Tonks checked her appearance in the mirror for what had to be the eighth time this morning. She was fine. She looked fine. There was no milk from her breakfast bowl of cereal on her lips, her hair wasn't all mussed up and her clothes were clean. And if she kept her shirt tucked in no one would see the scorch mark she'd left when she had attempted to iron her own clothes for the first time.

She knew she should have taken her mum up on her offer to do her work clothes for the first day, citing that Tonks be too nervous to do so. And probably simply not trusting her with the iron. Which was fair after Tonks had managed to make one fall on her own hand when she was ten. That had been a nasty burn. She still had the scar from that. It was a really weird shape. Anyway, back to her attempt at ironing. It had gone okay, nothing had creases in it. Not really anyway. And the scorch mark was hidden. She had just wanted to prove she was an adult an all that. She could make her own food, do her own clothes and all that. She could make her own way now. Hopefully, anyway. Well, as on her own as she could when she was going to go home most Sundays for dinner with her parents. But still.

She had insisted that she didn't want to start her first day from her parents' house, she had wanted to do this herself. Like an adult. Because that's what she was. An adult. No longer a student. She scrunched up her nose. Yeah, that was still a strange thought.

She was kind of regretting not taking her parents up on their offer because it was, she checked her watch, half seven and she didn't have to report to the Auror Department until half nine. At least if she was with her parents, she could have been distracted by talking to them or whatever. Or maybe they would make her more nervous when they tried to reassure her. She didn't know. Either way, this being by herself while waiting around for time to pass kind of sucked. It made her feel way more nervous, especially since she was just left with her thoughts. She was going to have to get a TV or something here, even if it was just for background noise.

She checked her appearance again and smoothed down her hair instinctively. Not that there was much to smooth as she had it in that short, spikey style that she really loved currently. It was just so easy and simple and she rocked it, if you must know. Of it would only stay the one colour. She was so nervous that it didn't even stay on that strange orangey-brown colour it normally turned when she was nervous. Which would at least be a standard sort of colour. No, she was so nervous that even her abilities were freaking out and making her hair flit between multiple colours. Red to pink to green to purple. Aargh. It was annoying. Couldn't it just settle? Why couldn't she make it settle? Though, she supposed she should be grateful that it wasn't her skin that was doing it. That wouldn't be good. She'd probably get sent straight back home before she could even do anything.

She took some deep breaths. Maybe that would help? Another check in the mirror. No. No, it didn't. She sighed heavily at herself and shook her head. She was just going to have to live with herself and hoped it calmed down on its own.

What was she supposed to do now? Hang around here? Go to the Ministry and hang around there? Would that be too eager? Or would it be what they wanted? Had she mentioned that she hated all this waiting around? Because it sucked. There was nothing worse than waiting.

"Scratch, scratch"

She almost jumped out of her skin at that noise. Which made her feel very stupid because it was just an owl. Her dad's owl to be exact!

Tonks didn't think she'd ever moved so fast and not tripped as she raced to her small kitchen window and yanked it open. The owl gave her a friendly hoot as she petted it and pulled the letter of him. What were her parents doing sending a letter to her this early in the morning? Didn't they have work? Had she forgotten something?

She should probably just go ahead and read the letter to find all the answer to these questions of hers. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.

Dora,

Although you did not want us to be physically there for your first day of you becoming an adult and taking your place in the world of work, we just wanted to remind you that we still are there with you and wishing you the very, very best today.

You've done us so proud so far and we know that you'll keep making proud no matter what.

So, we hope you have a great first day in the Auror Academy. Please try not to injure yourself too quickly and, more importantly, remember to stay true to yourself.

We love you so much and we are so proud of you.

Love, mum and dad

She was crying. She wasn't! It was more of a sniffle anyway. Why did her parents have to be all sweet like that? Aargh. She couldn't go into work with red eyes. A quick wash of her face and morph of her complexion and she was happy with her appearance today. And her hair had stopped shifting without her input! Huh. All she needed was that little bit of confidence from her parents. Maybe she wasn't quite so grown up after all...

And now it was time to go. Tonks couldn't help but gulp as she reached for her robes, hands shaking. Maybe she should use the floo instead of apparating? Would she splinch herself if she tried to apparate in this state? But flooing wouldn't make a good first I pressing either - she always fell out of the fireplace. And, knowing her luck, she'd probably crash into someone. No. She didn't want that to happen. There was always the visitors entrance, she supposed. But would that be embarrassing? Silly? It kind of felt silly. No, it would have to be apparating. She would just have to be careful.

Okay. She could do this. She could really do this. She was going to walk out that door as a confident Auror Trainee and nothing else. She was going to start the day off right. Yes, she really was.

Right, she really had to go now. Like, right now. Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside her apartment and made her way swiftly downstairs, intending to go to the nearest Alley to apparate. Then she'd be at work. Her first day at work. As an adult. With a real job.

Right after she actually locked the damn door to her apartment. Tonks was sure she looked like an idiot as she did a sharp turn and ran back up the stairs.

Some adult she was turning out to be.