Tonks couldn't help but feel more than a little bit uneasy as she entered the Auror Academy the next day. The next day being the day after that disaster of an intervention took place. And, yes, McGowan actually referred to it as an intervention. Which would be funny if she wasn't one of the people it was targeted at. Being part of the reason for an intervention was just sad.

And now she didn't know where she stood. It was like she had been knocked down and now she was all dazed and confused. How was she even supposed to react to something like what had just happened? Was she supposed to just go about her business as usual? Was Moody going to talk to her more? Should she thank McGowan despite how awkward and completely unnecessary everything had been? Come on, things had been working out. Sort of.

Okay, that was a lie. But they had been getting by. She had been getting by, she was sure Moody was just getting on with his life perfectly fine. And it would have gotten better without McGowan saying anything, she was sure.

Tonks couldn't help but wonder if anyone else in the Academy knew what had happened? It was pretty hard to keep a secret around here, after all. And gossip spread like wildfire. The only place that was quicker was Hogwarts. For example, she already knew that one of the first years, Bartley (she thought that was his name though she had also heard he was called Bentley?), had already quit and that McCabbert had been arguing with her mentor for the fifth day in a row. Something about refusing to correct her? The gossip mill still hadn't caught up on the why, which was getting annoying.

Corridors, corridors and more corridors. Honestly, she had to walk so far compared to everyone else. Tonks knew that McGowan literally took over from Moody, office and all, but maybe she could be persuaded to get a room closer to the front door? Maybe actually be near people?

Whatever, something to bring up at some point. She was here now and had absolutely no idea what to expect from today. Not after yesterday. Though, sometimes she swore that McGowan didn't have a plan at all and was just winging it.

"Moody?" She gasped, opening the door.

He was sitting right there, behind the desk. With a stack of parchment in front of him which it looked like he had been working on before she had come in.

What was he doing here? She leaned out the door to check the room number. Yep, it was the right room. Was he in the right room? What was be even doing in the Academy anyway? Surely if he didn't have a student then he didn't have any reason to be here? And she definitely hadn't heard him taking on a first year. She was pretty sure the other ones in her class would have told her so even if she had been unaware.

Did he leave something behind yesterday? Was McGowan going to make him something again? She scanned the room as she thought that, expecting the older woman to pop out suddenly.

"Tonks. You're late."

She jumped at the sound of his voice (so he wasn't some sort of specially enchanted dummy the) and glanced at the clock on the opposite wall and frowned.

"I'm on time."

"Therefore late."

"What? No! On time is nearly the opposite of being late! You can't be on time and late at the same time!"

He just snorted at her. Snorted at her. She was on the right here! She was on time! On time!

Wait. She came to a stop. This wasn't some sort of trick, was it? Staring at him, she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. That mould in her bathroom that she really needed to get checkout out didn't have any psychedelic properties, did it?

She cautiously approached the desk with a puzzled look on her face.

"Are you real?"

She even reached out her hand, intending to poke him or something but, of course, he didn't let her do that. Instead, she found her wrist being very firmly grabbed by his surprisingly strong hand and carefully pushed away from him.

"Don't," he said warningly.

"I just wanted to check."

"Of course, I'm real. What else would I be?"

"An illusion? Some sort of animated dummy?" She said in exasperation. How was it that it had barely been five minutes and he qasr already annoying her? "And hey, wait! Aren't you the one who always told me to be suspicious of things that you don't expect and to always check?"

That got her a very smug look. "I did teach you that, didn't I?"

"Actually, you taught me to be suspicious of absolutely everything but there's only so much I can deal with."

Wait, why was she bantering with him like this? Why was it so easy? Weren't they mad at each other? Or at least wary of each other after, well, everything? Wait, that made them sound like some sort of star-crossed lovers or something. She shuddered. Gross.

Right. Okay. This was just weird but it felt comfortable. It was easy. So, she was just going to roll with it. She didn't exactly have the option to do anything else, did she? Except quit but that wasn't really an option. Oh, she was so confused.

"So" she trailed out, carefully not looking straight at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Nothing! Wasn't he going to help her out here, even just a little bit?

"So," she tried again but with even less success than the first time because he actually started writing things on paperwork! Seriously?

"Hey!" She said indignantly, finally making him look up at her.

She noticed that there was some amusement on his face. Really? Was this how he was going to do it? She huffed and crossed her arms.

"Yes, lass?" He asked.

It was weird being referred to by that again. Lass. She liked it. In fact, she hadn't even realised she had missed it until just there. Weird. But this while situation was still weird.

"Are you my Mentor again?" She 3ventually asked.

And inwardly, she braced herself, having no clue what the answer would be. To be honest, after all this back and forth over the past few weeks, Tonks found that she actually didn't know what answer she wanted. Did she?

She did know, however, that her voice had come out really small and really unsure sounding. Which she hated. It wasn't her at all. She was loud. She was confident. She didn't care about what anyone thought of her.

Except Moody, it turned out. Or maybe it was the Training that did it. She wanted to prove herself. To show that she deserved to be here.

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards and he nodded.

"I am."

Okay, it turned out she did know what answer she wanted because now all she felt was relief. She let out a laugh.

"For real?"

"Yes, Tonks. For real."