Tonks all but dragged her feet as she trudged towards the Auror Academy. Actually, that was a lie. She actually was dragging her feet because she didn't want to go to Training today. And not in a she was too tired or too sore sort of way. No, she genuinely didn't want to go to Training this morning. Today. Ever again.

She stopped herself and shook her head. Okay, that was more than a bit dramatic and incredibly ridiculous. Of course, she wanted to go to Training. Of course, she wanted to be at the Auror Academy. She wanted to be an Auror, dammit. But without being with Moody? Learning from him? Being reassigned? Dropped? Whatever the hell the word for it was. She sighed and rubbed a hand across her face, starting to walk again. Even slower this time. As if the speed at which she walked would change the outcome.

Today was going to be a sucky day. And the foreseeable future was going to be sucky as well, as far as she could tell. Which, you know, sucked. Because Moody didn't want to be her Mentor anymore and just chucked her aside. Well, it was more like he threw her to someone else but that was basically the same thing. Wasn't it? It was. And there was going to be no persuading her otherwise.

It was just... well, it kind of felt like Moody had rejected her and it didn't feel good to be rejected. Especially since she didn't know why she had been or what had gone wrong. And something had obviously had gone wrong or this whole thing wouldn't be happening now, right? Right?

And Moody didn't even say anything so she could fix it! Just dumped her on someone else and that was that. What was she even supposed to do when he did something like that? Just get on with things like this was normal? Really? Because Tonks definitely wasn't doing that. She was questioning everything. Which was stupid, she knew that, but it wasn't like she could exactly stop herself or she would have done it already!

Automatically her feet took her towards the rooms that Moody had taken over. It wasn't until she was halfway there that she realised what she was doing. Flushing in embarrassment, she turned on her heels and went in the right direction this time. Which just so happened to be the complete opposite direction. Because of course it was. She really hoped that no one had seen her do that.

Sweeping her hair out of her face, Tonks could help but frown as she realised that her hair had inadvertently changed colour. Great, she was so out of it that she had lost control over her abilities. She hadn't done that for embarrassment in a while. Just great. As if this day wasn't already bad enough. Whatever. She tossed her head back and resolved not to think about it. It would probably just make it worse if she did anyway. She just had to get on with her day and that was that.

There it was. Room two hundred and four. Two-oh-four in shiny numbers. There was only a store cupboard nearby with a raggedy sort of broom hanging out from it. No other offices or rooms. Which wasn't too weird considering it was a short corridor. The whole Academy was laid out awkwardly, this wasn't even the weirdest corridor. No, that would be the one that had to two levels split by a four-step set of stairs and also, inexplicably, widened for four feet before shrinking back to a normal width. Yeah, no one she knew could explain it either. It was just a thing.

Tonks stood there and stared at the door, feeling uneasy just being here. Did she wait here? Knock? Go right on in? She checked her watch. Despite going the wrong direction, she was actually a bit early.

"You know, I've found that to get through a door it's best if you open it," came a conspiratorial voice that made her jump out of her skin.

She spun around, hand to her wand only to come face to face with her new Mentor.

"Huh," the woman said, eyeing her approvingly. "Looks like Moody's training is paying off."

"Good morning Auror..." Tonks trailed off and started to blush.

"He didn't even tell me my name, did he?" She asked, lips twirling in amusement as she ushered Tonks into her office, closing the door behind them.

"No, ma'am."

Tonks didn't know whether to be nervous or annoyed or what. She couldn't get a read on this woman. Who was now snorting at her, by the way? Nice.

"Trust that old git," she was saying, still not introducing herself. "He never did think things like that were important."

Tonks couldn't help but bristle at that, though she bit her tongue. Who was this was to criticise Moody like that? What was this even all about?

And now the woman was looking at her expectantly. What was she supposed to say to that?

"Oh."

That was an incredibly lame response but Tonks really didn't know what she was supposed to say there.

"Ah, but at least I know your name," she said, hopping down from the desk. "Nymphadora Tonks -" she gave her an amused look as she flinched at her first name. "- prefers her surname-" her eyes briefly flicked over her currently pink hair, "- is a Metamorphmagus and shows enough promise that Mad-Eye himself decided to actually mentor a trainee for the first time in what must be a decade. Things were a little... chaotic during the War so I could be incorrect, of course."

She blinked at that. A decade? Really? She knew about the whole not choosing a Trainee for ages but a decade? Really? Wow, that was over half her life. How strange.

The woman was still looking at her, which was quite unnerving, especially since she had these warm brown eyes. Ones you expected to be comforted by, like Mrs Weasleys, but not when they were staring at you like they currently were. They were more piercing and contemplative, far different than Moody's mismatched eyes. She didn't like it. Where was the slight craziness in them? The paranoia?

"What?" Tonks couldn't help but asked.

She had no clue how the woman was going to take it, if she would think that Tonks was being rude but she really didn't like being stared at like that.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to take any offense.

"I thought you liked bright colours in your hair?"

Tonks gave her a confused look. What did that have to do with anything?

"I do?"

Hadn't the woman just looked pointedly at her pink hair? Tonks thought that it was pretty obvious that she liked bright colours. It was obvious to everyone.

"But not today?"

Tonks tugged a lock of her hair forwards and looked at it with a frown. It had nearly shifted back to its natural colour. Weird. She would have thought that it would have changed to the colours for nervousness or even anxiousness. A scrunched of her nose and it was bright pink again. She gave a sigh of relief. At least that was one thing that made her feel-good today.

"So," Tonks ventured. "Are you going to tell me your name?"

All she got was the woman's teeth barred at her in a strange sort of grin. She shivered, wondering exactly how this was going to go.