Tonks tried really, really hard not to nod off that morning. Somehow, she'd managed to get in before Moody. She wasn't sure how she managed that considering what happened last night but here she was. She was here and he was not.

She still wasn't sure how she managed to be here on time never mind early after what happened last night. You see, their assessment was yesterday and to celebrate, because, you know, they really needed to celebrate, they had all decided to go out for drinks. Except it was a few drinks too many. Tonks hadn't realised that until she woke up this morning. Or, well, tried to wake up.

Her eyelid may as well have been glued shut with the amount of effort it had taken to pry them apart when she woke up. Then she had a throbbing headache which was only now starting to go away, - the headache reliever only just starting to kick it. Which was her own fault, she hadn't had time for breakfast and that potion really needed to be taken on a full stomach to be effective.

Either way, the combination of the headache plus not getting enough sleep meant that she kept blinking slowly, her eyelids drooping. Nope. Tonks sat up straight. She wasn't going to fall asleep before the day began. No way.

That would just be embarrassing and it would make the rest of her day go badly. And she definitely didn't want that. Mainly because she was pretty sure that Moody would be completely unsympathetic to it and probably be extra hard so she "learned a lesson about always being ready and prepared" or something like that. Did that even make sense? She wasn't sure. She was tired. Sleepy. Exhausted. Were there any more words that she could use because if there were, she was them as well.

Okay, maybe she could just close her eyes for a minute. A minute wouldn't hurt, right? It was just resting her eyes, not really falling asleep. Actually, it wasn't falling asleep at all. It would just make her world just a little bit less bright and obnoxious for a minute or two. Yeah, that's what it was. And then she'd be bright and perky and ready to face the day. Just a minute...

The next thing she knew was a bullhorn being blasted right in her ear.

She gave a surprised shout and promptly fell to the floor. Hard. Was there really any other way to fall to the floor?

She lay there for a moment, blinking St the ceiling and wondering what the hell had just happened? It took her brain a minute to realise that she hadn't just hallucinated that and someone had done it to her. Namely, her Mentor. Her bloody sadistic Mentor who apparently wanted to deafen her. And looked far too pleased with himself, by the way.

"Was that completely necessary?" She demanded, rubbing at her ears and glaring at him from the floor.

Yes, she hadn't stood up yet, her ears were still ringing and she felt a bit dazed. You know, from the freakishly loud noise that had just been blasted in her ear!

"Obviously it was," he snorted. "Awake now?"

"You suck, you know that?" She grumbled, poking a finger in her ear in an effort to make sure that everything still worked.

Everything seemed to be vibrating in there but at least she could still hear. That was something, at least.

"People have told me that."

"Bet they told you a lot more than that."

That actually earned her a bark of laughter for that. Huh. Cool. No. Wait. Not cool because he was the reason that she was on the floor.

"Aye," he said with a grin. "People normally aren't that happy with me."

She folded her arms. "I wonder why?"

"It's my charming personality," he said, baring his teeth in what she supposed was a grin but it just looked kind of freaky.

"Obviously."

"Glad to hear were on the same side."

She gave another grumble. You know what? Partridge had just even complained that his mentor was incredibly boring, doing everything by the book with no deviation. Literally, he had got the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's Necessary Skills list (apparently that was a thing) and was going through it one by one. Tonks was starting to think that having a boring mentor might be a good idea. She didn't she Partridge getting his eardrums blasted out just because he let his eyes drift closed for only a second!

Well, okay, she didn't really mean that. Because one, Partridge's mentor sounded horrifically boring and Tonks was pretty sure that she would have dropped out of the Academy by now if she had that man as her Mentor. And two, Moody was pretty cool. When he wasn't trying to deafen her!

Though, right now he was definitely not cool because he had just sent her timing to the floor for no good reason at all! And now he was looming over her, probably trying to be all intimidating. Well, it wouldn't work! Not today!

He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "You need a hand up, lass?"

Tonks looked around her. Oh, she was still on the floor. That would be why he was doing the while looming over her thing. Ah.

"I can get myself up."

He just smirked at her. Hmpf.

"You sure about that?"

"You're also infuriating, have I mention3d that?" She said as she pushed herself up.

Really, she wanted to call him an infurota5ing old git but somehow, she didn't think that would go over too well.

No matter how teasing he was coming across. His moods could switch in an instant. And she felt like she had already pushed him enough today. She was sure she'd get another chance to call him an infuriating git. That was basically his whole personality, after all. She'd just have to be happy thinking kt today. Which she was. It eased the annoyance she was feeling.

"I'm going to have ringing in my ears all day now," she complained, shaking her head as she slipped back into her seat.

That movement didn't make kt any better. In fact, it made it an awful lot worse. Great. Just great.

"Maybe it will remind you to stay awake."

"Maybe it will remind you to stay awake," she mocked under her breath.

Apparently not quietly enough as he glared at her.

"Want to try laps with ringing ears?" He threatened.

She sat up straight at that threat. He really would make her do it too.

"No, no, I'm good. Seriously."

He narrowed his eyes at her and she tried to smile brightly at him in response. She was pretty sure that all she did was come across as a bit demonic but whatever worked, right?

"Right let's get started. I think we'll start with dodging practice today."

Oh, he was getting too much fun out of this. Tonks let out another groan. That had to be the worst thing to do when you were feeling like crap.

Yeah, today was not going to be a good day.