Hallowe'en. Freaking Hallowe'en. It had to be Hallowe'en. Of course, it had to be Hallowe'en. Because it had the drama. It had the flair. It had the attention. It had Sirius freaking Black written all over it. Well, from what she had heard from her mum and dad. She couldn't personally remember him being dramatic but when she was little, she didn't really know that word. He was just her silly, goofy cousin who liked jokes and tricks. He was good fun.

And apparently, he thought that appearing in Hogwarts at Hallowe'en was good fun. Yes, he was in all the newspapers. And not only getting into Hogwarts but going right up to the Gryffindor Tower, of all places, and into the dorms! How in Merlin's name bad he managed that? Why had he done that? Was he really after Harry Potter like everyone said he was? She couldn't believe that. Because she didn't believe that he had betrayed James and Lily Potter in the first place. There was no job to finish. There wasn't. Which just made his actions even more confusing.

Argh, she hated this. Really hated this. She hated things not making sense and not being able to figure things out. There were several pieces of the puzzle missing and she had no clue how to figure those out either.

A distraction. She needed a distraction and fast. One that would make her incapable of thinking. One that kept her really, really, really busy. It was a good thing she was a Trainee Auror then, right?

Tonks was happy. Well, happy was probably the wrong word. Satisfied. She was satisfied. Because she had been right. Keeping busy had worked. While she was busy, that was. And going hard against a training dummy set to hard mode definitely kept her busy.

Now she was very grateful that Moody had purloined this from somewhere. Or maybe he just had one, she wasn't sure. She wouldn't put either option past him. This way she didn't have to book a spot down in the training arena, she could just go and use it. Something Moody never stopped her from doing. In fact, he normally pushed her to do it more and more. And today she did and now she was sweaty, exhausted and couldn't think straight. That last bit was important.

Tonks sat on the floor, not even trying to get back on her feet, and took a swig of water. Ah, that felt good. She might have bruises everywhere but cool water made it feel better, even if it was only for a second. It was then she realised that Moody was giving her a weird look.

"Want a sip?" She offered him her now refilled glass.

He turned his nose up at it.

"I don't drink out of anything unless it's out of my own flask," he tapped the object in question on his hip. "Who knows what's been added to the water in here?"

"Brain controlling potions," Tonks joked but Moody looked thoroughly unimpressed at that.

"Could be, could be."

Tonks looked and him and then looked down at her glass. Then she pushed it away from her. Suddenly she wasn't that thirsty anymore. Moody smirked at her. Did that mean he was joking or not? She really couldn't tell. And she wouldn't put it past him to slip something in her drink to prove a point.

"You're head's not in the game today."

It was a statement, not a question but Tonks felt like she had to explain herself anyway.

"I've got a lot on my mind."

Technically it was only one thing but it was making her very annoyed and confused. Enough to be counted as multiple things. It did!

Moody was looking at her weirdly. He did that a lot and she really didn't care. Not at the minute anyway. He was weirder than her. And yes, she was aware of how childish that sounded. But it was her own thoughts and she could think anything she liked so there.

She just hoped that he wouldn't ask what was on her mind. She didn't want to discuss that with him. Didn't want to know his real opinion. She couldn't, couldn't, hear him disparage her family. He wasn't the type of person to pry anyway but knowing her luck these days, today he suddenly would.

"How come you didn't give me any grief about my cousin?" Tonks asked.

It had been bothering her for a few weeks now, ever since she had been pestered by her fellow Trainees about it. Surely Moody should have mentioned something? And yeah, she had just mentioned she didn't want to hear his opinion, was almost scared of it, by at the same time she had to know.

"Because you aren't your cousin."

He didn't make that sound like a good thing or a bad thing so she wasn't sure how to take it. He just stated it. Like it was a fact. Which it was.

"Do you-?" She began and then stopped.

Was it really a good idea to ask what she wanted to ask? This was Mad-Eye Moody, after all. One of the, if not the, best Auror ever. The bravest. The most cunning. The most terrifying. The most effective. He had taken down more Death Eaters than some Aurors combined and she was just going to straight up ask the question she was about to ask? Yeah, that definitely wasn't a good idea. The man had been an Auror, the best Auror, during the War. There was no way he was going to take her question well and, to be frank, she wouldn't blame him for it.

"I don't believe he was capable of what he was found guilty of."

Wait, what?

"So, you believe he's innocent too?" She asked hopefully.

A dangerous question to ask but she couldn't help herself. Oh, how good it would be to have someone except her family to also think this way.

Moody's face was carefully blank.

"I believe that something went down that night but no one actually knows what happened."

Tonks deflated at that response. It was a bit of a cop-out, in her opinion but maybe she shouldn't have expected something more.

But he was still speaking. "I think something more went on that just why was reported. That there's something not quite right. Sirius Black would have never betrayed James Potter like he did."

That gave her a little bit of hope. A tiny glimmer. Even if it was borne from Moody's paranoia of never knowing what was going on. That there was always a catch. She would take it.

"Tonks, if I thought you were in any way like the family that disinherited your mother then, rest-assured, you wouldn't have ever made it past your first week with me. Trust me, I wouldn't have allowed it."

Her eyebrows shot up into her forehead at that extremely blunt statement but she found herself nodding her head.

"That makes sense."

Because it did. A warm feeling shot through her. Moody actually tool the tome to figure out her. Didn't make any assumptions (correct or otherwise) about her family. He didn't do anything like that.

"Of course, it does," he snorted, like anyone who did otherwise were idiots.

And, you know what? Tonks couldn't help but smile. He was right.