Tonks was seething. Seething. That was the only word that she could describe what she was feeling right now. She was ignoring the small pang of hurt. It was easier to give into the anger. And annoyance, don't forget annoyance.

And it was all down to one person. A person who she thought wouldn't be like this anymore. Who she thought had changed. Well, no he hadn't. Mad Eye's 'constant vigilance!' certainly applied here.

Dawlish was standing right in front of her, that stupid annoyed look on his face that she hadn't seen in a while. She had forgotten how annoying it was. You know why Dawlish was standing in front of her trying to be tall and intimidating? No? Neither did she. Well, okay, that was a lie. She did but she didn't understand.

You see, Dawlish, idiot that he was, seemed to have an issue with her actions on the night of Dumbledore's death- something that she still hadn't fully processed (it had barely been a fortnight, give her time!). Apparently, she should have never answered Dumbledore's call for helped and been a good little Auror and just remained at her post in Hogsmeade. That way she wouldn't have been involved at all because the Death Eaters had never made it to Hogsmeade.

Huh! Was he really that big of an idiot? And here she was thinking he had changed. Obviously not.

"You are an Auror, Auror Tonks," he continued to scold her. "You follow orders."

"I wasn't on the clock, Dawlish," she snarled out. "I can do what I want on my own time."

He didn't seem to like this answer at all as he basically snarled at her. Which was rather pathetic. Hmpf. He had no business being this angry at her. What happened literally was her job anyway. Protecting people from Death Eater attacks. It wasn't like she had predicted it was going to happen! It did and she reacted like any good Auror should!

"Not while you're identifiable as an Auror."

Did he really think that she had brought her badge and worn her robes? Of course, she hadn't and she told him so.

"But you've been seen patrolling Hogsmeade. You are recognisable to students as an Auror. So, people see you as an Auror."

Tonks shrugged. "So, they know my job title. So what?"

"It's completely inappropriate!"

She couldn't help it, she snorted. Inappropriate? That was the best he could come up with? That had to be the last thing that she was. Actually, what she had done was more than appropriate, it was the right thing to do. Not that she was ever going to get Dawlish to see that.

"It is not," she argued because apparently, he really was too dumb to see that.

"I'll be reporting this misuse of power to Thompson, Auror Tonks," the idiot-um-Dawlish 'scolded'.

Tonks couldn't do anything but gape like a fish for a moment and then anger flooded through her like fiendfyre. How dare he. How dare he. Just who did he think he was? And to think that she had been starting to think that Dawlish was alright and then he went and did something like this. She couldn't stick it. She just couldn't.

"Shut. The. Hell. Up. Dawlish," she hissed, her blood boiling in her veins.

Dawlish stopped in his rant and glared at her. "Dumbledore is barely cold in his grave and all you care about is that I left my post at the school. You bastard, I was put there to protect the school, which I did tonight. Something which you didn't bother doing!" Tonks all but screeched, feeling wild.

"You had no authority to make the decision of-" Dawlish started.

'SLAP' a red handprint appeared on her 'superiors' cheek. Merlin, that felt good.

Dawlish spluttered incomprehensibly at her as the red silhouette of her hand blossomed across his face. It was perfectly formed, something that she took inappropriate pride in. That was what you called good follow through.

People were poking their heads over their cubicles at the noise. They probably had done before this - her and Dawlish hadn't exactly been quiet - but hadn't wanted to intervene. Yes, Dark Wizard Catchers didn't dare get between people squabbling. Tonks rolled her eyes at the irony.

Dawlish looked like he couldn't believe what had just happened. He was staring at her and gingerly touching his face with his fingertips. Tonks wasn't going to lie, she got immense satisfaction out of him flinching at the obvious pain that action caused him.

"Tonks! Dawlish!"

Tonks spun round, still feeling ready for a fight. Then she realised who it was so she clenched her fists by her sides and tried to regain control of herself. This was Thompson. Her boss.

"My office."

Neither of them moved, instead choosing to glare at each other.

"Now."

They both scrambled to do as they were told and Tonks was childishly pleased with herself when she beat Dawlish to the door. Straightening her robes and putting a neutral look on her face, Tonks entered calmly (without tripping!) while Dawlish literally fell in, red faced. She supposed the discreet sticking out of her tongue probably didn't help matters...

What came next was basically a right bollocking over their immediate behaviour. Because yes, hitting a colleague was never appropriate and neither was needling them when you had no authority to do so (ha! Take that Dawlish).

When that was out of the way, Thompson got down to the business he obviously organised this summons for.

"I want to know exactly what happened that night," he instructed.

"But I wasn't acting as an Auror," Tonks told them. "I was there-"

"-under Dumbledore's orders, yes I know," he dismissed. "You mentioned it in your initial report."

"Report?" Dawlish spluttered.

Thompson raised an eyebrow at him. "Indeed. Auror Tonks wrote one after Professor McGonagall informed me of her presence at Hogwarts after the Battle."

More incoherent spluttering from Dawlish and Tonks tried to hide her smile. Looks like she wasn't in as much trouble as he thought. Hopefully.

"But that was incredibly brief," Thompson turned back to her. "I would like to know more."

Tonks tried her best to explain what happened though repeating everything made all the emotions that she had kept carefully squashed come rushing back. But she controlled herself. Becoming emotional here would not help her case at all.

Thompson asked a few questions but mostly just let her talk. Tonks didn't know whether she should be nervous about that or not. Either way there wasn't an awful lot to tell and she soon stopped talking, feeling somewhat out of breath. How was Thompson going to take this?

They all stood silently and Dawlish was glaring at her even harder, if that was even possible. Tonks decided not to look at him or else she would probably want to slap him again and that definitely wouldn't be a good idea.

"Why did you not alert Auror Dawlish to what you were doing? Surely it would have been wise to have your fellow Aurors on standby at the very least." Thompson started his questioning off with.

That at least was an easy one to answer.

"I didn't think I needed to. I was called to give Hogwarts a bit of extra security, to patrol the halls and such until Dumbledore returned."

"With other members of The Order of the Phoenix?" Thompson interjected knowingly.

Tonks shifted slightly but didn't deny it. It wasn't like they were a secret organisation anymore.

"No one else was necessary," she continued with a shrug. "We didn't think that something would happen."

"But something did."

"Yes." That was an understatement.

"Hmm," Thompson turned back to Dawlish. "Auror Dawlish, there is no further need for your presence here. You are dismissed."

Dawlish gaped at him which made Thompson repeat himself. He stormed out, definitely in a temper. Tonks breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now," Thompson steepled his fingers together. "Can you remember exactly what each of the Death Eaters were doing?"