EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

Alastor Moody focuses his healthy eye on his new protégé.

Seventeen-years-old, pink haired girl steps confidently into the room. She slams the door and tosses her school bag on the desk. Moody is unimpressed.

'Nymphadora Tonks, I suppose?' he snaps at the girl.

'Yup, but I hate my first name. Call me Tonks.' she says.

Moody clears his throat.

'Maybe you have graduated from Hogwarts, Tonks-' he says harshly '-but you are to remember, that you are still a student, and I am your teacher and supervisor. I expect you to address me with all due respect.'

Tonks rolls her eyes.

'Yessir.'

'Yes, sir.' Moody corrects, emphasizing words.

'Yes, sir.' Tonks mimics him, in a little bit over dramatic voice.

'Very well. I don't think I have to introduce myself?' Moody asks.

'No, sir. I know who you are. High-ranked Auror and Death Eaters' hunter, Alastor Moody.' the girl replies.

'Correct.' Moody is content for the first time. 'Are you familiar with the general process of Aurors' training, you are about to undergo?'

Tonks nods eagerly.

'Yup. I mean, uh... yes, sir.'

'This place doesn't work like a standard school.' Alastor explains the basics anyways. 'You are not about to sit in classes and do homework assignments. However, your education is about to be much more intensive than your studies at Hogwarts. I know that you have graduated on the top of your class, having passed ten NEWTs with high scores. However, your education from now on is not going to be strictly academic. You are going to learn a lot of practical stuff and train your body. The training is based upon mentor-protégé relationship, so the two of us are destined to be around each other for the next three years.'

Moody pauses, and waits for his words to sink in.

'And I want you to know, girl, that you are not exactly a lucky thing, having been paired up with me.' he ends his speech.

Tonks raises her eyebrows.

'Why, sir? I have applied myself to be under your tutelage. You are the most famous, prominent and effective Auror out there.' she says in a surprised voice.

Moody gives her a mysterious smile.

'Of course I am the most effective Auror, as I am also the most effective teacher. However, an effective teacher does not mean a merciful teacher.'

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Moody leans his wooden leg against a bench, as he watches Nymphadora Tonks running loops around the sports field in the Aurors School.

The girl has been on Moody's military-style drill for two weeks already.

'Three more loops, Tonks, and we are going outside to the assault course. And I advise you to keep your pace up, otherwise you will get two loops extra to run.'

Tonks, sweaty and exhausted, shoots Moody a vicious look.

'If I knew that an Aurors' training looks this way...' she snaps, out of breath.

'Then, what?' Moody asks mockingly. 'And what did you expect, girl? That what are you going to do during your training? Lay on a beach with a drink? Sleep until noon and laze around? Or...'

'Learn some useful magic!' Tonks cuts him off, raising her voice. '...sir.' she adds quietly, cowering under Moody's angry look.

She stops in front of her mentor, looking at him and bracing herself.

'Seriously though, sir, how running loops is going to help me in hunting down Dark Wizards? I'm desperate to get the job, desperate to become an Auror and make my parents proud. However, I expected learning hexes and defensive spells. Not undergoing a military drill.'

Moody focuses his healthy eye on her.

'Tonks.' he says in a softer tone. 'Do you know exactly how Auror's job looks like? What is required from you? What are you going to do?'

The girl nods slowly.

'Magic does not solve everything.' Moody goes on. 'No matter how many spells you can perform, if you are out of breath after running half a mile. No matter how skilled of a Witch you are, if you are unable to take commands and obey your supervisors during Raids. What are you undergoing now, is an absolute basic training, focusing on physical exercises. You are going to learn all the needed spells only after you build a stronger body.'

Tonks nods again.

'Yes, sir.' she says in an accepting voice.

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'I'd like to open my own, personal vault. I've turned seventeen a few months ago.'

Tonks has received a furlough leave from the garrisoned Auror's School. She had asked Moody for it; she needed to go to Gringotts. As a grown-up Witch, she wants to have her own vault and own money.

'Very well. Miss...?' Goblin behind the counter asks in a clear voice.

'Nymphadora Tonks.' the girl answers, as always flinching at the sound of her own first name.

'Oh, I see...' the goblin mutters, digging in his papers. He sacrifices while to read what seems like Tonks' records.

'Now I see, young Miss, why don't you want to make a use of your family trust vault. I had to check it; you see, it is quite uncommon for a Witch or a Wizard your age to open their own account.'

Tonks feels confused. She looks at the goblin in surprise.

'Err...?' she mutters, unsure how to react.

'Here, your records say, that your Father is a Muggleborn without a capital of gold here at Gringotts, and your Mother has been disowned and denied her fair share of family wealth.' goblin explains.

Tonks flinches. She realizes how little does she actually know about her family history.

Mother's side of the family has always been a taboo. Nymphadora has always been scolded for merely bringing this topic up with her Parents.

Father may have wanted to tell stories about his part of the family, but the girl has never been interested. Who wants to hear stories about some boring Muggles, anyway?

'Do you have more information, sir?' Tonks asks. 'I mean, in my records?'

Goblin blinks at her from behind the counter.

'If you want to know more about your family, young Miss, I can run blood tests for you.' he offered. 'A comprehensive test, that reveals your genealogical tree tracking down to the twelfth generation, as well as their Blood Statuses, costs ten galleons.'

'Oh!' Tonks exclaims. She had been aware that Gringotts is able to run such tests, although she forgot about this option. 'I'll take the comprehensive test, please.'

Goblin nods and hands a clean, sharp razor and the glass vial over to Tonks. The girl cuts her index finger and collects a few drops of blood to the vial. She hands the vial over to the goblin, along with the ten galleons of fee.

'Thank you, young Miss. You may want to head towards the waiting hall; the test's results may take up to half an hour to be ready.'

Tonks nods and follows the goblin to the waiting hall.

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Tonks crawls in the thick mud underneath barbed wire entanglements. She uses her elbows and her knees to quickly move forward to the end of the assault course.

As she climbs up from the mud at the edge of the barbed wire, Moody waits for her and casts "tempus".

He looks at the girl in acknowledgement.

'Fourteen seconds better than the last time, Tonks. I must admit that you have finally gotten down to hard work. '

Tonks nods. Her eyes are absent. She doesn't think about the assault course. She has much more important stuff going on than Moody's drill.

Her mentor immedietly notices the girl's distraction and incomprehensiveness .

'Tonks, care to explain what occupies your mind for the last three damn days? Ever since you have returned from your furlough leave, you seem awfully distracted. What's going on?'

Tonks looks at Moody. There is no point in lying to him.

'I have been at Gringotts.' the girl explains. 'I wanted to open my personal vault, but, additionally, the goblins ran family blood tests for me.'

The man looks confused.

'Care to elaborate?' he asks. 'Why it upsets you? Is anything wrong with the tests?'

'No.' Tonks answers. 'Only, I have never been familiar with my family history. That topic was a taboo at my household. I've found out some things that I consider... disturbing.'

Moody frowned.

'Have you?'

Tonks reaches to her inner pocket on her sweater's chest. She keeps the piece of parchment from Gringotts hidden deep inside, preventing it from being seen by any unauthorized eyes.

She hands the sheet over to her mentor. Moody looks at the piece of parchment curiously.

'It's a detailed genealogical tree.' Tonks explains. 'Only my Mother's side though, it turned out that Father doesn't have any Magical relatives. Gringotts doesn't gather data about Muggles, so they just left my Father as one single part of the tree. As for my Mother... you see for yourself, sir.'

Genealogical tree of Mother's side represented a detailed tree of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

'Have you heard about Sacred Twenty Eight, sir?' Tonks asks as Moody eyes the piece of parchment cautiously.

Moody snaps.

'I have never known why my Mother had been disowned by her family.' the girl goes on. 'I had no idea that she used to be a part of probably the purest Wizarding family in our country.'

Tonks' mentor looks down at the girl and stands silently for a few seconds.

'Girl.' he says finally. 'Does your Mother's heritage have any value to you? Does that mean so much to you, her being of the purest ancestry?'

His voice is sharp and harsh. Unpleasant. Tonks didn't expect that. She cowers.

Moody obviously doesn't like Tonks' inquires about her family and her clear shock about the reason of her Mother's disownment. He doesn't like that, because it reeks too much of blood supremacy ideas, that he had sacrificed his entire life to fight against. The girl is smart enough to figure that much out.

'No, sir.' she whispers. 'It doesn't have any value to me.'