingly, he was very close to winning and yet his opponent hadn't caught on to this issue. While they pondered on their next move, Moody reminisced on how he had got to this point.
Admittedly, it had been a long day for both him and his students with the final results and passing them through, and so he had sought to relax as well. It warmed his heart to see them so carefree and yet a small part of him felt disheartened that not even one of them had noticed him enter. If only you could take away that passing grade so easily with a quick reprimand of 'Constant Vigilance!' and a few more laps around the training grounds.
That being said, his comments didn't seem to hold the same respect that they had used to. Where he had once been revered for his work during the first war, and even feared at times, these new kids saw him as old news. It wasn't like he was losing his mental capacity or keeling over just yet, but he still couldn't help but hear his peers whisper when they thought he wasn't listening.
He guessed that it served him right for always listening out for trouble and going the extra mile for his safety, but he could only hear himself described as 'past it' and 'a paranoid old coot' so much before it became annoying.
At first it hadn't bothered him because these green kids didn't even understand the concept of danger and he could always tell them things that would make their toes curl. However, as time went on and many more of Moody's accusations were dismissed, even the older aurors had begun to look at him differently.
Maybe he should take up Albus' offer to teach the younger kids while he still could instil a bit of fear into them. Retirement was approaching and even he found it a bit embarrassing to continue to volunteer with the department after he had officially left.
He glanced back at the chess board and swiftly ended the game, leaving his opponent looking very confused for a moment. When they eventually left grumbling under their breath, Moody just grinned. He may be getting old and couldn't move as quickly as he once had, but his mind certainly hadn't taken the hit yet.
"This seat taken?" A strong voice asked, and he glanced up and into the face of his favourite student. Not that he'd admit that to anyone.
"Not at all." He replied after clearing his throat, "I should have known that it would be you who finally noticed me."
Tonks' signature grin split across her face as she took the position across from him, "Does that make me your favourite then? I always wanted to be someone's protégée."
Moody scoffed as he rearranged the chess pieces, fixing where they had been damaged in the previous game, "Don't get cocky, and don't get complacent."
Tonks' hair twinkled in the light as she laughed, the lilac that she had chosen tonight hallowing her face in colour, "Ah, but you didn't deny it though. Now, am I supposed to start or you?"
"Chess is the most well known board game of the wizarding world and you expect me to believe that you have never played it before?" He raised his eyebrow at her, "You're lucky that you're a metamorphmagus, because your acting alone would not have let you pass the Concealment and Disguise course."
"Oh shut up." She grumbled as she reached for one of her white pieces and made her first move, annoyed that she hadn't fooled him.
This playful back and forth had been the norm for the past couple of years as she attempted to become an auror herself, undeterred in her attempts regardless of his frosty attitude, which had managed to scare off everyone else. He did have to admit that there was a reason that he hadn't reprimanded her, and that was primarily due to her likeness to someone that he used to know.
"Hey Alastor, lighten up! We're meant to be celebrating, why the long face all of a sudden?" Tonks' quiet question cut through his memories of another face and another time. He frowned again, the lilac in her hair doing nothing to take away from the image of the other person in his mind.
"It took you long enough." He grumbled and he responded to her move, "Why the purple tonight?"
She instinctively reached up to brush at her fringe, "Well it's not everyday that you become a fully fledged auror and I wanted to pay homage to the person that made it happen. Someone said that you like lilac, and so thought it was apt. Did I get it wrong?"
Moody frowned, "Just lighten it a bit more and you'll be spot on." She did so and then grinned at him again, "It's your move." He reminded her.
"Oh yeah." Tonks carried out her move, he responded and they continued in this fashion for a few moments, both acknowledging a comfortable silence. He only glanced up to the door whenever he saw a new person enter, and he was glad to see that Tonks would sometimes join him in the motion.
"I wouldn't expect you to have purple as your favourite colour-" she attempted to begin the conversation again, but they were interrupted by the sound of a large belch from across the room.
They glanced over and regarded Tonks' partner partaking in another drinking game, he rolled his eyes, "I don't see why you chose him, you could have had your pick of everyone and you chose the thickest one here."
She turned back to him and rolled her eyes, familiar with the argument, "He's not that bad, and anyway, I'm not the greatest either. I guess we just sort of balance each other out. You know what I mean?"
The comment was met with silence for a number of seconds before he responded quietly, "Of course."
"I didn't mean-" she began, but he just shook off her apology with a shake of his head.
At first he had just been thinking of her, but now that Tonks had brought up his old partner, Moody couldn't shake the image of her from within his mind. Her name had been Marianne and she had looked like the splitting image of Nymphadora Tonks. Incredibly loud, friendly and approachable; she had been the centre of every party she found herself at. Perfectly managing to balance his surly attitude and drawing him out of his shell, in the same way that he had reined in her hot temper.
Unfortunately, she had also been murdered only a year after they had both graduated from the auror academy.
"You know that her favourite colour was lilac, not mine." Moody replied as he made the next move, not looking Tonks in the eye.
Predictably, the death of his partner had changed Moody in more ways than one, and so many of his future students had attempted to find out what made him into the way he was. Of course, this meant that in the end, the tragic death of his friend soon became the worst kept secret of the whole auror department. Those that had been brave enough to bring it up soon discovered the consequences and it was now widely established as the one sure-fire way to end up in the infirmary as quickly as possible.
He glanced back up at his student, "No don't do that, I like the way it was." She had changed her hair, whether it was subconscious as the mood had soured, or out of respect, it had slowly changed into a cooler blue.
Tonks did so and he smiled slightly, "No, lighten it more, she really liked it to pop."
They both smiled at each other for a moment as she restored the colour back to its former glory, before he continued, "I know that it's almost like a rite of passage to get under my skin in some way or another, but I don't mind so much when you do it. At least you're decent to be around and so can wear her colour."
He glanced back at where her partner was still drinking, "He, on the other hand, is still an idiot. But if that suits you then I can live with it."
"He's alright." She agreed.
"Good." Moody had never been one to mince his words. "Just make sure that you keep each other out of trouble."
"Of course." She agreed, "You know our combined scores outrank nearly every single other candidate."
He looked down and frowned for a second as he played another chess move, "So did ours, but that counts for nothing sometimes. A surprise attack can render even the most skilled duellist useless if they're not ready."
Tonks replied to his move and then his comment, "Hence the constant vigilance then?"
He inclined his head and then dealt the final blow of the game, gesturing towards the chess figures as they smashed each other to pieces. "As you can see. Now you need to work on your chess as well if you're going to live up to the title of my protégée."
"Oh?" She questioned, "Are you admitting to it then?" They quickly shifted back to their usual teasing tones from the previous morose topic.
"Of course not." He grumbled, "You've still got a long way to go yet before I am willing to say it in public."
Tonks laughed and then glanced back at the rest of her graduating class, Moody noticed. "Go on then, get back to them. I'm sure that we can begin your training on Monday."
"Training?" She asked, incredulous. "I literally just left the academy and now you want me to do more work?"
"Well, I've got a reputation to uphold and you've got big shoes to fill." He glanced down at his one leg and his other wooden peg leg.
"Maybe shoe singular." She amended and chuckled at the familiar joke, but he just rolled his eyes and shooed her away. He didn't especially want any of his other tutees to see him and attempt drunken thank yous, which would inevitably result in vomit all over his shoes.
As his favourite student turned to re-join her peers, Moody took in her parting smile and the glow of lilac that she wore with pride and let a genuine smile fall across his face. Though even as she stood to embrace that buffoon of a partner that she had chosen, he couldn't help but imagine what would happen to her, and when she might join the numbers of his previous students, colleagues and friends that had died already.
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