Tonks walked into Moody's room and almost walked straight back out again. He had that look on his face that she really didn't need to see. It was all intense and serious. That look normally meant that she was going to have to do something gruelling and difficult. Something she was not in the mood to do today. No, she wanted a nice, easy day today. Didn't she deserve that for a change?

Apparently not. Then again, what else did she expect when she was being mentored by Moody? Easy wasn't exactly a word that was in his vocabulary. She doubted that he even knew what it meant. With a long-suffering sigh she went and sat at her desk, throwing her bag on the floor which earned her a glare.

"Morning," she said.

"We're going to do something new today," he announced, ignoring her greeting. "Well, start something new," he amended. "You aren't going to get this the first time."

He didn't even look disgruntled at that fact. Normally he was accepting but impatient when he deemed something easy but it took her a while to learn. He seemed to have forgotten how hard it was to stretch your magic. But this time it was like he expected her to not get it at all? She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said sarcastically.

"It's basically impossible to get this right the first time," he said, rolling his eyes at her.

She rolled her right back and he gave her a stern look. The look that still made her straighten up and get a little bit sheepish. It was a warning that she had put a toe across the line. Time to take that right back.

"So, what am I going to learn today?" She asked trying to sound eager.

Hey, she may as well try to be enthusiastic about learning something new. Even if she was immediately going to fail. What complicated thing was Moody planning that meant that she wasn't going to get it even a little bit? Was it even going to be useful? Okay, she felt her little scrap of enthusiasm fizzle out at the thought. Great. Urgh. This was not going to be a good day, was it?

Moody looked incredibly smug for whatever reason. Thankfully, he didn't leave her hanging.

"I'm going to be teaching you the Patronus Charm," he announced like he was bestowing this great gift on her. Which, let's be honest, he pretty much was. The Patronus Charm? As in, the Death Eater Repeller? The completely opposite of darkness? That charm?

She gaped at him and then she put her finger in her ear, twisted it and pulled it out. Because there was no way that she had heard that right. There was no way.

"Excuse me?" She spluttered.

He made an impatient noise and rolled his eyes.

"You heard me."

"I don't think I did because there is no way you just said what I thought you said."

It just wasn't possible. He had to be out of his mind. There was no way she could... anyone could... There was just no way, okay? It was as simple as that. He had to have said something else. You didn't go around teaching random people the Patronus charm! You had to be really good at charms and have strong magic and... And... probably a whole bunch of other criteria that she definitely didn't meet. Right?

"I did."

Now he was getting impatient. And a bit annoyed too.

"A Patronus," she said faintly. "You want to teach me how to cast a Patronus."

He nodded. "Yep."

Did he not realise how advanced that sort of magic was? They had had to research for NEWT level charms and wow, was it a doozy. Just the drain on your magic alone...

"Why?"

Like, she was thrilled that he thought she was actually capable of it but why would she need it? The Dementors guarded Azkaban and, sure, as an Auror she'd probably have to go there at some point (something she was not looking forward to) but there was always someone there who knew how to cast a Patronus. It didn't necessarily need to be her, right? Though, it would definitely be a cool skill to have. Not a lot of people could do it. Consistently anyway. So, she had heard. It wasn't something that she knew a lot about. Transfiguration was more her forte, not charms. Another reason for not teaching her this!

"I don't ever want you to be in a position again where you can't get help quickly," he said gruffly.

She flushed at the remainder of The Incident, as she was now calling it. Merlin, that was so embarrassing. Thankfully, shattered shins could be healed, they were a bit more effort to do than a simple broken bone but they were possible.

"Oh," she said softly.

She wasn't sure what to make of that. Like, it was sweet and all but surely, she just had to make sure she had a bit of paper she could send a memo on or something? He didn't necessarily need to teach her this whole complicated charm...

"It's more fool proof," he said, like he knew what she was thinking. "Once you get it anyway," he added as an afterthought.

Half an hour later and Tonks never thought that she had ever felt so drained before in her life. And that included the time she started with the chain spell casting. That had been tiring. Though, she would have said it was exhausting at the time. That wasn't exhausting. This was. It was a hundred times worse. Actually, there wasn't a word for how tired she felt. It was like all her energy had left her as well as all of her bones. She felt all wobbly and rubbery and she really didn't want to be upright anymore. In fact, she didn't even try and slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

"Okay, I think we'll put a stop to it there," Moody said as he passed her a glass of water.

Which was extremely weird because Moody never did things like that. Always told her she should always get things for herself because you never knew what someone would do to you or how they would do it. A classic example of a paranoid Alastor Moody.

She slung the water back, somehow managing to soak her front in the process. An accident but it actually felt kind of good.

"You didn't put anything in the water, did you?" She joked belatedly.

He snorted at her. "Bit late for that, lass."

She shrugged. "I'm so exhausted that I don't care. If something knocks me out at least that's some form of rest.

His lips twitched at that but then he shook his head. However, he didn't scold her which was good. Hough that meant she probably looked even worse than she felt. Moody had a heart after all.

It was weird Moody stopping her before she made any progress whatsoever. That wasn't how he usually operated. Not that she was going to complain. She was so tired that she didn't even feel sore.