Tonks twisted and tugged at her robes, trying to get herself into a comfortable position, only settling when she realised McGonagall was glaring at her. Why did that woman never get any less terrifying as you got older? That was how it was supposed to work with adults, right? Not with McGonagall. Tonks was pretty sure that she got more scared of her the older she got. Which meant that she was going to sit still and be on her best behaviour. Even though technically the school couldn't do anything to her anymore but still, McGonagall, enough said. She was pretty sure that everyone in the British Isles, nay, Europe was terrified of her.

So even though it was really warm and she was decidedly getting more uncomfortable, Tonks decided that it was best to sit still and pretend she was fine.

Why did they have to wear full uniform for this leaving ceremony? It wasn't like it was that important. They had all sat their NEWTs so technically they were all done with school and no one was repeating the year as far as she knew. And fair enough, wear the school uniform to a formal event like this, she understood that but did it have to include their robes and the damn hat? She hated the hat. They never wore it except for the two big feasts. Well, that's when they were supposed to wear it. She would be the first to admit that she definitely didn't. Only first years and over eager students wore the hat. Of which she was neither. He robes were just as bad. Okay, they were more socially acceptable and were actual wearable clothing but why did they have to wear them when it was a warm and sunny day? She was boiling. She needed to cool down.

Cool down? Cool down!

Cooling charm! She knew cooling charms! Ones that could be cast on clothing! Though, at this rate she wouldn't mind producing a block of ice to hug. Yes, she was that warm. A whispered charm and a vigorous jab that meant the bottom of her wand accidentally jabbed the person in front of her later, the inside of her robes was a few degrees cooler. Not as cool as she would like but cooler.

Just in time too because Dumbledore was now walking onto the stage and a hush had fallen across the crowd, as was wont to do when the man stood up. Which was pretty cool, though Tonks always thought that it would be a bit unnerving having people immediately fall silent at your presence.

"I am so pleased to see everyone here, to say farewell to their time here at-"

Yeah, yeah, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was sad that they were leaving school and childhood behind and now they were free to go into the big, wide world as adults. All the professors had basically been saying that for weeks now, kt was getting old. And annoying. And a little bit panic inducing. Because there was only so many times that you could be told about "taking on the world themselves" before starting to feel very small and insignificant. Tonks tried not to think about that too much though. Because right now she shouldn't be thinking about the big, wide world and how she was supposed to fit into it. She was supposed to be paying attention to her classmates and what they planned to do with themselves after they got the NEWT results. Not that many of them would need those, from the sound of it. Just how many were going to go into a family business of some sort?

Did she hear Auror after someone's name there? Someone else wanted to be an Auror? She was going to see someone from school at the Academy? Why hadn't she been paying attention? Was it a good thing that someone else was going to be at the Academy with her? Hopefully it wasn't going to be someone who'd been annoying her all these years, that wouldn't be fun. Another three years of that? No, thank you.

Where were they now? At the Ps? Her year wasn't that big, what was taking them so long to get through everyone? She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that her surname was so far down the alphabet. Bad because it was going to be an absolute age until her name was called but good because once her name was called there wasn't going to be many people left and then all of this would be done and she could get out of all these clothes. That sounded like she was going to strip, she was not going to be doing that. But taking these robes off would be an amazing first step.

"Tonks, Nymphadora. Auror Academy."

Finally. And there was the titter at her bloody first name. It had been seven years. Seven years! It wasn't exactly news anymore! Deep breaths. It didn't matter. Didn't matter at all. Because this was it. Seventh year over. Hogwarts done. She just had to walk up, shake hands, receive her copy of her year photo and that was it. School was done. And she wasn't going to dwell too much on that thought because today was supposed to be a happy day. She was out of her seat and at the bottom of the steps to the stage. Another deep breath. This was jt. Careful now because steps were her nemesis and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. Not now. One step. Two steps. Three steps. She was one the stage. Professor McGonagall was right there. She was walking over and she was almost there, hand outstretched and everything.

'CRASH'

And, of course, she promptly fell flat on her face. In front of her entire year. And their parents. That wasn't even a saying, that was literal. Well, those with magical parents, anyway. Which was extremely unfair but she had already ranted to Professor Sprout about that. Fat lot of good that did, apparently, she heard the same thing every year from her Hufflepuffs. Look, you couldn't be the Head of the House of Justice and Fair Play without being at the end of a few indignant rants over the years. They had all done it and future students would continue to do it. It was a part of the job description; she was pretty sure.

But back to her current situation where she was face down on the stage. In front of at least a hundred people. Who were starting to snigger if not outright laugh.

For a split second, she thought that she didn't want get up, didn't want to see everyone's faces. She could hear them just fine and that was humiliating enough. She didn't want them to see the stupid tears that were welling up in her eyes either. That was even worse. She wasn't crying. She wasn't. She was just frustrated. Why did this have to happen to her? Just, why?

There was suddenly a shadow over her but even then, she didn't want to even look up. But then there was a sharp tap on her shoulder and she had to look up. It was Professor McGonagall and she didn't have a sympathetic look on her face or an angry one. Just this expectant one.

"Pay them no mind," she told her quietly, offering her a hand. "The only important thing here is you get back up again."

She was always going to fall, wasn't she? And she wasn't just talking literally (though that was bound to happen plenty of times for the rest of her life, she was sure). She wasn't always going to get things right. Wasn't always going to meet expectations. That's what life was about, wasn't it?

Tonks looked at the hand in front of her and grabbed it, deciding that McGonagall was right.