Thank you to DarylDixon'sgirl1985 for beta reading.

Word count: 1,008

Tonks pushed herself away from the desk, stretching with a loud groan. She collapsed against the back of her chair and tilted her head back as she rubbed a hand across her face. A glance at the clock showed that she'd been buried in paperwork for two hours: a long time but significantly less time than she'd thought.

With another groan, she got up from her desk. One step outside her cubicle, she had to dodge a memo as it zoomed past. She cursed under her breath as she continued to the break room.

Two fellow Aurors were sitting at the table; Tonks nodded at them as she passed. As soon as her coffee began to brew, her brain perked up in anticipation of the caffeine. She was so singularly focused that, at first, she didn't hear what Bennett and Cooper were discussing.

"They asked if I'd be launching an investigation," Bennett said in her usual booming voice, pausing only to take a sip of her tea. "When I told them the standard stuff—can't speak on such matters without permission, you know—one of them got really serious. She was staring at me all intent-like. It gave me the chills. She said, 'I know your lot don't want to listen, but we're serious. He keeps sending people here. You have to stop it.'"

Cooper laughed, throwing his blond head back. Tonks turned to face the pair, a frown creasing her brow. Nothing about the story sounded funny to her.

"They really said that?" Cooper asked. "As if we'd accept that You-Know-Who is back based on the word of some werewolves when we have plenty of sources telling us he's not?"

"And as if a group of werewolves causing mayhem in Cornwall would be our biggest concern even if he was," added Bennett with an amused smirk of her own. Tonks' eyes narrowed as she watched the two Aurors. "Can you imagine them actually helping us?"

"And why not?" Tonks snapped.

She sat her coffee to the side, no longer needing the caffeine to energize her.

"You-Know-Who's never been a fan of anyone who isn't a pureblood witch or wizard. Sure, he'll use magical beings as tools, but he'd want them dead in the end. Why wouldn't werewolves side with us over him?"

Bennett and Cooper shared a look, with Cooper's mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. Tonks stared at them, her lips a thin line as she waited for something, anything, to be said.

"Well, they love getting easier access to humans, don't they?" Bennett finally said, regaining a smile that Tonks took as patronizing. "They're not very forward-thinking. It's not like they'd care about ideology as long as they had prey in the short-term."

Tonks scoffed.

"'Not very forward-thinking'?" she repeated. "Do you hear yourselves? Werewolves are human at the end of the day. Their minds work the same except at the full moon. They're not any less 'forward-thinking'," she repeated the phrase mockingly, "than any witch, wizard, or Muggle."

The other Aurors shared an amused look, but they didn't care much for arguing when they saw Tonks' own opinion as absurd. Both of them had a decade more experience than Tonks in the department, and she could see from their expressions that they took her impassioned defense of werewolves as nothing more than naivety, but neither of them said as much out loud.

Kingsley walked in. He was the picture of calm and unaffected as he poured himself a cup of coffee, but the way his eyes scanned the room hinted that he felt the tension and possibly had only entered because of it.

"How's everything?" he asked in the same tired tone of voice that was common after a day spent on paperwork.

"Not too shabby," Cooper said, the disagreement with Tonks forgotten. "Bennett here was just telling me about some werewolves who swear You-Know-Who is trying to recruit them."

Kingsley raised an eyebrow. Nothing in his demeanor hinted at the same amusement that Cooper and Bennett had shared over the situation.

"Have you filed their statements?" he asked Bennett.

Bennett shrugged.

"Not yet, but I will."

Kingsley turned stern. Tonks bit back a satisfied grin as Bennett shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Do it now," Kingsley demanded. It wasn't rude, but it was a reminder of who had the higher rank in the office. "You know the protocol. The longer you wait, the more distorted the memories become even with spells. No matter your personal feelings, that's a large claim for a witness to make, and we have to have a record of it that's as accurate as possible."

Keeping her eyes on her cup, Bennett nodded.

"I'll do it now," she promised, wasting only the time it took to cast a cleaning spell on her cup and store it in the cabinet above the sink before disappearing from the room. Cooper, too, excused himself quickly.

Once she was alone with Kingsley, Tonks allowed herself to smile.

"Thank you," she said, careful to keep her voice low enough that no one passing in the corridor had a chance of hearing her.

"For what?" Kingsley asked, his voice a little louder. "I'm only making sure everyone follows proper procedure. That is part of my job after all."

Despite the words, his eyes sparkled with amusement. Though the two of them had never discussed Remus together, he knew of her frequent visits to Grimmauld Place, and her face warmed at the idea of him knowing what had driven her to get defensive with their co-workers.

Kinsgley gave her one last smile and disappeared with his coffee, leaving Tonks alone. She leaned against the counter with a sigh, rubbing her hands over her eyes. Reaching for her coffee again, she took a huge gulp before deciding it was too cold and vanishing it with a flick of her wand. She could afford the time it took to brew another cup before she sat back down to work.