Her so-called friends were doing it again. Doing that annoying thing where they were whispering about her when she wasn't around. She knew this because they did the stupidly obvious thing of shutting up as soon as she went anywhere near them. Honestly, subtlety was none of their strong points. Which was just a fantastic skill for an Auror. And, yes, she was being sarcastic. What? They were being annoying and she was annoyed. It was as simple as that. And she really couldn't be bothered figuring out why. She was too tired. She had done more Patronus training again today and her muscles did not want to cooperate with her. And she didn't want to make anything else cooperate with her either of she didn't have to and that included her brain. She was sure Moody was going to give her a rough time after lunch so she really should save herself for that. All of her friends could just buzz off.

Of course, they didn't take the hint when she glared at them because they were too busy doing all of their stupid muttering and shifty looks. Which was stupid. Yes, she was too tired to think of anything else. She was just going to shovel food into her mouth and get back to Moody. She really couldn't deal with any nonsense today.

Of course, that wasn't to be because when was luck ever on her side?

"So," McCabbert said, sliding into the bench across from her, apparently being the braver one.

Tonks raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

Why was everyone looking so nervous? There was no reason to be. It wasn't like they had exams or anything coming up. Well, not yet anyway. The worry for their final year exams and qualifications could begin in the new year. Surely, they weren't thinking about that now? And they shouldn't be whispering and staring at her if that was the case anyway. Unless Moody had taught her something that they needed to know or something like that. Which was a bit farfetched.

It was weird, for all the things that had happened in her now final year at the Academy, it wasn't even Hallowe'en yet. It felt like everything was going so fast, so many things had happened, but it was barely October. How weird was that?

"Tonks!"

She blinked as Dubois waved a hand in front of her face. She grabbed his wrist to stop that, startling him.

"Stop that."

"Ow!" He yelped and snatched it back. "You have a strong grip."

"Then don't wave your hand in front of my face."

Yes, she was grumpy and annoyed. This is what happened when she was exhausted and hadn't had a chance to eat yet.

"We were trying to get your attention."

"I can see you. Trust me."

"Well, you weren't paying attention," McCabbert grumbled.

"Now I am. So, speak."

Which, of course, was the quickest way to get everyone to shut up. And, for some reason, look extremely uncomfortable. This was just getting ridiculous. And now she was beyond annoyed and impatient. Just as she decided to stand up, finally someone spoke.

"We didn't want to say this back in the summer," McCabbert said, apparently still the only one who could talk. "But..."

"You haven't said anything about it yourself," Partridge interrupted.

"I was getting to that!"

"You were taking too long."

"I was trying to be polite."

"Well, it wasn't working."

"And you think being blunt was?"

"Yeah, because Tonks is going to answer us now, isn't she?"

They both turned to look at her expectantly. Tonks stared right back.

"Well?" Partridge demanded.

"You haven't asked me anything."

She didn't think they were ever going to with the way they were getting on. She was seriously contemplating the whole getting up and leaving thing. This was happening a lot, wasn't it?

"Sirius Black."

And with those two words it was like all of the air had been sucked out of the room. Sirius. Sirius Black. No. Just Sirius. Her cousin. Her fun cousin. Her big cousin. The one name she had been avoiding for years and years. Even more so in recent months. Because she didn't want to think about him. She couldn't.

So, she did what she was best at, and stared right back at them, saying nothing. What was she even supposed to say? Channelling her mother, she tried to school her face. How did her mother even do this? It was hard! Something always wanted to twitch.

"Well?"

That was McCabbert again. Seriously, were none of them capable of speaking? It was weird with them just sitting there, seemingly in agreement with each other, saying nothing. It must be even stranger for McCabbert. And she didn't know what to think about this Sirius Black business. Her mum hadn't said a word about it and, if Tonks was being honest, she was a bit afraid to even bring it up. Because, well, it was Sirius. The other Black Sheep. The big cousin who used to play with her and make her laugh and be all sorts of fun. The only Black family member that made her mum smile with no hurt in her eyes whatsoever. Or used to, anyway. Because then he did the unspeakable. Tonks couldn't even think about it. Not that she believed it. Not really. She didn't think so, anyway. She couldn't believe that the Sirius Black she knew would be capable of such a thing. She hoped not, anyway. Her mother certainly didn't but no one listened to her.

And now he had escaped and had been 9n the run for months which didn't help matters at all. How could someone break out of Azkaban, of all places, if you weren't a Dark Wizard? Admittedly, Dora didn't like to think of the implications of that. Because it wasn't true. It wasn't true.

Why couldn't this work like all other news? Why couldn't it have been big when it happened and then fizzled out? Then they wouldn't be bringing this up to her now, they would have got bored of it ages and ages ago. She wouldn't have had to think about it at all.

She had been doing a pretty good job of that herself, literally pretending it didn't happen and focusing on her Training. It was just the best thing to do, wasn't it? It wasn't like she could change anything.

She supposed she had been lucky that she had gone on her break as soon as his escape had been reported. She had avoided all of the initial stares and whispering. Well, the obvious ones anyway. There was obviously a lot that happened behind her back but people always did that with her for one reason or another so it was easy to ignore even before all this Sirius Black business. And, if she was being honest, she hadn't wanted to think about it. She had shoved the thoughts and feelings and memories of Sirius far, far, far back in her subconscious. They were too painful to think about most of the time. They made her sad.

"Aren't you going to explain?" Partridge asked while everyone else groaned. "What?"

Tonks really did get to her feet this time, slamming her hands on the table as she did so, making everyone flinch.

"There's nothing to explain," she growled and then stormed out of the canteen.