Tonks wasn't exactly sure what she thought her first day as an Auror was going to be like but this certainly wasn't it. The group of new trainees (of which she was actually a part of) had all be herded into this scruffy old room with rows of desks. Which was unfair. They hadn't just left school to go right back into it. That was her opinion anyway.
A year, they were herded in like they were sheep or something and told to pick a seat and then the Auror promptly left. They were unsupervised.
Unlike what would have happened when they were younger and left unsupervised (which would have been to go crazy, obviously), they all sort of stood around and stared at each other.
It was weird, looking around and not knowing every face there. Sure, there were a few that she recognised from Hogwarts; there was Jones, Partridge, McCabbert, Fontaine, Eggleston, Young and, of course, herself. Huh. More than she expected but then again, she wasn't exactly sure what she expected. She didn't know the other five.
Not that she knew the ones from Hogwarts that well. Fontaine, first name Louise (she thought so anyway), tended to keep to herself. A Gryffindor. Zachary Jones, another Gryffindor had always treated her with derision. But that was because the Jones family were social climbers. It wouldn't do for them to hang out with the black sheep of the Black family. Especially since she was a half-blood. Whatever. Tonks couldn't even stand the sound of his nasally voice across a classroom, never mind his presence.
Zoe McCabbert was yet another Gryffindor. She always had a scowl on her face and a temper to match if Samantha could be believed. Then again, Samantha could be a bit much so maybe McCabbert just snapped at her a lot. The girl had little patience for silliness. Which meant she wasn't Tonks' biggest fan either. Tonks privately thought she needed to lighten up a bit.
Then Eggleston, Young and Partridge all hung around each other in school. They were Ravenclaws and she hadn't really interacted with them much. Ben Partridge was loud, that much she knew. And she could never remember if it was Eggleston or Young who had walked into a pillar because their nose was always in a book. Both of them were pretty unremarkable and where the last people Tonks would have thought would want to become an Auror.
Huh. There were no Slytherins from the Hogwarts contingent and she was the only Hufflepuff but she had leady known that from school.
Which just left the five ones not from Hogwarts. They looked alright; they were looking around them curiously just like the rest of them.
Unable to stand the nervous silence any more, Tonks spoke up, "So hi."
That earned her a snort from McCabbert.
"Hi, Tonks," Eggleston returned her greeting with a nervous wave.
"Tonks?" One of the non-Hogwarts students scoffed. "What sort of name is that?"
Tonks sent a glare at Jones, who had just opened his mouth. She would bet all the money she had that he was going to give an infuriatingly pompous remark on her family. Which was completely unnecessary. It was odd not to have someone instinctively know what her surname meant but she rather liked it. She had gone through enough gossip and rumours about the scandal her parents caused when she was in Hogwarts, thank you very much. She didn't need all that to start again.
"It's my surname," Tonks told the guy who had scoffed at her. "I hate my first name so I just go by it instead."
He gave her a look up and down. "Fair enough." He put out his hand. "Leonard Gaffrey."
She shook it. "Tonks. But you already knew that."
Be actually cracked a smile at that. "I did."
"I'm Jean Cavendish," the curly-haired girl said with a wave.
"We didn't see you at Hogwarts," Young said with a sniff, the arse.
Now she remembered how to tell the difference between him and Eggleston. Eggleston was actually a decent person.
"Home-schooled," she replied cheerfully.
She looked awfully... peppy. All bright smiles and chirpy demeanour. Tonks thought she might actually prefer McCabbert's snarkiness.
"I can't wait to get started. It should be fun."
That got them all staring at her. Fun was definitely not the word Tonks had heard to ever describe the Auror Academy. And neither had anyone else from the looks of things.
"Well," a blonde-haired boy said, coughing to get their attention. "My name is Peter Dubois."
"What's a Frenchie doing joining the British Aurors?" Jones demanded.
Did Tonks mention that he was a stuck-up arsehole? And a xenophobic one to boot.
Dubois didn't seem to take offense to this and easily replied, "My mother is English and we moved back here when I was twelve."
Before Jones could say something (which was bound to be prejudiced) the final person in the room spoke up.
"I am Domański," the dark-haired boy said. "Matt Domański."
He had a trace of an accent but Tonks couldn't place it.
Everyone else introduced themselves and they started chatting softly with each other, mostly comparing what they did for school. Jones did some bragging about his family but what else was new? There was a nervous undercurrent to all of this, they were all just waiting for the day to start properly.
And it happened all too soon. The door of the room banged open, making them all jump. A tall, thin Auror strode in, face hidden by the stack of parchment that went up past the top of his head.
"Good to see you all getting to know each other," the man said and Tonks wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. He had a very monotone voice.
With a flick of his wand, the stacks of parchment divided themselves up and the smaller stacks were placed in front of each of them.
"More paperwork?" Someone groaned from behind her.
"Boy in the back row, second from the left. Please stand up," the Auror barked.
It was said with such authority that Tonks felt like she should also be standing up. Thankfully, she didn't but she did see the girl next to her, Jean Cavendish, start to get up out of her seat and then sit back down, face bright red.
But no face was as bright a red as the guy who just stood up. Especially when he realised that every single person had turned around in their seats to stare at him. Tonks was pretty sure that his face was going to burst, that's how read his face was.
"Name please," the Auror, who had yet to introduce himself, requested.
"Mainwaring, sir," he said hesitantly.
"And I'm Auror Taylor," the Auror introduced himself. "Head of the Auror Academy. And we'll be seeing a lot of each other over the next few years. If you can stick all parts of the course," at this point he gave the now thoroughly uncomfortable Mainwaring a piercing look. "Which includes going over the syllabus and the general timeline of what you'll be learning."
They all groaned at that. Great. At least it wasn't more paperwork to fill out, Tonks thought morosely. Still, she would prefer to be doing something other than reading a list of courses that they would be doing.