"That's it! Out! Out!"

Tonks jumped at the bellowing that was coming from just down the corridor. From one of the Mentor offices, to be exact. She was actually in the part of the building where most of the offices were. It was a nice change from the basically abandoned part of the building Moody had chosen for his office. Well, it would have been nice if it wasn't for all this shouting.

It wasn't just her attention that had been caught either. As she approached, there was some banging and cursing from the office and more and more people were "casually stopping" or picking something up in the hopes of hearing something more. Others didn't even care about being subtle and blatantly stood there and watched. It was then that she realised that a door was ajar. But she still couldn't see what was going on behind it, just someone's robes.

Whose office was that? She quickly checked the name but there was no plaque on the door. It looked like there had been one but had been removed. There was a darker rectangle of wood where she assumed it would have been. How did doors get so worn anyway? Especially since it was inside. Moody would be proud; he'd been teaching her to pick up the small details in her surroundings.

There was more shouting back and forth, mainly along the lines of incompetence (on both ends), general attitude, unwillingness to learn and disrespectfulness. Tonks frowned. Who was it? She thought that she recognised the voice but also didn't? Raised voices were apparently harder for her to identify. Which sucked because it was always more interesting eavesdropping when you knew who you were trying to listen to.

Maybe if she moved a bit closer just so she would be able to see through the gap the door made? Should she risk it? Everyone else was listening in as well, it wasn't like she was the only one. Though, no one seemed to be trying to get closer, happy enough to hang back and listen. It was probably for the best that she didn't. Knowing her luck, she end up tripping and falling through the door and she definitely didn't want to be a part of all that shouting. But that didn't stop her from wanting to know.

Maybe if she took a few more steps to the side, she'd get the perfect view. She had literally been getting lessons in this in Stealth and Tracking. How to observe people without being seen. You just had to get the right angle...

Ah ha!

Partridge. It was Partridge. Ben Partridge. Shouting at his Mentor. She didn't know who she had been expecting but it certainly hadn't been him. Just what was he thinking? You didn't talk to your superiors like that! And definitely not when you were a mere Trainee! What was he thinking?

It was kind of funny. Partridge wall tall and skinny and Farrington was short and, well, not exactly plump but plump in comparison. Partridge was like a beanpole though so even she looked curvy next to him. He was just unnaturally tall and thin. She had tried to morph her body like that before but she hadn't been able to, it just felt wrong to be proportioned like that.

"That's it. I'm reporting you to Williams and I'm making sure that you're out of here!"

"That's not going to happen!"

"Try me!"

"You can't do something like that!"

"I can and I will!"

"Well, you can just shove It!"

"You really think that's going to help your case?"

"Case? You don't have a case! I've done nothing wrong!"

"Everything is wrong about You!"

"That's rich coming from a third rates Auror who doesn't know his arsehole from his wand!"

Tonks gasped at Partridge's audacity. How could you say that to anyone, never mind your mentor? She didn't even have time to process that thought when there as a BANG from the office. An actual explosion.

She and everyone else ducked for cover, expecting projectiles of some sort but none came. Partridge, on the other hand, stormed out, sending people scurrying.

"Good riddance!" Farrington called after him and then noticed everyone staring. "Get lost!" He growled before slamming his door shut.

Not that that worked. Everyone was buzzing, wanting to discuss what had just happened.

Tonks shook her head. "I can't believe it."

She hadn't realised that she'd said that out loud until McCabbert answered her, making her jump. She also hadn't realised that her friend was there either, she'd been so entranced in that little show. Moody would be not be pleased to know that she'd lost track of her surroundings. Isn't that exactly what he was trying to drum into her?

"Haven't you heard? His attitude has been horrendous these past few weeks," McCabbert said with genuine surprise. "He's been mouthing off every person of Seniority he's come across and apparently has been doing basically no work."

"This is the first one heard of it," Tonks said with a frown.

"Well, I guess he's never really been like that around us. But people have been talking," McCabbert said with a shrug.

"Gossiping you mean."

Definitely not something she liked. She'd had enough of that to last her a lifetime, Thank you very much. Even if she wasn't the subject of it for a change.

"Well, obviously this is true so it's not technically gossip."

"I'm pretty sure that gossip can be true."

"Whatever," McCabbert said dismissively. "Do you want to know what's been happening or not?"

Had a lot really been happening? Tonks knew that she hadn't exactly been hanging out with them all these last few weeks - that was the whole point of deliberately ignoring them, after all - but to miss this? Seriously? How had she missed all this? This was the sort of gossip that was supposed to run in circles around the Academy, it was worse than Hogwarts sometimes. But she had managed to miss all of it?

Shaking her head, she frowned. No point in over thinking that. It did no one any good.

"Should we run after him?" Tonks asked instead of answering her, looking down the corridor uncertainty where he was fast disappearing.

Did she really want to know what had happened? It wasn't good, that much was obvious. Did she need that in her life right now?

"I'm not," McCabbert sneered. "And risk being associated with all that? No thanks. I like my place in the Academy."

Tonks bit her lip, not knowing what to do. She also didn't want to involve herself in all the drama but he had been their friend, right? Right?

"Look, do you want to know what's been going on or not?" Sh3 was asked again, more impatiently this time.

"I do. I do."

"I'll tell you later."

Tonks made an outraged noise.

"You need to sit down for this, trust me."

She grumbled at that.

"Also," McCabbert added. "Aren't you meant to be with Moody or something? It's not like we have time. It's not lunchtime."

Tonks stared at her for a moment as she tried to remember why exactly she had been here in the first place.

Crap, crap, crap, crap. She was definitely not meant to be here right now. In fact, she checked the time with a quick Tempus, she had meant to make this a quick trip. All she had had to do was fetch something. What even was it again?