Tonks rubbed the back of her neck with a groan and rubbed at her eyes. They felt gritty and gross and everything ached. Well, everything to do with her head, anyway. Her eyes ached from being open for too long and reading far too much tiny text. Her nose hurt from where she had dropped a massive textbook on it half an hour ago (impressively it hadn't started bleeding or anything) and her actual brain had a headache because of all this damn work. Also, her fingers were covered in parchment cuts and the stung like hell when she flexed her fingers. Which was a lot because she was handling a lot of things today. Argh. She was already done with today and it wasn't even lunch time yet. She wondered if the Medi-witch or wizard on duty would let her have any Essence of Dittany? Then these cuts would heal in a trice and then she wouldn't have them distracting her. She really didn't need any distractions today.

No, wait, that was a bad idea. They would probably make her submit an incident report or something which would just waste time. No time was going to be wasted. She needed more time than was actually given in a day never mind wasting what little time she had! Did that even make sense? Oh, she didn't care. As long as what she was studying made sense then nothing else mattered. And some of the things she was studying wasn't making any sense and she was starting to panic because this was what her exams were only going to involve, knowing her luck, and then she would fail and then she would never become an Auror and all of this would be for naught and...

Okay. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. It spoke to how deep they were all into their revision that no one even looked up in concern at her very obvious breathing.

It was weird, she couldn't help but think as she looked around them all. They were all crammed around one desk with far too many textbooks and pieces of parchment between them. There were a lot of quills as well, most of them broken - victims to their frustration. But none of that was the weird thing, that was all pretty normal when it came to revision, after all. No, the weird thing was the number of people around the table. Because they were all around one table. Yes, they were squished together and of you moved too suddenly then you'd probably knock someone off their chair but they all fit around the table. Something they wouldn't have been able to do three years ago. But that's what you could do when four of you weren't there anymore.

Four of them. Who would have believed it? Certainly not her when she started. She would never have thought people would willingly leave after all the effort it took to get here. But four had left. Some not exactly willingly but they'd left. She couldn't help but wonder what they were all doing now. It wasn't like she was in contact with all of them, she hadn't exactly been close to any of them and even if she was, she just didn't have the time. The Academy made sure of that.

It wasn't like she cared what Jones had ended up doing. Probably something with his family connections. There was no way anyone would hire him without them, she was sure. She bet he was still pissing people off with whatever he was doing. Hopefully Gaffrey was doing something that didn't set off his queasy stomach, poor bloke. She still couldn't believe that it was basically his stomach that brought everything falling down on him, it just seemed so unfair. She had sent him a letter asking what he was doing a month or so ago and he had replied saying he was still trying to figure things out, which was fair. He'd gone through a few jobs, like working in preparing readymade potions in the Apothecary and doing some basic legal stuff but nothing seemed to stick yet. She hoped he did well with wherever he ended up and she definitely had to remember to stay in touch. After exams because nothing was going to interrupt her right now. Not even friends.

She reached across the table for the textbook she needed only to get the fright of her life when she touched something warm and soft instead.

"Argh!" "Ah!" Came two yelps, one which was definitely not her.

Look, she was getting stressed out over all this but she wasn't that stressed out. And it was a little bit of a surprise when you touched skin instead of parchment or leather. Okay, both of which were technically skin but you know what she meant. Mainwaring. Mainwaring also wanted this book apparently. Well, he wasn't having it because she got to it first. Glaring at him, she didn't remove her hand from the book.

"I need this."

"So do I!"

"Too bad."

"I got to it first."

"Did not!"

"My hand's below yours which means I got to it first," he insisted.

"Our fingers are touching, that doesn't count as your hand being under mine!"

Anyway, she definitely got to the book first no matter what he said. That meant that she got to have it. He could go through it after her. It wasn't like she was going to be long. Hopefully.

"I'm going to be quick."

"You're never quick," she retorted. "You're such a slow reader."

"It's so I don't miss Anything!"

"You're just proving that I should get it first."

"No way! You never use the contents page and waste time rifling through the book for what you're looking for!"

"Shut up!"

Yeah, look, she had been revising for a long time and didn't exactly have the brain power to think up a witty retort.

"Why don't we take a break?" Eggleston suggested nervously after clearing his throat. "Get away from all the books for a bit."

"We don't have time," McCabbert hissed.

They really didn't. Hadn't she already mentioned that there weren't enough hours in the day as it was?

"I think it's a great idea," Jean said with smile (Did she ever not smile?). "I'm hungry and it's basically lunch time."

Tonks' stomach decided tomorrow really loudly at that in response. As did everyone else's. It was like all the stomachs were all just waiting for such an announcement, feeling left out. Tonks hadn't realised just how hungry she was, having pushed everything except for studying out of her mind. Maybe food wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Eggleston, put the book down, we're going to eat," Fontaine exclaimed, trying to snatch the book out of his hands.

He dodged it and clutched it to himself.

"I can study and eat at the same time."

"But you're not going to. You're going to take a break. We all are."

"Just a few more pages and I'll put it down when we have food."

"No!"

"You're being ridiculous!"

"I'm being ridiculous? You sound like a crazy Person!"

Tonks rubbed at her temples and tried not to wince. Yep, she was definitely due for a break because even that bickering sounded too loud to her. Her stomach grumbled again. Food sounded good too.