Chapter Four

Tonks sighed, watching as the sun streamed into the window of her bedroom. It was only a month into her preliminary training sessions and she was already exhausted. Moody had been working the trainees hard, moving quickly through basic spells, which some were still having difficulties casting.

Tonks had barely spoken to anyone since the day she'd been revealed to be a Metamorphmagus. Most of the group did the same to her, only speaking if they were paired in spell practise. Tonks felt really quite hopeless, and even lonelier.

Of course, she had always tried to be the goofy, laid back witch who everyone liked, but training so hard had sobered her up. She couldn't afford to let foolishness put her in danger when (if) she made it through preliminary basic training, intensive training to qualify as a student Auror, and then finally, getting to do real Dark wizard catching.

Still, she did long for company and fun when she had breaks in training.

Pfft. 'Can't let your personal life get in the way of work'. That's easy for Mad-Eye to say, thought Tonks. What elite Auror missing a leg and an eye and half his nose would have a personal life to speak of?

Reluctantly, Tonks dragged herself out of her house, Apparating herself to the Ministry of Magic. A moment later, she found herself in front of the battered old telephone box. She stepped inside and dialled six-two-four-four-two on the receiver. The dial whirred as a cool female voice began to speak. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Nymphadora Tonks, Auror trainee."

"Thank you,' replied the voice. "Please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

Tonks took the badge when it slid out of the chute where returned coins usually appeared.

The voice continued. "Please make your way to the Auror Department on level two promptly after arriving inside."

With that, the lift began moving. After a few moments, the door opened and Tonks stepped out into the Atrium, which was crowded with witches and wizards heading for their respective departments.

Tonks entered the lift, and a few moments later, she arrived at the training room. As she opened the heavy wooden doors she saw Moody standing on the opposite side of the room, waiting for the group. As he saw her, he looked up, nodding his acknowledgement of her presence.

"Good morning," Tonks greeted her instructor.

"Hello," said Moody in return.

"I didn't think I'd be first here. It's kind of embarrassing."

Moody just looked at her silently for a moment, before replying, "There's nothing wrong with punctuality."

"Well, I suppose so. What are we doing today?" Tonks asked, not really because she was curious, but because she felt it was necessary to make conversation to stifle the tension.

"We'll just be reviewing all the spells we've practised so far. Most of you are reasonably competent at casting them now. Then I'll outline what we'll be doing for the next few months. Mainly using defensive spells and combating Dark creatures."

Tonks looked up sharply as Stella and Sherry walked in the door, talking and laughing. They must have gotten to know each other since the prac on Stunners, thought Tonks glumly.

Over the next few minutes, the rest of the group arrived, all in twos or threes, laughing and talking loudly.

Tonks sighed inwardly. This is going to be a long session.

It turned out that she was right. The session was filled with spell practise Tonks wasn't really focused on, earning her several bruises from her fellow trainees and several scoldings from Moody about her ongoing lack of 'constant vigilance'.

As soon as she arrived back at her house, Tonks crawled into her bed, still fully clothed. If things were going to stay this bad, the next two years would be long ones. Tonks sighed.