She looked at him and then looked away almost as quickly. A few minutes later she did the same thing but this time she opened her mouth, thought about it and then closed it again, shaking her head. No. Now wasn't the time. Maybe it wasn't ever going to be the time.

Yet, that didn't stop her from doing it all over again. Maybe a bit more discreetly she didn't want to be too obvious, after all. Or obvious at all. She didn't need him forcing her hand, she wanted to be the one to make up her mind and ask the question if she wanted to. Or if she didn't.

The pros and cons just had to be thought about and weighed up. So far, the cons were winning.

She was just so curious. Surely there had to be a reason? A good one. It wouldn't have been even asked if here wasn't a reason. Right?

Would Moody even know the reason? It wasn't like he was involved in the recruitment process or anything. Maybe he didn't go through the same thing. When did he apply to become an Auror anyway? How old was he? Okay, that was a question that didn't necessarily need an answer because she definitely wasn't going to ask it. Yeah, she liked being able to live.

But surely, he wouldn't have a bad reaction to her asking her original question? The worst that could happen that he didn't answer and she'd just be in the same position as she was now, right?

"What do you want?" He asked in exasperation making her jump slightly.

"Sorry?"

It slipped out before Tonks could even realise what she was doing. Hey, he had scared her, after all! It was hardly her fault. Never mind the fact that she had basically been daydreaming. Something that wasn't exactly safe to do around Alastor Moody.

"Don't apologise," he said. "It's a-"

"-sign of weakness, I know," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Then why are you doing it?"

"You do know what the word automatic means, don't you?"

"Well, it needs to be not automatic," he grumbled.

"I'll get right on that," she said sarcastically. "Right after I stop breathing automatically."

He rolled his eyes at her, "You're a smartarse, you know that?"

"At least I'm not a dumb one!"

Another eye roll. He was going to strain his eyes, well, eye, if he kept going on like that. All that movement couldn't be good for it. Tonks wondered if he could make his magic eye do stuff or was it something you just didn't think about? Not that she was going to ask him that any time soon, that was a line that she wasn't going to cross. It was just too personal and rude to do such thing. Yes, she had manners. And she could use them. Sometimes.

"You wanted to know something?" He prompted.

"I always want to know things. I'm a Trainee Auror. I need to learn everything."

She even paired that snarky response with a wide grin, just to annoy him that little bit more. And, what do you know? It worked. Huh. That magical eye of his could actually twitch in frustration. Cool.

"Just ask me your bloody question," he snapped.

"Who said I even had a question?" She said indignantly, crossing her arms.

He wasn't going to break her that easily. Or, sure, she'd been trying to figure out how to ask him without sounding completely stupid but that was beside the point. She hadn't asked him yet which meant that until she was ready to do just that, he didn't get to hear it.

That and she was kind of trying to figure out how to even ask the question without coming across as stupid. Which she was starting to feel like it was unavoidable but that didn't stop her from at least trying. And if it had the added bonus of annoying Moody then all the better.

He just gave her a look just like her mother would when she wanted to get her to talk. Her mother's was better but that didn't make his any less effective. If you got to a certain age, did you just have the ability to make that look? She hated the feeling that look gave her, all squirmy and feeling like she'd done something wrong and needed to confess. It just wasn't fair.

"I say you have something to ask," he said pointedly. "Now, spill."

"There's nothing to spill," she insisted.

He glared at her. "Spill."

Okay, fine. Whatever. He won. But she wasn't happy about it.

"Why did they collect all those measurements of us?" She asked. "And what do they even use them for?"

He just stared at her. This time she actually did dare to wave a hand in front of his face. Or, at least, she started to only for her wrist to be grabbed as soon as she made one pass by his face.

"Hey!"

He ignored her to ask, "What are you talking about?"

"You know," she said impatiently. "All those questions I had to answer in my application."

"You do realise that that's the point of an application? To answer questions on yourself?"

She huffed at him. There was no need for him to be so sarcastic, it had been an honest question.

It had been bothering her ever since she'd had to fill out those forms a way back in Hogwarts. Wow, had it really been more than two years ago now? Nearly three? Time was weird. Being an adult was weird. But that was not the point of this current conversation.

"Does the Auror Department really need to know the circumference of my head?"

He raised an eyebrow at that.

"They really ask you that?"

She nodded. "Uh huh. Wait, you mean you didn't know this?"

Huh, he hadn't been asked it on his own application then. Or maybe it was so long ago that he didn't remember.

He shrugged. "Knew they asked for measurements but I thought that was more for uniform and equipment information."

"Does my head circumference help with that?" She asked doubtfully

Somehow, she didn't think that the neck holes of the uniform were specifically sized for each head. Though, you never knew, she supposed.

"Well, do you go around wearing a helmet?"

"No need to be so sarcastic."

"I won't be so sarcastic if you stop asking stupid questions."

Tonks raised an eyebrow. "I thought there was no such thing as a stupid question?" She challenged.

"Oh, there is. Trust me."

Seriously, who even let this man teach? Tonks looked down and shook her head.

"Moody?"

"What?"

"My wrist."

He looked down and saw what she had just realised. That he was still holding onto her wrist. Not tightly or anything but it was still in his grasp.

"Oh, here," and he let go.

Her hand felt weird now, like her blood was rushing back into it even though it hadn't gone numb. Eurgh, she hated that pins and needles sensation. They always lasted for ages with her.

"Thanks."

"You got anymore stupid questions?" He asked gruffly.

"It wasn't a stupid question!"