Tonks carefully made her way down the corridor, checking behind her every few feet or so. Just like Moody taught her, ironically. Ironic because, well, it didn't matter why she was being ironic okay? All that mattered was that she got to where she needed to go quickly and quietly.

She didn't want anyone to know that she was down here. No one. Not her friends. Not any other trainees and definitely not Moody. No one. Not a single soul. Because it was embarrassing and she didn't want to be teased or thought of as soft or something. No, she'd just go and get herself sorted out and return before anyone realised that she had been missing. And they wouldn't even think to think that there was something wrong. Easy peasy, right?

Or not because she wasn't entirely sure where she was going. Look, there was quite a lot to the Academy. Lots of rooms, winding corridors, doors that seemed to lead nowhere. She may have been here a year now but she hadn't been everywhere in the building. Merlin, she didn't think she'd seen half of it yet.

Seriously, where was the damn room, office or whatever? Surely it shouldn't be this hard to find or there should be a big sign or something? It would just be plain embarrassing if she had to ask where to go. So, she wasn't going to do that. Not that she'd seen anyone in the corridors she'd walked down in the past ten minutes. But still, she wasn't something fresh-faced first hear anymore! Where the hell was it?

Ah ha! There it was. The Medical Office or First Aid place. Whatever the name was, there it was. Tonks felt like that really should have been something they all should have been shown when they first started the Academy. Surely for a place that taught you how to duel, the Medical Office would be an important place to know about?

Tonks quickly looked up and down the corridor, raising her fist to the door. When she had confirmed that there was no one else about, she rapped on the door quickly.

"Come in!"

You didn't need to tell Tonks twice. She was soon in the Medical Office, the door closed firmly behind her. Madame Banks, the MediWitch, was sitting behind her desk, writing something.

"Ah, Trainee?" The woman's eyes swept down her, like she was trying to find a name tag or something.

"Tonks," Tonks supplied.

"Ah, yes. I've heard of you. Moody's little Trainee. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

All Tonks could do for a moment was blink dumbly at the older woman. Even the MediWitch had heard of her?

"Trainee Tonks?" Madame Banks prompted, a bit more impatiently this time.

She snapped out of her thoughts and gave the woman an embarrassed look.

"Oh, sorry."

Madame Banks gestured at her to explain.

Tonks then gave a quick rundown of what was wrong with her. Mainly, the ringing in her ears and the sort of throbbing pain that came and went inside of her ears. It was a horrible sensation and she was worried she might have damaged her hearing.

"How long have you had the symptoms," the MediWitch asked, shining her wand in her ear.

Tonks resisted the urge to rub it.

"A week or so?" She said hesitantly, not really sure when the symptoms had appeared.

The Medi-witch raised an eyebrow at her.

"You can't remember when you started hearing ringing and buzzing noises in your ears?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to know when it started," Tonks guiltily tried to explain. "I mean, there was a whole day where my ears were ringing but it wasn't like this."

The woman gave her a sharp look.

"What do you mean, there was a whole day where your ears were ringing?" She demanded.

"Well," Tonks gave her a sheepish look. "Moody cast that foghorn spell right by my ear that day. I swear my whole head was vibrating."

Madame Banks stopped her examination of her ears to stare at her.

"Excuse me, what did Auror Moody do?"

Tonks repeated herself and the MediWitch pursed her lips together. Uh oh. That couldn't be a good thing.

And it turned out Tonks was right because Madame Banks swept out of the Medical Office without another word. Leaving Tonks all by herself.

Tonks had to admit, she was feeling a little bit confused here. It felt like something had just happened but she wasn't sure what. Did Madam Banks need to get something to cure her? Was it not an easy fix? Tonks wasn't sure how complicated ear injuries were, she just wanted the ringing to stop.

The minutes ticked by and still Madam Banks didn't return. Was Tonks supposed to just sit and wait here? What if Moody needed her for something?

Just as she had made up her mind to leave and come back later, she heard voices from outside the Office.

"Why are you dragging me here?" A loud, irritated voice was heard from the corridor. "I haven't been out in the field. I'm not injured!"

Tonks' eyes widened and she jumped down from the examining table. The MediWitch did not just do what she thought she did! She said not to bet Moody! It was nothing! Seriously, it was nothing!

Moody was unceremoniously shoved into the room with Tonks staring at him with wide eyes. What was she supposed to do now?

"What did you do?" He growled at her as soon as he saw her.

Which did not make her feel any better, by the way. In fact, in made her feel like crap.

"Nothing!"

"Don't you start, Moody!" Madam Banks said sharply.

Surprisingly, Moody did what he was told, falling silent and crossing his arms.

"Auror Moody, can you explain to me why your Trainee has inner ear damage?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you," he grumbled and then he gave the woman a sharp look. "Wait, what do you mean, inner ear damage?"

She clucked at him.

"You heard me."

He just stared blankly at her. Well, Tonks couldn't tell what he was thinking by just looking at his face.

"Answering me wasn't an option, Auror Moody."

"I wasn't aware that she was injured," he said with a frown and something that looked like concern flickered across his face.

"Well," Madam Banks said shortly. "She is. Her inner ear, actually."

"Doesn't your inner ear have something to do with your balance?" Tonks asked, interrupting.

She vaguely remembered going to St Mungo's to get just that checked out as a child when it first became apparent that she was very, very clumsy. That and her eyesight. It turned out that there was nothing wrong with either. She was just clumsy.

"It can do," Madam Banks confirmed, giving Moody a nasty glare. "Especially when you have a very loud noise happen very close to you."

Tonks blanched at that. She couldn't have more balance problems. She wouldn't be able to be an Auror if she had more balance problems!

"You're lucky that it can be easily fixed."

"It can?" Both Tonks and Moody said at the same time in hopeful tones.

Thank Merlin, because this ringing was starting to get annoying.