Note: This is a one shot set just after Meet the Wizengamot and before Meet the Order of the Phoenix. I found it lurking on my laptop – oddly already finished - and thought I'd post it rather than leaving it where it is. You never know, there might still be readers out there!

Meet the Traitor

As she watched the boiling water stream out of the kettle, leaving the unmistakable aroma of the morning to burst forth from the the mug, Dora Lupin could feel the atmosphere thicken as eyes bore silently into the back of her head.

"Something to say, Jas?" the Deputy Head of Aurors inquired as she reached for a spoon to stir the two mugs of coffee upon the counter before her, and a passing voice murmured pointedly:

"Not a word, Tonks, I'm sure."

As Isaac Graham brushed past her, hand reaching to graze her arm in a distinctly soothing manner, Jasmine Wickes jerked away from him and informed Dora:

"I bloody well hope that coffee's for Robert!"

"Robert's a big boy, Jasmine." Dora pointed out calmly. "He can make his own coffee."

Robert Wilde, passing them just behind Isaac, his scarlet Auror robes draped over the crook of his arm, shot Dora a distinctly suggestive wink.

"Insubordination, Robert!" the Deputy snapped, only to offer him a wide grin. As she turned her full attention back to the mugs before her she muttered: "Merlin, got a mind like a sewer, hasn't he?"

Jasmine gave a furious huff, her hands balling into tight fists.

"Look!" the redhead exclaimed, taking a stomping step forward. "I'm not going to just...just bloody stand back and...and watch you do this!"

"Watch me do what, make a cup of coffee?" Dora inquired, managing to sound infuriatingly bemused, only for Jasmine to shout:

"You know precisely what! Tonks, if you bloody take that cup and...and give it to him I swear to Merlin I'll...I'll...!"

"You'll...?" Dora pressed, turning to offer an inquiring raised eyebrow, and Jasmine looked as if she might explode.

"He's a TRAITOR!" she shrieked, positively pink with rage. "He has betrayed us, Tonks! He's one of them!"

"It's not about Us and Them, Jasmine." Dora informed her calmly, reaching to pick up the two mugs, and Jasmine reached to grasp fistfuls of hair in frustration.

"Yes it is! That's precisely what it's about! You've said so yourself..."

"Maybe it's starting to look that way, yes. But don't you see, Jas? This isn't the same. He's not the same as them. He's just...lost his way."

Jasmine looked as though she wanted to scream. Dora merely shook her head.

It had been three days since Auror Cain Gudgen had walked timidly into the Head of Aurors' office and handed Harry Potter his letter of resignation, and two days since he had appeared in the Ministry's Atrium dressed in the navy robes of Ambrose Kraft's Muggle Inquisitorial Division, and his former colleagues were non-too pleased by this turn of events. Dora, who had returned from leave that very morning and had been entirely unaware of the whole business, until she had spotted her former colleague in his pristine new attire in the Ministry's Atrium, had taken the news far more soberly than most.

Her lack of rage was, to Jasmine's mind, entirely unforgivable.

"Are you sure you ought to go down there?" Robert asked as, having abandoned his belongings at his desk nearby, he returned to commandeer the kettle. "You don't want to...provoke them."

"Provoke them into what, precisely?"

"I meant in general. Kraft's still sore over you showing him up in front of the Wizengamot the other week, I heard. Xander says he was bad-mouthing you to half the Atrium on Tuesday morning, you know what he's like..."

"What was he saying?"

"All sorts, apparently. And Daniel said last week he overheard Kraft telling one of the MLE deputies that you've had over six fines in the past year for breaking the Statute of Secrecy and that two of them were still pending because you've been refusing to pay them."

"Fascinating."

"He also said you and Harry target pure bloods and have permanent tabs on all the oldest families because you assume they're up to something."

"Is that so? Shocking, isn't it, what can be implied simply by visiting your pure blood mother for Sunday dinner..."

"Tonks..."

Dora felt Robert's hand come to press against her arm meaningfully.

"I know." she assured him quietly, and then, when his hand did not move and his thumb scuffed against her robes she frowned down at the gesture and insisted: "I know, Robert." Then she reached to clamp her own hand down atop of his to stop the movement and his cheeks grew pink and he hastily snatched his hand away again and said:

"Well be sure you do."

Dora leant back against the wall as he reached for the kettle.

"So..." the witch said, chewing pensively upon a nail as she watched him. "Why the sudden concern?"

"I wouldn't call it sudden." Robert muttered, sounding distinctly irritable.

Dora smirked.

"I went and spoke to Kraft yesterday afternoon, you didn't make a song and dance about it then."

"That was...different."

"Was it?"

"Yes. That was a...scheduled meeting. You didn't just waltz into his lair unannounced..."

"Lair? Merlin!"

At her laughter, Robert scowled, but did not grace her with further comment.

"How was it?" Dora asked, abandoning the topic in the face of his silence. "Last night, I mean."

Robert shrugged.

"Alright, s'pose."

"Are you going to see her again?"

"Hm."

"No? I thought not. Another one bites the dust!"

Robert flung the teaspoon he was holding into the sink with a clatter and snatched up his mug of too-strong coffee.

"Piss off." he told the Deputy Head of Aurors bluntly, and with that he made a beeline for his desk.

Dora sucked in a deep breath, before snatching up her own two mugs and following him.

"Come on, Rob." she said as he sunk heavily down into his chair. "Don't be like that, you know I'm only playing with you..."

"Yes," Robert muttered sourly as Isaac appeared to drop a hefty file onto the desk at his elbow. "I know you're only playing with me. I know all about you playing with me..."

"It's like that today, is it?" Dora interrupted sharply when she caught Isaac pausing to look at Robert in confusion, and Robert muttered:

"Maybe..."

"Right." Dora said, and with that she gave her head a toss and told him: "Piss off yourself, then." And with that she turned and stalked off towards the office doors, calling: "Come on, Isaac!"

"Jasmine's right, then." Isaac said as he hurried along just behind Dora as she stormed out into the corridor, narrowly avoiding sending coffee flying. "About Robert and you."

"I seriously doubt it." Dora muttered.

"She says the two of you were an item, once upon a time."

"I wouldn't put it like that, Isaac. It's such ancient history they probably didn't have 'items' back in then..."

"But the two of you were...together..."

"It's not like you to be so interested in office gossip, Isaac."

"It's hardly gossip if it's ancient history, Tonks."

She paused to glance round at him, a smile tugging lightly at the corners of her mouth at his sharp reasoning.

"I'm not sure what you call something so brief." she said, slowing her pace a little as they approached the elevator. "It wasn't anything much, really. I think we forget it half the time, except every once in a while he gets all...funny with me. Takes girls out and...somehow blames me when it all goes horribly wrong. As if I have anything to do with it! He's probably got a hangover..."

"That's one way of putting it." Isaac murmured dryly, and as she reached to jab a finger at the button to summon the elevator she said:

"Do stop spending so much time with Jasmine, Isaac. She's beginning to rub off on you and being a massive smart arse isn't your style."

Isaac gave an almost-amused huff, only for her dark eyes to catch the air in his throat as she asked: "Am I making myself clear?"

He reached to push the thin golden spectacles a little further up his nose and as the lift doors slid open he consented to murmuring:

"Crystal, I can assure you."

They stepped into the lift and there was a lengthy pause as the doors closed and they felt a jolt of movement. Eventually, the Deputy Head of Aurors sighed and muttered:

"But you're right. I know." She shifted uncomfortably with the mugs in her hand and confessed: "Makes me...you know..."

"A tad touchy." Isaac offered hesitantly, and she frowned deeply as if she was not keen on this analysis, but forced herself to agree:

"Precisely."

They rode the lift in silence for another long moment before he pointed out:

"You asked me to come with you...?"

"Oh. Right. No, I'll be going into the Lair on my own. Actually I wondered if you'd go speak to the Minister for me? About the incident last week, he's been asking all sorts of irritating questions you see and I haven't a bloody clue..."

"Ah."

"...thought you knew more about it, you see..."

"Of course."

"You don't mind, do you? He just wants to know the details of what happened, that's all."

"No, I can tell him, no problem."

"Great. Thanks..." As the lift came to a halt and the doors slid open, Dora sighed again and offered her fellow Auror a raised eyebrow. "Well then," she said, straightening up a little. "Here goes nothing..."

"Good luck." Isaac murmured, and with that Dora stepped out of the lift and into the corridor beyond.

Her entrance to the MID office was perfectly casual and she was halfway across the room before her scarlet Auror robes apparently gave her away and a voice called:

"Deputy Lupin!"

Dora, eyes darting searchingly around the room for her former colleague, graced the speaker with a glance.

"Good Morning, Mr. Mortell." she said, and sudden movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She turned to spot Cain Gudgen sat at a desk in the far corner. The sound of her voice appeared to have startled him. He was staring at her with wide eyes and appeared to be slipping further and further down in his chair as if he hoped to disappear from sight entirely.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Rodderick Mortell inquired, rising from his own desk, and he peered down his nose at Dora as she smiled widely.

"It's a social call, as a matter of fact." the Auror said, and Mortell looked distinctly suspicious.

"I shall fetch Mr. Kraft immediately." he said, making an immediate move towards the door opposite, only for Dora to laugh cheerfully.

"Oh no, that won't be necessary." she said, setting off towards Cain's desk, her every step making the former Auror look more alarmed. "Mr. Kraft and I are not in the habit of sharing a morning coffee. You see I'd like to drink mine and I think his company would rather put me off it." She came to a halt before Cain's desk and plonked the two cups down with a firmness that made Cain wince. "I'm here to see Cain, as it happens!"

"Ah..." Cain half-whimpered, only for Mortell to appear at Dora's side in an instant.

"Cain is very busy." Mortell informed her icily, and Dora raised an eyebrow.

"Too busy for a coffee? Merlin, Cain, what are they doing to you down here..."

"Mr. Kraft would not appreciate your interference."

Dora turned to look up at the tall man beside her, dark eyes instantly cold.

"My...interference?" she repeated, and he leant forward until there were precious few inches between them, his gaze akin to that of a wolf upon it's prey.

"That is what I said." he told her icily.

There was a very long silence. Eyes from various desks around the room were fixated upon the two of them. Cain leant forward a little in his chair, eyes as wide as snitches, something about the silent tableau making him altogether uncomfortable, only to wince when out of nowhere Dora's wand appeared, the tip pressed firmly to Mortell's chin, pushing his head upwards a little before she whispered:

"My face is up here. Basic human anatomy, Mr. Mortell. A lack of understanding of which, I might point out, neither Minister Shacklebolt nor indeed the Wizengamot do not appreciate in their male members of staff."

Mortell gave a sniff.

"Five minutes. Not a moment longer." he hissed, and the witch smiled at him.

"How gracious of you." she said, only for her grip upon her wand to tighten, the tip jabbing at his throat. "But of course you would be nothing but gracious, wouldn't you Mr. Mortell? You are addressing a Deputy, after all."

"You are not my Deputy." Mortell ground out through gritted teeth, wincing at the pressure upon his neck, but Dora's smile only widened.

"A very fair point." she consented to agreeing, and with that she let her wand drop to her side, only to lean abruptly forward until their foreheads were very nearly pressed together and her voice dropped so low that even Cain struggled to hear her. "Nevertheless," she informed the tall man before her, "if you so much as glance at me like that again, so help me when I'm done cursing you those wandering eyes of yours will be looking out the back of your skull."

Mortell visibly paled, though his expression remained cold.

Dora drew back from him, reaching to pocket her wand.

"Five minutes, as you say." she said pleasantly, and he turned stiffly on his heel and stormed off towards the door at the back of the room labelled: Ambrose Kraft, Department Head.

"You shouldn't have come..." Cain murmured as Dora pulled up a chair and dropped down to sit opposite him.

"Nonsense," she said, smiling as if the whole unpleasant episode had not happened, and with that she leant to push a mug towards him. "One sugar," she recalled brightly, "as you like it!"

Cain shifted uneasily in his chair before consenting to pulling the mug towards him. He wrapped his hands around it and stared blankly down at the steam rising in gentle wisps up into the air.

"Well?" Dora said after a lengthy silence, having taken a generous gulp of her own coffee. "Aren't you going to ask me if I had a good holiday?"

Cain looked up at her, utterly at a loss.

Dora sighed, her fingers tapping upon her mug for a moment before she told him:

"Harry showed me your letter this morning. I was...well..."

"Furious?" Cain offered, leaning heavily back in his chair, sounding distinctly broken at the idea. "Like the rest of them..."

"Nobody's furious, Cain..."

"Don't give me that! Jasmine's already threatened to hex me in the lift this morning! And I see the way they all look at me!"

"Nobody's going to stay furious for long." Dora assured him calmly. "Give them...time..."

"They hate me, Tonks." Cain insisted flatly. "And you do too."

"That's not..."

"And I...I don't bloody care, either! I don't give a toss what you or any of them think!"

At the sudden resolve in his voice, Dora sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"I don't think I can believe you." she admitted quietly, dark eyes dropping down towards her lap. "I don't think I can...can think that of you. You do care what...what we all think. You care what I think..."

"I...I don't!" Cain insisted, but she shook her head again and insisted:

"Yes you do. And I'm sorry if you...if you've fooled yourself into thinking that you don't care. I'm sorry if you've been...been struggling these past few months and I haven't been there for you when I should have been. I'm sorry if...if I've failed you, Cain. I'm sorry I've not been the Deputy I'm supposed to be, but...but the fact of the matter is you're wrong. You do care very much what your friends think. And what's more you've...you've got me all wrong. I don't hate you for leaving. I don't even hate you for coming down here and signing up with this lot! You know...you know how I feel about Kraft and...and what goes on in this office. You know I don't agree with it. But you'll have to do a whole lot worse than this before I hate you, Cain. I don't hate easily. I don't want to...to fill myself with hate. I've seen...what that can do..." She paused to glance meaningfully over at the door to Kraft's office and as Cain followed her gaze she told him: "Don't you paint me with that brush! We were colleagues, you and me. And maybe times have changed all of a sudden but some things are the same. You are my friend."

Cain looked as if he wanted to smile, but his face seemed to crumple.

"We cannot be friends, Tonks." he whispered, grip upon his mug tightening, pained at the smile that appeared upon her face.

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because you're...I mean..."

"I'm what?"

"You're..."

"Shall I tell you what I am?" Dora suggested impatiently, leaning forward so that she could rest her elbows upon the desk, voice dropping to a whisper. "I am hurting. I am hurting, Cain, and I am saddened and you have made me feel this way."

Cain drew in a deep, pained breath, only to feel her hand come to press against his arm.

"And I can see it all over your face." she whispered. "Guilt. I tell you that you've hurt me and you look as guilty as sin, Cain. And do you know why that is? It's because you care. Because we are friends of one kind or another, whether you like it or not."

"I..."

"Do you know who else makes me sad?" Dora went on, ignoring his feeble attempts at protest. "Do you know who makes me so full of sorrow that I can barely breathe thinking about it?"

Again, she turned to look meaningfully at the office door, before she leant forward across the desk further, dark eyes pinning Cain to the spot.

"Do you think," she breathed, "Ambrose Kraft would feel even a shred of the sort of suffocating guilt that I can see written all over your face, if I were to tell him just how his actions make me feel?" Before he could answer she gave a huff and muttered: "No, of course he wouldn't. There's more chance of a hippogriff being elected Minister for Magic! And why is that? Because Ambrose Kraft hates me, Cain. He despises my very existence on Earth, let alone in this Ministry. You, on the other hand, are capable of more than a little guilt. You're so guilty it hurts you just seeing me here. It's not going to go away. Just like I'm not going to go away. We are bound together, you, me, the Aurors. You can't simply tell me that we cannot be friends. Why try telling me? Try telling yourself, it's you who needs convincing!"

"I...I'm..." Cain reached to sweep the hair from his eyes with a shuddered breath before he finally managed to meet her gaze. "I'm sorry." he whispered, feeling her grip upon his arm tighten. "I'm sorry I've hurt you. I'm sorry everyone is...is upset. I didn't want it to...to be like this..."

"It's not too late, you know." Dora reasoned soothingly. "You could come back..."

"Tonks..."

"Your badge is still on Harry's desk. All you have to do is come and take it."

"I can't do that."

"Of course you can. We can pretend all this never happened."

"No we can't, Tonks. That's not...that's not what I want. I want to be here. I want to be here because I...because I believe in...in this."

"Cain, you want to be here because you've lost your way."

"I believe in Kraft's vision. I really do!"

Dora drew in a deep breath, slowly shaking her head, only to hear the sound of a door opening and, as footsteps announced a newcomer to the room, a voice called:

"Five minutes, Mortell tells me. I think that's more than done with, don't you?"

As Ambrose Kraft strolled towards her, his arms folded firmly across his chest and his expression distinctly jeering, Dora's eyes remained fixed upon Cain.

"I am so sorry." she whispered, slowly withdrawing her hand from his arm as if any sudden movement might provoke Kraft in some way. "I know you took what happened at Queenswood badly, I know...I know your family's been frightened..."

"Don't..."

"...I should've done more. I should have talked to you. I should've seen it coming, Cain. I'm so, so sorry..."

"There is much work to be done!" Kraft called impatiently, and Dora shuddered a little. She reached carefully to gather up the now empty mugs upon the desk and offered Cain a small, yet sombre smile.

"We should do this again." she suggested, nodding at the cups in her hand. "If you like..."

"Come now, Tonks!" Kraft interrupted loudly as he appeared beside her, one hand reaching to grasp the back of her chair. He leant towards her and said: "He's my man now!"

Cain's face grew pink. Dora rose swiftly to her feet, the smile disappearing from her face as she turned to face Kraft, and her expression grew instantly frosty.

"We shall see about that." she said, and with that she turned on her heel and swept back out of the office, scarlet robes thrown back in the draft as she flung the door open and disappeared.

And Ambrose Kraft stared after her, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he agreed:

"That we shall."