Tonks had not wanted to go to the Records Department with Harry and Neville because the Record Department could sometimes be slow, so she had wandered over to her cubicle instead. Dawlish wanted to have a meeting when they came back but he had to oversee a transfer to Azkaban, so she was stuck waiting. She had been hoping they would have a meeting beforehand so she could get back to Remus and Teddy, and have Harry come to visit Remus whenever he was done.

It wasn't uncommon for the department to be quiet now, with the few Aurors to be out of the Ministry instead of in the department. There had to be at least one or two Aurors somewhere in the Ministry at all times, so she wondered where they were right now.

Someone pulled a chair up next to her and she was about to welcome the conversation until she saw it was Tristan and that he was uncomfortably close, his knee almost touching hers. "Auror Tonks, you are not in uniform." He said.

"I'm not working."

"You still represent the Ministry."

"Even if I was working, Aurors don't have to wear their robes all the time." She said, rolling her eyes. "I'm just waiting to have a meeting with Dawlish, I don't want your company."

"Auror Tonks,-"

"Auror Lupin."

"Not anymore." Tristan said. "We have to work together, there's no way around it. I want us to clear the air-"

"Clear the air?" She asked, glaring at him. "That's a fucking laugh."

"Oh, come on, Nymph. It was so long ago-"

"You hit me, I don't care how long ago it-"

"I never laid a hand on you." Tristan growled, leaning forward, his hands on the arm of her chair, his face inches from hers. She leaned back as far as she could, her breath catching in her throat. "Is that what you've been telling people? That you were some innocent little victim?"

"I haven't told anyone-"

"You certainly had Alastor convinced." Tristan said. "But that's your game, isn't it? I just assumed you were shagging Alastor and that's why he wanted me gone."

"We were trained by the same man, how are you so vile?" She asked.

"I think our training was very different." Tristan said. "He played favourites, I wasn't one."

"He didn't play favourites. If he didn't like you, it's because you're an awful person-"

"Oh, please." Tristan scoffed, leaning back finally. "Aurors don't generally leave all of their belongings to one of their trainees unless there was more going on between them-"

"Oh, fuck off." Tonks said. "This is probably exactly why Alastor didn't like you, you're a bastard."

"I just wanted to clear the air between us,-"

"And that's how you thought to do it?" Tonks demanded.

"We're going to have to work together sometimes." Tristan said. "If you want to get anywhere in this department, you're going to have to start behaving yourself. This animosity towards me will get you nowhere. Trying being more... friendly. It'll get you further." Tristan leaned forward again in his chair, putting his hand on her thigh.

"Neville sent me back, I guess they've got more to fill out with him-"

Tristan had straightened up quickly, standing and fiddling with the cuff of his robe sleeve. "It's time to leave the past in the past, Auror Tonks. Consider what I said, if you want to have a chance in this department." He said, turning and leaving.

Harry stared after Tristan and then turned back to Tonks. Her heart was pounding. When she had first become an Auror, the oldest Aurors had been disrespectful to her, mostly just expecting her to act like a glorified secretary to them all. Only twice had two of the oldest Aurors, who should have retired decades before, made the mistake of pinching her or making direct comments. She had been able to shut them down quickly, and now she assumed they had either been arrested, died or retired in the few years since because she hadn't seen them return. She had shrugged off those encounters easily enough.

But this made her feel sick. Tonks had already pulled her wand on him, and yet he had come back to bother her, undeterred. And he was her boss. Tristan was right, they had to work together. She would never be free of him.

"What- what was that?" Harry asked, frowning slightly as he pulled the chair back and sat.

"Nothing." She said as she let go of the breath she didn't realise she was holding, but she knew she had said it too quickly and had felt the slight tremble in her own voice.

Harry's frown deepened. "How do you know MacIver? It's not just work, is it?" He asked. "After the trial, I thought you and Remus would... I thought you'd want to be with Remus and I thought you and MacIver didn't get along? Why-"

"I- we don't, I do want to be with Remus and that's my plan, if we can figure everything out. It's not like that, he's just being an ass because of our past." Tonks said, and Harry looked confused. "I... I dated Tristan for a few months, shortly after I started training. He proposed, I moved in with him for about a week and a half. It ended really badly."

"Is that why he left the Ministry before?"

"He didn't leave by choice. Alastor figured out what he was doing, and forced him out."

"What was he doing?" Harry asked and when she didn't respond immediately, he continued. "I told you about my visions. We're friends, you can trust me."

"I knew he had a short temper." She said finally. "I just didn't know how short of a fuse he really had until I had been living with him. It was only the second day, I had told him I was tired of him trying to suggest what I should look like. Unfortunately, most of the time when men have tried to date me, that's the only reason. I got tired of it, Tristan and Charlie were the only two I ever thought I could trust enough- until Remus, obviously. Turns out, Tristan just hid that side of him until we had been together a few weeks. I thought I could stand up for myself. He gave me a split lip."

Harry stared at her, a mix of shock and disgust on his face.

"He said he was sorry." She continued. "So I hid it. And then the next day, he gave me a black eye. Tried to hide that too, but Alastor wasn't an idiot. Morphing doesn't hide injuries fully. It'll mask bruises, but not swelling. He made me drop my morph. He never actually said he knew what was going on, but I know he figured it out. He told my Dad after I tried to drop out of training. If it hadn't been for Alastor or my Dad... I probably wouldn't have left."

"Jesus." Harry muttered under his breath. "Does Dawlish know?" He asked, and she shook her head. "You should tell him, maybe he'll send him away-"

"We have a department to run, a job to do. We need MACUSA's Aurors. If Dawlish sends him back, they could withdraw the others depending on what Tristan says." Tonks said. "I don't want people to know, Harry. He's already trying to make me miserable here, you just saw that. If other people know... he's going to get worse." He looked like he wanted to say something more so she continued. "You don't understand how hard it is to get anywhere in the Ministry as a woman. Female Aurors don't usually last very long, whether it be Dark Wizards assaulting or killing them the moment they can get them alone and overpowered or sometimes they quit to have families or because the more sexist Aurors treat them terribly... these types of things happen a lot-"

"They shouldn't!"

"But they do. Tristan is my boss now. If I want to be an Auror, I can't cause trouble by throwing around accusations."

"It's not an accusation if it's true-"

"Harry, you really don't understand what it's like, as a woman trying to work in a department filled with men." Tonks said. "It's so hard to be taken seriously, and bringing up something that happened nearly a decade ago will not help. There are much bigger issues. It doesn't matter anymore."

"You should tell Dawlish." Harry argued.

She shook her head. "He has so much to deal with already. I'm going to find a way to handle it myself."

"Isn't MacIver married?" He asked after a moment.

"I'm pretty sure. She's probably relieved he's come back here, I hope she doesn't follow." Tonks said. "It would be the perfect chance for her to be free of him, and I hope she takes it. Anyway, where's Neville? You said he sent you back."

"Oh, yeah, he just had a couple more things to fill out for them. I had Muggle records already, he didn't."

Tonks nodded. "We'd be waiting anyway, Dawlish said he had to go oversee a transfer to Azkaban." She said. "I do feel bad, I told Remus we wouldn't be long. I know Molly will stay to help, but Remus didn't seem fully comfortable being alone with Teddy."

"Does Remus know?" Harry asked. "About...?"

"I did tell him, not sure if he'll ever remember." Tonks said. "If you tell him, I will hurt you. I have access to you constantly, you will not see it coming."

"I wouldn't-"

"Not on purpose, but it does appear you can't help it sometimes. I've heard that it's quite James-like of you. You better help it now, or I'm dragging you to St Mungo's and telling them you're a nutter."

"Before or after you hurt me?" Harry asked, but she noticed a hint of amusement in his eyes, as if he didn't believe she would live up to any threat of violence against him. He would be right to assume it, but she didn't want him to think so.

"Undecided. Do you want to test it?" She asked. "I've been trained to be stealthy."

"The umbrella stand begs to differ." He said and Tonks snorted. "I'm not going to say anything, Tonks. I- I've only ever slipped up with things Remus should already know. You've kept the visions a secret, I'll keep this one." Harry said. "But I'm not being nice to MacIver."

"He's your boss, Harry." She said.

"Dawlish is my boss. I'd consider you my boss over MacIver."

"I'm not, technically."

"Maybe you will be one day." Harry said. "You said most female Aurors don't last long, but maybe you'll be one that does. France has a female Head Auror, maybe we will too one day."

Tonks hummed. "Head Aurors don't get to have all the fun, though. Lots of paperwork. I'd bet anything that when things finally settle, Dawlish is going to get very bored. It's why we go through so many Head Aurors. They get bored, go on raids and become the prime targets for whoever the Ministry is after. Everyone wants to brag they've taken down the Head Auror."

"Does that happen a lot?"

Tonks nodded. "Very few Head Aurors in history have retired. It's far more rare for them to get promoted like Robards or Scrimgeour." She said. "Besides all of that, the Ministry won't appoint someone they can't trust. Despite the reasoning behind it all, I did go behind the Ministry's back and hide my involvement in a secret organization. They frown on that type of thing."

"But we're now run by that organization." Harry countered.

"You've also been having visions that all of us who woke up at the battle are probably dying again." She said quietly. "That kind of ruins the chances too. Tristan being Deputy destroys any chance."

Harry nodded slowly. "I did have fake visions about Sirius. Maybe..." He said. "I mean, I'd like to hope they're fake. It wouldn't be fair, to get this far and lose you all again."

"Especially now that we're friends?" She asked in a teasing tone.

"I always liked you." Harry said, rolling his eyes. "I just never really saw you outside of the Order. I kind of think we could have ended up friends no matter how we met."

"I would argue that." She said. "If I had joined the Death Eaters, for instance."

"That's an extreme example." He said. "They tried to recruit you, didn't they?"

"Twice, they expected the answer to change, I suppose." She said.

Dawlish pulled a chair over to them, sinking down. "I only have a few minutes, Azkaban's a fucking mess today. You'll have to tell Neville everything when he's done." He said. "There has been talk of Death Eaters in France. None of the inner circle, though, so I'm not sure it's a concern yet."

"How do we know they're not in contact with anyone from the inner circle? If they spot Harry or Neville, they-"

"Or, you." Dawlish added. "You are also someone the inner circle would love to get ahold of."

"Not as much as they'd love to get ahold of Harry and Neville. Imagine being the Death Eater who finishes what Voldemort couldn't." Tonks said. "What do we do? We can't keep moving them."

"Well, I think we give you three a few more weeks there to work out of that Ministry and then you can return to training here."

"Do you think a few weeks will make that much of a difference?"

"After a few more patrols, you three would be caught up to Savage and Proudfoot's trainees." Dawlish said. "That way, I can change up the groups-"

"No, they're my trainees."

"I didn't mean permanently." Dawlish said. "Just as needed, to get all of them familiar with different cases. I'm going to need you back on active duty, and the trainees will switch between shadowing you three. I think it's the best way to make sure they're ready. We have to shorten training and it's the easiest way, experience is the best tool we have."

"The last time you used experience as your training tool, your trainee was thrown off a roof." Tonks said.

"Roofie wasn't thrown, he fell. That was his fault." Dawlish said.

"Is that why you all call him Roofie?" Harry asked and Tonks nodded.

"I think it's rare for any of us to call each other by our first names. It's either a nickname or a last name once you're through training." Dawlish said. "But usually if you get a nickname, it's not for a good reason."

"Alright, so trainees need to avoid getting a nickname." Harry said.

"How many of the inner circle are still on the loose, anyway?" Tonks asked.

"Only the Lestranges and Dolohov."

"Dolohov was arrested at the battle, how is he on the loose?" Harry asked.

"It turns out that some of the lower ranking Death Eaters have been transfigured to look like the inner circle." Dawlish said. "We thought we had Rodolphus Lestrange, but it turned out to be Stan Shunpike, Imperiused."

"He's been Imperiused the entire time, surely." Tonks said. "He was a year younger than me in school, but I remember him. He's definitely not the type."

Dawlish shrugged. "We have no way of knowing. All of the ones without marks will claim to have been, but there's no way for us to prove it. We've just had to do trials based on what we know, and a lot of them will end up being released. Which means, if they were acting on their own, they could cause trouble later."

"Unfortunate risk." Tonks said. "This also means that some of the others you've arrested may not be who you think?"

"Actually, so far it's just been Dolohov and Lestrange." Dawlish said. "It makes me think they must be planning something to have decoys, but I'm not sure what. Hopefully, just to finish their master's work."

"Hopefully?" Harry asked, frowning.

Dawlish waved a hand. "They haven't managed to succeed so far." He said. "At this point, I'm getting less concerned about the threats and more concerned about the fact we simply can't find them, because who knows what they may do if they can't access any of the people they are targeting."

Tonks was pretty sure she knew exactly what they'd do if they couldn't get to Harry or their other targets. What she didn't really understand, was why they hadn't actually gone after anyone's families. That was something Death Eaters seemed to love to do. Harry, Tonks and Neville had been gone for weeks and everything had gone silent. It made Tonks wonder if there was a bigger plan after all, and she hoped the Hit Wizards got Bellatrix and Dolohov before they could see it through.

If the first article caused commotion, it was nothing compared the second. Remus was set to come home the next day, so she had come to Diagon Alley to restock the necessary potions and supplies. Harry would be coming back that night, after spending the last few days with everyone at the Burrow after the girls returned from the school. That morning when he came to see Remus, he had brought an invitation from Molly to Christmas at the Burrow, and had seemed relieved when Tonks and Remus both voiced a desire to spend a quiet day at home instead and both said they were hoping he'd join them. He took the invite, saying he would rather spend the day with them as well, especially for Teddy's first.

Tonks wondered if anyone at the Burrow had read the article yet. They would have gotten the Daily Prophet by now and if, for some reason they hadn't, the Evening Prophet would run it again anyway. Harry hadn't said anything when he came to visit Remus, so she wondered if he was waiting to read it, just as she was.

She had promised Remus she wouldn't read it until they were together. He said he wanted to be there to explain things if she had questions about what he said.

However, she was a bit of a nosy person and hearing the mutters about the article was absolutely killing her. To her surprise, she was surprised that anything she did overhear was condemning the Ministry. She had tried to sound so confident to Remus about it but deep down, she had worried about the same things he did, but everything she had heard so far seemed sympathetic to werewolves. She hoped this sympathy would eventually extend to the other prisoners of Brutum, if any of them followed suit to expose what had happened to them.

She heard mutterings of people wanting the Wizengamot disbanded. They had supported it so they were just as guilty as the Capture Unit, she heard one witch say. Tonks knew a couple of Ministries functioned without anything like the Wizengamot, and she wondered if that was something that would improve their own Ministry.

After buying the last few supplies she needed, she Apparated to Remus' Dad's cottage to gather the last few things she had packed up for Remus. Eventually, they'd decide which house to keep, but for now, she just wanted to make sure he was comfortable until they figured everything out.

Tonks Apparated to the usual spot, just outside the garden. Now covered in a fresh layer of snow, she could see footsteps all around the garden and the cottage. Whoever was watching it, they were not being secretive. She cast a quick charm to reveal if anyone else was there, but nothing happened. There was no one inside or hiding in the garden, at least. That didn't free her from feeling of being watched, so she kept a tight grip on her wand.

They wanted her to know they were watching this house, she knew. She slowed her steps when she could see the front door, and could see a crude moon-like symbol painted on it.

She froze entirely on the steps, when she was close enough to see it had been painted in blood. She heard the footsteps too late, confused for a second on why her charm hadn't revealed anyone close enough to reach her this fast. She spun but they collided with her before she could cast the first curse.