During their school days, Douglas and Tonks had gotten along fairly well.
Tonks had once wanted to join Douglas's nighttime excursions and take charge of the cooking in the kitchen.
But she really was terrible with her hands. She could drop a plate just carrying it.
When Douglas was in his fifth year, he had once taken the third-year Tonks to meet Bill and Charlie for hot pot. Thanks to Tonks, Filch had spotted them before they even left the castle.
They had split up and run, but Filch had caught Tonks in the end. Loyally, she had never given the three boys away.
Feeling guilty, Douglas had given Tonks some booklets he had privately compiled on training special-operations wizards.
He had then told her that once she learned the contents and could track him without him noticing, he would let her come along.
What Douglas had not expected was that Tonks really did have very little talent for fieldwork. Even by the time he graduated, she had never succeeded once.
Once, Tonks had even cried because Douglas had gone easy on her and pretended not to notice her following him.
Don't misunderstand. Douglas had no romantic feelings for Tonks; he simply regarded her as a little sister whose personality suited him very well. At the same time, because he knew how her story would end, he had tried to train her early to improve her chances of surviving the war to come.
When everyone arrived at the Headmaster's Office, they found Dumbledore talking to an elderly man.
Both the Hogwarts professors and the Ministry of Magic officials greeted the elderly man warmly.
The scene left the elderly man looking somewhat uncomfortable, as though he rarely saw so many people at once.
Finally, Douglas stepped forward as well and said