So I've been working on a story lately. A bigger one, that takes place around 2020 at first(main part, and then there's plans for bits leading up to 2031ish...), and I realised as I wrote parts, I wanted it to have a first part to lead up to it. It does dive a bit into Cursed Child territory but without the time travel bits and with certain areas changed.

And then I read this story again and realised I didn't go where I wanted to with it. I didn't even manage to give any conclusion to Harry's seizures and visions.

So... I'm using it to create the basis of the next piece.

This one is mostly Tonks-centric, while the next one will be mostly Harry-centric. I've never done a Harry-centric so it's been a little difficult. As usual, different chapters will likely fall into different povs for both stories.

And since this is the second part of a three part series, I'm going to be upfront here. It's not going to be a good time, but a lot of my stories aren't just rainbows and butterflies. I don't plan for everyone to get a happy ending here, in either parts. There's one plot point in this story that I'm really, reallllllly not sure on if it should be included or not. I feel it's important and would add to some details to the next story but it's such a sensitive topic that I'm not sure which way to go with it.

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can't tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start

Each of her senses seemed to be returning one after the other, fading back into existence. The first thing she saw was the ceiling of a classroom, floating particles of dust being pushed by a gentle breeze. The breeze was the first thing she felt, as it brushed over her skin and fiddled with her hair. The first thing she heard was movement nearby, a quiet sort of shuffling noise. The first thing she smelled was something burning.

And the first thing she felt was pain radiating through her body.

Tonks was confused and a little disoriented as she tried to sit up, her muscles pulling and screaming in protest. She remembered, barely, that she had been dueling Bellatrix.

She had deflected a curse, sent one to Bellatrix. There had been a green flash that she tried to dodge, but it had made contact. And instead of instant dark, instead of instant death, she seemed to have some insanely lucid hallucination that only ended when she had woken up in this classroom.

As she looked around, she was horrified. Rows and rows of bodies, many just students, lay around her. The classroom windows had been blown out, a huge chunk of wall missing.

There was an empty cot next to her, the only empty cot in the room, and she found herself wondering why. Perhaps someone else had woken up here too.

"What the Bloody Hell?"

The voice was familiar and filled her with relief. She turned to see Fred Weasley sitting up a little ways away. He looked at her, frowning in confusion. There was dried blood covering the side of his face. "I- are we alive? Or is this the afterlife?"

"If it is, it hurts like Hell. I would think dead people wouldn't feel pain." She said, trying to push herself to her feet. Her legs felt weak and judging by the way Fred nearly stumbled when he stood, he felt the same way.

"Were you also hit with the Killing Curse? Because I remember being hit just as the wall exploded- I don't know for sure which got me." Fred said.

"I... that's what I remember." Tonks said. "Impossible, though, isn't it?"

There was movement and they turned to see a smaller blonde boy sitting up slowly.

"Colin." Fred said, and the boy looked towards them, startled.

Colin looked relieved at the familiar face. He was a small boy, likely no older than Ginny, Tonks realised. Perhaps even younger. Colin looked just as confused as Fred.

"So is this everyone who got injured then?" Fred asked, hesitantly. "Surely..."

Tonks looked around. No one else was moving, she couldn't see anyone breathing. They all looked too pale. She had seen many corpses at work and in the Order. Her eyes met Fred's and she knew he didn't want to say it. Perhaps Colin wouldn't realise they were surrounded by the dead if neither said so.

"I remember a bright green flash- like the one Professor Moody used on the spider a few years ago..." Colin said slowly. "I thought that killed people."

Tonks felt herself tense. She found it vile that so many students would have seen all of the Unforgivables by now, that Colin would know about it.

"Should we- uh, should we go to the Great Hall?" Fred asked. "Maybe someone's there."

"And what if You-Know-Who won?" Tonks asked. "We're all wandless, if we walk out there and straight into a group of Death Eaters-"

"Wouldn't there be more bodies if that was true?" Colin asked.

Fred nodded. "It doesn't sound like there's a battle going on still, it's got to be over."

"Should we really risk it?" Colin asked.

"We can't stay in here forever." Fred said, pulling the classroom door open.

The three of them stepped out into the corridor. It seemed like the entire castle was silent, almost as if it were abandoned. They let the classroom door close, and made their way to the Great Hall. It was shocking how noticeable the damage was now that the sun was up. Entire sections of stairs and corridors had been blasted away, piles of rubble blocking some of the side corridors they passed.

As they reached the Entrance Hall, they could hear voices in the Great Hall. Tonks realised the voices sounded friendly enough- if it were Death Eaters, they'd be loud, jeering about their victory. They reached the doors, and it seemed to happen in a wave. The people closest to the doors fell silent, the silence passing over the rest quickly until there wasn't a single sound in the Great Hall.

On the raised platform, the teachers and a few Order members were the last to fall silent, staring towards the group of four.

It was Harry who moved first, standing from a table and practically stumbling towards them. "How...?" He asked, tightening his grip on his wand. "You're all- we all saw your bodies. How are you here?"

"We don't know." Tonks said, and Kingsley appeared at Harry's shoulder.

"It's not possible." Kingsley said.

"Ask us anything- it's us." Fred said.

"Security questions, right." Kingsley said. "Tonks, if you're really Tonks, turn your hair blue."

She focused on lengthening her hair and turning it dark blue, but nothing happened. "I don't understand, I can't." She said immediately. "Ask me anything, Kingsley, it's me, I don't know why I can't morph-"

"When you were eighteen, you trained with me for three days before Alastor was away on a mission. What did we go over on the second day?"

Tonks thought back, her mind racing. She had never had to actually answer a security question before. Everyone just gave her an aspect to morph and she'd do it, but now she was worried. If she couldn't morph, that seemed suspicious and she was having trouble remembering the answer to the question. "You showed me... no, you taught me how to conjure a Ministry memo without a wand."

Kingsley nodded, and Harry was the one who turned to Fred. "What did you give me in my third year, and where did you get it?"

"The Marauder's Map, nicked it from Filch's office in our first year." Fred responded. "You used it to sneak into Hogsmeade."

"Colin, where were you and your brother hiding this year?" Neville asked from beside Kingsley.

"Oliver Wood's family took us in, near Aberdeen."

There was another silence, and Harry spoke again. "It's really you...?"

They nodded, and Harry broke into a grin. Kingsley was the first to hug Tonks. Harry surprised her by hugging her after he released Fred, Neville clapping Colin on the shoulder as Oliver approached as well.

Tonks couldn't help but notice Remus was absent. Perhaps he was at home, perhaps he had left to go back to Teddy as soon as the battle ended.

She felt a pang of guilt. She had promised to stay home and now he likely thought she was dead. What was happening at their home now? She tried to ask Kingsley but there was too much happening and she couldn't get the question out before someone else was talking to her again.

"Fred-" George said, stepping forward and embracing his twin tightly. Molly was next, wrapping her arms tightly around Fred and George.

After most of the Order members and their friends had approached and greeted them again, Madame Pomfrey pushed her way through. "I want you in the hospital wing." She said sternly, even though there was a small smile on her face. "Kingsley, if I were you, I'd contact their families."

"Wait." Tonks said, as Madame Pomfrey tried to lead them to the hospital wing. "What happened? Obviously, the battle is over, but-"

"Voldemort's dead." Harry said. "It's over."

The words struck Tonks like a brick wall. For a second, she panicked when Harry said his name, but then the rest of the words sunk in. There were so many questions she had, but Harry looked exhausted and overwhelmed, and she knew it could wait.

Madame Pomfrey tried to steer the three away but she stood her ground. "Where's Remus? Has he gone home?"

Harry and Kingsley exchanged a look that she couldn't quite read. Grief, confusion. "He was with you, Tonks." Kingsley said.

"No, he wasn't." She said quickly.

"Remus wasn't in the classroom." Fred said. "Not that we saw anyway."

"He was there, we laid him right next to you-"

"There was no one next to me." Tonks said and then the realisation hit. "There was an empty cot, he- maybe he came back too, maybe he's somewhere in the school!"

"We'll look." Kingsley said. "Go with Poppy."

The next few hours weren't any less confusing. A few Healers joined Madame Pomfrey in thoroughly examining the three and no one could answer the question of how they had survived.

Finally, Madame Pomfrey decided that they were simply lucky- perhaps, she said, despite the very obvious green light and the fact they were definitely dead when they were found, that it was merely a very similar curse.

That didn't change the fact that they had heard the spells being cast, but who were they to question it? They were alive, they had survived the war. Wasn't that what mattered?

Kingsley joined her, telling Tonks of the Auror department's desperation. Robards would move up to Head of Magical Law Enforcement and Dawlish would take over as Head Auror, but that left fourteen other Aurors that they could trust. Kingsley had told her he planned to try to talk to some of Dumbledore's Army, to see if any of them were interested in joining. Tonks knew he wasn't asking her to go back to work and yet, she felt she had to go.

And then he said the words she had been dreading.

"We haven't found Remus. He's not in the castle."

She didn't understand. If he had been declared dead too, where was he now? Had he truly died and someone had stolen his body?

Had he had the same experience she had, woken before anyone else, and left? She had hope, hope that he had returned home if he had waken.

The alternative, the idea that he was still dead and someone had taken his body, was somehow unimaginable.

The last time Rufus 'Roofie' Wittaker had walked into the Auror department, a few days before, it had been gloomy. Most of the cubicles were filled with unfamiliar faces or faces he had seen on 'Wanted' posters before the Ministry fell.

Today, there was a different mood. Rufus could feel it. It was relief, exhaustion, uncertainty. The cubicles were all empty, which made him feel a strange mix of gloom and glee- it meant they had cleared out the traitors, but he knew there were a lot of desks belonging to dead Aurors. Personal artifacts would be packed up and sent to families- if any family remained. There was one desk in particular he dreaded to see.

Only a handful of Aurors were there. Roofie counted fourteen, a truly dismal number considering when he had qualified there had been forty six, which became forty seven when Tonks finally made it through her training after being delayed for a few weeks.

It hurt to even think of her. They had met a few years before going to Hogwarts together, when her father and his mother began to work together. His mother had never worked before, not when Roofie's Dad was around. He had been five when his father left and seven when his grandmother died, leaving him without a babysitter for the days his mother worked as a secretary for the office. And that was when Ted Tonks had offered a solution- his wife didn't work much anymore, and he had a daughter around Roofie's age.

It wasn't until Roofie turned eleven and found out he was a wizard that he found out the Tonks family were also magical and that Ted had listened to Ruth Wittaker explaining her son's strange behaviour and pieced the puzzle together.

Muggleborn, Ted had explained. Unless Roofie's Dad hadn't told Ruth he was a wizard, that was what Roofie was. Born to Muggles, but able to do magic. Same as Ted himself. Over the years, Roofie and Tonks had become inseparable, being sorted together into Hufflepuff. Ted taught Roofie things that most fathers would teach their sons. Andromeda and Ruth became like sisters, even with the fact Ruth was nearly fifteen years older than Andromeda.

The families were so entwined that it had stung when they all went their separate ways the previous July. They had already been barely seeing each other due to work hours and Tonks slowly distancing from the Ministry, but to go no contact had been hard. Ruth had come home from work in March, in tears, saying the office had been told Ted had died. Heart attack. Ruth and Roofie knew the truth, though.

It hurt more when they hadn't been told of a funeral.

Roofie wanted to contact Tonks and Andromeda, but knew he couldn't. He didn't know how. The family had disappeared behind charms, charms no one could pass. Even Roofie had been locked out. Small messages got through, one sided bits from Tonks to Roofie. Small confirmations that she was still alive, still fighting. The baby had been a huge surprise to Roofie and Ruth, and they itched for the day they could see Tonks and Andromeda again, the day they could meet this mysterious husband and the baby. The day they could finally be part of their lives again.

And then, yesterday morning, Roofie and Ruth had been eating breakfast when the wireless announced it. They listed name after name in alphabetical order, and her name stood out the second it was said. There was a man's name with the same, new last name of hers. Roofie knew what it meant- her son was orphaned.

And it felt like his world had crumbled.

"Andy will need us." Ruth had said. Roofie had nodded, unable to speak through the lump that formed in his throat. This day had marked the end of the war, it was supposed to be good. He was supposed to be able to see her again when the war ended, that had been her promise. Once it was safe, she'd be in his life again. And yet, the day Voldemort fell, so did she. They would never be reunited.

Roofie knew one thing for sure, though. He would be to this baby what Ted Tonks had been to him, the father figure this baby would never get to have. He knew, from experience, it would never be the same. Nothing would replace the missing figures in his life, but Roofie and Ruth would be there. Just like the Tonks family came to their aid, they'd go to theirs.

Robards and Dawlish stood together by the Head Auror's office, Dawlish holding a list. As Roofie approached, Dawlish looked at the list and then nodded.

"That's everyone."

Roofie felt like he had been punched in the gut. If this was everyone, their department was doomed. He noticed a few friendlier faces were missing from the last time he was there. He wasn't sure he wanted to know why.

"Right." Robards said. His voice was direct and devoid of emotion. "Listen up, there's a lot to say, but we have no time as it is. I know a few of you were involved in the events of the other night, and a few weren't contacted at all. To give a very brief summary, there was a fight at Hogwarts. Death Eaters against the Order and students. The few of us who managed to find out, we got there too late to be much help at all, but it's done now. Voldemort is dead. Unfortunately, that leaves us with a massive mess to clean up."

Roofie had found out about the battle after it was already over, when it was announced on the Wizarding wireless. He wondered why no one had sent for him, but as he wondered, he realised he wasn't sure he would have wanted to see it all. The students fighting Death Eaters, the school being destroyed, his best friend being murdered... he felt numb to it all. He was sure it hurt later. It would have to wait until later, he had a job to do.

"As any of you can guess, this is the entire department. We are all that's left." Robards was saying. "You're here because we trust you, because we know what you did during the war. John and myself have a few more to question to see if they're clear to return, but this is the department we're working with for a while. We've arrested ten already for misconduct, we are working to compile a list of Aurors that were killed during the war and we are trying to locate ones we haven't heard from. For now, though, it will be around the clock work."

"We have one more Auror keen on returning too, but she has not been cleared to return." Dawlish said. "If given the clearance, we will welcome back Auror Tonks- Auror Lupin now-"

"Wait, what?" Roofie asked loudly. "Didn't you hear the wireless-?"

"Did you?" Robards asked. "An hour ago, they said there were a few misreported as fatalities yesterday. Auror Lupin was one. However, as Auror Lupin has just had a kid, she will not be returning to active duty until St Mungo's decides. She will not aid in any missions until it is deemed safe for her to do so."

The wave of shock hit Roofie hard. He hadn't listened after they announced the deaths. It hadn't seemed important. His mind was reeling. He had to tell his Mum and he had to find Tonks. He had to see her.

"We have a list of Death Eaters who managed to escape arrest." Dawlish said. "You will each get an assignment. This is not a complete list, the Hit Wizards have a list of the most dangerous, who will not be arrested. If they confirm identity, they will aim to kill instead of detain. You lot will attempt to detain the ones on this list for questioning and trials. Should they resist or attempt to cause bodily harm, the Auror department is still clear to use any means necessary to bring them down. There are a very select few who must be brought in alive, but the rest... if it comes to it, they are better off dead than out in the world. We are severely outnumbered, so if you must kill, you must kill. Robards will hand out your assignments. Wittaker, in my office."

Roofie followed Dawlish as Robards started handing out pieces of parchment to the remaining Aurors, sitting as Dawlish swung the door shut. "We need your file restored, so you'll have to fill out some paperwork again."

Roofie nodded. "Where is Howard? I didn't see him out there, I still need to thank him-"

"Never came back from the mission he was sent on last week."

Roofie sighed. He supposed that would be the answer for a lot of the missing Aurors from the office- either they'd be dead or simply missing. Howard had done more for Roofie in the past few months than Roofie's real father had done his whole life, and he owed him. Howard's last name was Whittaker, and he insisted there had been a spelling error on Roofie's file, that Roofie was his son. Howard's lie had kept Roofie's Muggleborn status in doubt long enough to keep him from Azkaban. And now Roofie couldn't even thank him.

They had claimed the error had been noticed when Roofie qualified but they hadn't gotten a chance to fix it, and hadn't checked which blood status ended up on Roofie's file due to it, since blood status hadn't mattered before. Roofie still didn't know how they had managed to convince the Ministry of it, but he was thankful. The few Aurors who remained after the fall of the Ministry banded together and kept each other as safe as possible, and Roofie had been the only Muggleborn Auror in the department at the time. He had been terrified at what would happen, but the way the other Aurors surrounded him and backed up the lie... he owed all of them his life. It only came out in the days following the inquiry that no one knew who had altered the file in the first place to list Howard as his father, that Howard had been asked about it and insisted it was correct without hesitating.

"So, you'll need to fill out the death on duty again, put your Mum back down as the one we contact." Dawlish said, sliding a form and a quill over to Roofie. It wasn't unusual for young Aurors to list their parents as the go-tos for contacting if they got injured or killed on the job, and whoever changed Roofie's file knew that, if they had elected to list one of the pureblooded Aurors as his father. It would have been the first thing the Ministry would have looked at to determine his blood status.

"And then, you'll need to fill this form out for the birth record department." Dawlish said, sliding another across. "Whoever did this was thorough, your last name on your Muggle records is listed the same as Howard's spelling now."

"Have you figured out who it was?" Roofie asked.

"Had to be someone who knew how to find your Muggle records too." Dawlish said. "And considering they falsified a birth record from St Mungo's, saying you were born there, they had a Healer help them. Someone who knows St Mungo's records, anyway."

There was an urgent knock on the office door and Dawlish waved his wand. It swung open and Roofie felt a grin spread across his face. Tonks looked very much as she had the last time he saw her, a little more disheveled and tired. Although her hair was her natural dark brown and loosely curled, identical to her mother's, and her eyes were the pale grey colour he didn't see very often, she was still exactly the person he knew.

"Guess who got cleared for work?" Tonks asked, holding up a letter with St Mungo's seal on it.

"That was... fast. Have you even gone home yet?" Dawlish asked, standing and taking the letter. Roofie stood too, still reeling from the announcement of her death to being told it was wrong. And here she was, his best friend, standing right before him.

"I did, I was there for a few hours but I had to go get clearance from St Mungo's-"

"Have you even slept yet?"

"A few hours but I have a duty to this department, you need people. If setting fire to this desk didn't ruin the chance of coming back, that is?" She asked.

"Tonks, your husband-"

"Wherever he is, if he's alive, he'll come back." Tonks said. "I believe he's out there. I'm going to do my job and I'm going to find him. Someone has information, and I'm going to find out who."

"Bellatrix is still on the loose-"

"I know. Molly told me she tried to kill her but Bellatrix somehow escaped. I have our wards up, we're prepared." Tonks said.

"Are you sure about this? Coming back this quickly?" Dawlish asked and she nodded. He nodded after a moment and turned back to his desk.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." She said to Roofie as he managed to stumble a few steps to her. He didn't stumble often but his feet felt heavy, as if his boots were made from lead.

"I feel like I have. I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Roofie said. She looked awful, bruises littering her skin, a gash across her cheek. Dawlish was taking his time studying the letter, leaning over his desk, jotting information on a form, away from the two young Aurors.

"Well, I'm here." She said. She sounded tired, almost defeated but Roofie was blinded by pure joy at seeing her again.

A smile broke across Roofie's face as he grabbed her in a tight hug. "I missed you so much!" His voice cracked with emotion slightly as she returned the hug. He tried, really tried, to gloss over the fact he felt like becoming a blubbering mess over the reappearance of his best friend, nearly a year after the last time they had been able to see each other. He held her at arm's length. "God, look at you."

"Don't get sappy, Roofie. Not very becoming of an Auror." She said, but he could tell she was very much feeling similar.

"Was it you?" Dawlish asked. "Who changed his file?"

"No, if you look at the records, Bradshaw accessed them that day."

"Bradshaw wasn't in the Ministry for most of July." Roofie said, the realisation hitting him. "Tonks, you could have-"

"Could have what, Roofie? Gotten arrested? They were already trying. I was on my way out anyway, the Ministry was about to fall. I had to do it, they were going to come for you." Tonks said. "I'm just thankful Howard didn't deny it. The Order found him, Dawlish, by the way. There was never a mission, he was led into Greyback's pack on purpose."

"Poor bastard." Dawlish muttered. "He's been buried, then?" Tonks nodded.

"I should have joined the Order." Roofie said. "Why wouldn't you let me? You convinced Kingsley not to let me-"

"You were needed here, and we had Aurors giving us information already. You were able to stay hidden among them, that's all we needed." Tonks said. "When I heard they were going after Muggleborns, I dreaded to think of what they'd do to you. You're my best friend, Roofie, I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. Ruth... she asked if I knew of anything to help you. She saw you coming home beat and bruised, exhausted. She was scared. You being in the Order would have made it worse, they would have come for you faster. I told her I'd do what I could. And I did. We just had to buy you time and it turns out we bought you enough time."

The next few weeks proved even harder. The Ministry and the Order- now one and the same- were rebuilding Hogwarts and reforming the government, arresting rogue Death Eaters and investigating potential Death Eater supporters. The Auror department received some backlash from the public each time it was announced that while they were catching up with some Death Eaters, not all of them were taken in alive. Kingsley had made a statement about the necessity behind these acts. The Death Eaters did not want to be caught, they did not want to be taken to Azkaban. They were still fighting to kill, so the Ministry was forced to respond with similar tactics. The public needed to be safe, Kingsley had said.

The summer began with no word on what had happened to Remus. No one knew if they were searching for a living person or a dead one, which made the case harder.

Tonks was getting frustrated because it seemed Dawlish was finding reasons to keep her off of active missions. She wanted to be out in the world catching these Dark Wizards, questioning them and finding out what she could.

Harry spent a lot of time with Teddy. She could tell he was struggling with a mix of unresolved feelings and emotions, but couldn't find herself to ask him to discuss them. He never seemed like he wanted to talk about anything but Teddy.

He was fixating, she knew. Eventually, he would have to face his inner demons but for now, he appeared to want to focus on being a godfather.

She had moved out of her mother's house and into Alastor's after clearing it out, and welcomed the company. Even though she had Teddy, she felt terribly alone without Remus.

By August, Tonks was made a Senior Auror, which meant she would help train the new recruits. She was glad to finally have something to do, and was surprised that they only had eight new recruits- considering Kingsley loosened the requirements, she had imagined there'd be more.

Only three other Aurors had been cleared to do training- Savage, Proudfoot and Williamson- because it had been found some other Senior Aurors had been actively working with the Death Eaters so they hadn't gained back any older Aurors yet. However, Dawlish had decided he still needed at least one Senior Auror free from trainees at all times, so Williamson had been taken from training.

It had been just over a year since she last wore her scarlet Auror robes, and she couldn't help but feel a small bit of excitement just as she had the very first time she had put them on. She hadn't been wearing them until that day, partially because they didn't fit very well at first and partially because she hadn't truly done any official Auror work yet.

She had quickly greeted her mother as Andromeda arrived, disappearing into the emerald green flames and reappearing in the Ministry atrium.

While she still held hope that Remus was alive and would come back one day, she knew she couldn't dwell. He had said many times that the end of the war would mark a new chapter in everyone's lives and he wanted her to enjoy it if he wasn't with her. It had been a particularly upsetting remark to her at the time, but with how devastating the war had become, they both knew the chances were slim of them surviving together. Often, she had wished they were wrong.

Now, she just wished for some kind of closure.

She wasn't sure she'd ever move on or love anyone nearly as much, she knew she had to carry on. Teddy needed her to. She needed to work, he needed a parent. She allowed herself to grieve the loss, to mourn a tragically short marriage to the man she had wanted to spend eternity with, and then she had done what Aurors did best- she toughened up and continued on.

By ten in the morning, she was standing in one of the training rooms with the two other Senior Aurors and Dawlish, facing the group of recruits.

"Alright, in normal circumstances, it would be one trainee assigned to one Senior Auror." Dawlish explained. "However, as you can see, we don't have enough Senior Aurors. Because of this, while your training will be shortened from the usual three years and instead take two, the days might not be the regular scheduling the past trainees may have gotten. In the past, our Aurors were trained during the days- five hours in the morning spent on the book studies involved and five hours in the afternoon spent on the physical training. For those with Aurors Savage and Proudfoot, this will be drastically different as I still need them on raids. I've already given schedules to each of the mentors, and they'll give them to you after I assign you to them."

Dawlish unrolled a short roll of parchment. "Auror Savage, you'll be training Finnigan, Weasley and Spinnet." He read out. "Auror Proudfoot- Wood, Patil and Thomas. And that leaves Auror Lupin with Potter and Longbottom. Off you go."

Tonks headed over to Harry and Neville. "Consider yourselves lucky." She said. "I happen to be the only one with a set schedule, which means you both have a set schedule too. That lot is about to have one Hell of a nightmare schedule."

"I'm just glad it's someone I know." Neville said. "I don't think I'd do good with someone unfamiliar."

"You just killed a huge snake and yelled at Voldemort. I don't doubt you'll do good as an Auror, even if you trained with a stranger." Tonks said as they followed her to her cubicle. "Have you been careful?"

Neville nodded. "No trips anywhere alone, Nan's enchantments are holding." Neville said. She waved her wand and two chairs joined hers.

Tonks nodded. "Bellatrix may be the reason you're training with me. The department knows I won't sell you out to her or Harry out to the other Death Eaters." She said. "Speaking of Dawlish, I'm not usually one to question my superiors, but this is a stupid plan. Dawlish wants everything to be the same as previous years- but he wants it to only take two years instead of three. I mean, we barely finished all three books when it was Alastor and I over the course of three years. However, I also had no actual dueling experience when I was signed on, so it might actually be easier with you two."

"What was it like, training with Moody?" Neville asked as they sat.

She shrugged. "Not as bad as people seem to expect. He was tough, but fair. Surprisingly nice, also surprisingly willing to let a trainee curse him." She said. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to run dueling practice with you for a few more weeks, Dawlish says. For the first few weeks, though, we might not be doing much dueling, so maybe by the time we get to the more complicated spells here I might be able to." She pointed to one of the three books she had given them. "Honestly, I've never used a majority of these spells. They're supposed to be more effective than Disarming or Stunning, but most Aurors just revert to those anyway."

"Why? If these are more effective, why use a simple Disarming Charm?" Harry asked.

She laughed. "That's interesting, coming from the boy who just defeated the darkest wizard of all time with a Disarming Charm."

"She's got you there, mate." Neville said with a laugh.

"I honestly think it's just a habit. Those are the first spells most people learn when it comes to dueling." She said. "Of course, until Dawlish changes his mind, Aurors are being granted permission to use any spells they see fit- even the Unforgivables- to catch a dark wizard. I'm not teaching you those, you already know them too well."

"Do you think we'll ever have to use them?" Neville asked. He seemed uncomfortable by the idea.

She shrugged. "They gave us the clearance in 1996, but I never had to use them while working- but I was also stationed in Hogsmeade and not much happened in Hogsmeade. The only time I used them was in the Order. I mean, hopefully, the clearance is removed by the time you guys are fully qualified- it would mean that the most dangerous Death Eaters have already been arrested or taken down by Hit Wizards."

"Honestly, though, you guys are kind of lucky." She continued. "You two get to train on a set schedule because I'm non-active, so I don't have to be working regular shifts as well as training shifts. You'll be here from eight in the morning until eight at night- but you'll only be training from eight to one, and then three to eight. We do overlap with the others by an hour in the morning and three hours at night- I believe Savage's group starts at nine at night, and Proudfoot's at five in the evening- so we just have to be where they're not. Some days we might not even overlap with their training, because they're not set like us. I think this week, Savage has Monday to Wednesday and then Saturday and Sunday- but we're Monday to Friday for the next three weeks, at least."

"Do we train for the twelve hours straight?" Harry asked.

She shook her head. "No, there's a break between the morning and afternoon- from one to three- but even so, you'll get used to the long days. I think the longest I've worked was a nineteen hour shift- that was when I was in Hogsmeade- and I believe Dawlish once worked a thirty nine hour shift."

"Thirty nine hours?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, but you're not technically obligated to be awake for the entire thirty nine hours. If they're not working on a stakeout or a mission, there's nothing stopping them from sleeping at their desks. You two are light sleepers, right?"

Both of them nodded.

"Most Aurors are, and I guess that's a good thing. If the Ministry calls for you in the middle of the night, you need to be here in ten minutes- at a maximum- so if you're a heavy sleeper, you wouldn't be able to do that. Later on in your training, there will be tests for that, and it's my job to make sure you two can respond properly."

"Does that happen often, then?" Harry asked.

"Depends. If you're working on basic cases, no. If you're working a week of on-call cases, yes. It's mostly Junior Aurors that work the on-call cases, meaning you might work up to a dozen different cases a week, or even just one case a week- it depends on what the wizarding world is up to."

"So is it easier being a Senior Auror, then?'' Harry asked. "Instead of a Junior Auror?''

She shrugged. "It's hard to judge, they work different jobs sometimes. Except for right now, when every Auror is working every job just because the large majority of the Aurors have been sacked or are still being investigated."

"What can get an Auror sacked, anyway?" Neville asked. "I mean, when they're not being arrested..."

She shrugged. "Takes a lot to get sacked, you might not see many get sacked- you might not see any, actually. I mean, I got sacked because I was a known Order member and the Ministry found out about my marriage- but that was because the Death Eaters had started infiltrating and Robards had to listen to Yaxley. I was lucky I wasn't arrested because I should have been, considering everything I had done could have been treated as treason- and I was already pregnant at that point, and if they had arrested me, they probably would have figured it out- I hate to think of what could have happened if the Death Eaters knew. And then there were Aurors that were arrested for trying to send information to the Order, and no one's heard from them since, so I doubt I would have been an exception. And right now, they're being sacked for various things- some are being arrested for crimes against Muggleborns or crimes against the Ministry. Any other time, it would be other things. Breaking laws or corruption would be the most common. And I don't see either of you getting sacked. I think you two will be great Aurors by the end of this. Maybe the best the Ministry ever saw."

They tell me I'm too young to understand
They say I'm caught up in a dream
Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes
Well that's fine by me