Tonks, the Eternal Trainee

The Christmas holidays have quietly come to an end.

William, Hermione, and Anne spent a happy and busy holiday at Nicolas's estate.

Just like during the summer vacation after second grade, the three of them were hardly disturbed.

Sometimes, Roy and Lyanna would wonder while eating breakfast:

Is studying at Hogwarts really that demanding?

Never going home for Christmas?!

Lyanna pondered this further, realizing she had been too kind and should also shorten her graduate student vacation.

This is what it means to be fully integrated with the Wizarding World.

Hermione's parents, Iris and the others, had a vague feeling that their beloved daughter had been mysteriously abducted the moment she received the acceptance letter.

As for who kidnapped him... it must have been the Stark family's foolish son!

When Iris first met William, she felt that this kid was her nemesis. He was like an eagle in the sky, always trying to peck at her flowers.

If William knew what Iris was thinking, he would probably feel very wronged.

He was clearly helping Hermione grow—in every sense of the word, from the inside out!

Take Ancient Runes, for example.

During this holiday, William gave Hermione a thorough private tutoring session on the Ancient Runes from the third grade.

From beginning to end.

This means that next semester, she won't have to attend Ancient Runes classes and will have a slightly more normal schedule.

This is what growing up is all about!

William may have other ulterior motives, but don't worry about the details. Compared to these, they are insignificant.

Under William's persuasive yet insightful advice, Hermione made another decision: to strategically skip a few classes.

For example, Muggle Studies.

Just review the material before the exam.

These courses are easy to get certificates from, so there's no need to take them too seriously.

This way, Hermione will have a much easier time next semester and won't have to be so exhausted every day.

At least that's what William thinks.

However, he clearly underestimated Hermione's enthusiasm for learning.

She has already devised a comprehensive plan to use the saved time to continue exploiting William.

Until not a single drop is left to squeeze out of him.

William was still unaware of Hermione's "malicious intentions" and continued to enjoy his leisurely days.

Occasionally, when he had nothing to do, he would pick up Nicolas's Book of Alchemy, tinker with various alchemical items, and then copy down the steps.

This includes the creation of Flying Cloak, Deluminator, and Two-Way Mirror.

William's immediate priority was to create Flying Cloak and Two-Way Mirror.

While the three were taking a break from their busy schedules, the Wizarding World suddenly became noisy.

Hermione has once again become famous without even realizing it.

Because Minister Fudge claimed:

With the help of the youngest recipient of the Medal of Valor —the renowned Hermione Granger —they successfully "solved" the mystery of Black's escape.

--He's an illegal Animagus!

Immediately, a large number of Auror began searching Hogsmeade, but they did not find the Dahei.

Rita wrote seven follow-up reports.

First, they lavished praise on Hermione, claiming that the two were very close and like best friends who could talk about anything.

Anyone who didn't know better would think she was a big fan of Hermione.

Actually, Rita had cursed William and Hermione countless times in private, wishing them all the best, like they should just become a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Unfortunately, despite the criticism... when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

After all, no one understood how terrifying these two children were better than Rita.

Keep in mind that so many people couldn't figure out how Black from prison, yet Hermione deduced it so easily.

How clever that is!

These two people... they're not even human!

Rita vowed never to stand against William and Hermione.

But if Rita can't criticize those two Dark Lord, can't she at least criticize the Ministry of Magic?

Therefore, she turned her attention to the Ministry of Magic.

Rita believes:

The whole thing is the Ministry of Magic's fault; they failed to discover beforehand that Black was an illegal Animagus.

Rita even called on the Ministry of Magic to reinvestigate and establish a wizard blacklist system, classifying Animagus as Dark Magic and prohibiting wizards from studying it.

Rita's writing reveals anger, as if she had been bitten by a black dog when she was a child.

This sounds a bit like the thief crying "stop thief!" You have to understand that Rita herself is an illegal Animagus.

Her agitation and vehement words weren't actually inappropriate.

On the contrary, by labeling herself as "anti -Animagus," no one would suspect that she is an illegal Animagus.

The saying "the darkest place is under the lamp" perfectly describes this situation.

Rita is very cunning.

The day before the end of the holiday,

After bidding farewell to the Nicolas, William Apparition Hermione and Anne back to Hogsmeade.

Walking down the street, William unexpectedly saw Tonks.

She was so eye-catching; her silver-white hair cascaded over her shoulders, perfectly complementing the snowflakes on the eaves.

Tonks was shopping at Honeydukes, carrying bags of snacks.

She also saw William and the other two, and quickly waved to them.

William thought he had some important information, but when he got closer, he realized that he was just asked to... pay the bill.

"You didn't bring any money, yet you bought so many snacks?" William was speechless. "Why should I pay for them?"

I didn't sponsor you!

This sentence was definitely not spoken aloud, otherwise he would have suffered a fatal blow from more than one witch.

"You're so rich, what's wrong with paying my bill?" Tonks said matter-of-factly.

"I sent you so much valuable intelligence, risking being imprisoned in Azkaban!"

Now that you're powerful, you're going to deny everything?

I'll turn myself in right now, and we'll both go to Azkaban to live out our old age in peace!

"You can drink Potions, but you can't say whatever you want." William rolled his eyes.

"Sigh, fine, I give up. I'll pay, okay?" William looked at Hermione and instructed.

"However, the money will be deducted from Tonks ' salary next month."

"Okay." Hermione covered her mouth and smiled.

Tonks is William's second-in-command, the kind who gets paid. Unlike Bertha and Rita, who are unpaid informants.

"Speaking of wages, you should give me a raise!" Tonks said with a shrewd grin.

"Are you Auror already?" William asked, feigning ignorance. "If so, you definitely deserve a raise."

Tonks hasn't become Auror yet; he's still just an "apprentice."

She had been an intern for two and a half years and was respectfully called "the eternal intern" by the Auror Office.

As everyone knows, those who are given the title of "eternal" are people who keep a low profile.

For example, a perennial genin.

That's how Tonks did it; with her Metamorphmagus, she easily broke the all-time high score for Concealment and Disguise, but her Stealth and Tracking scores were zero.

The student's performance in one subject is severely unbalanced!

William then deliberately asked, "Where's Moody? Isn't he with you?"

"He was getting old..." Tonks cleared his throat, "And retired honorably before Christmas."

"Oh, so you're the one who made me angry?" William said with a grin.

This statement is not unfounded.

As Moody's last student, Tonks couldn't even pass the exam. It's so frustrating; any normal person would be driven to retirement by that, right?

"It's really not my fault I failed!" Tonks complained. "If you had a teacher like that, you wouldn't pass even if you followed him closely."

Moody was paranoid all day long, believed nothing, and felt like he saw a dark wizard wherever he went.

They'd rummage through every trash can they came across, checking for Muggle bombs inside.

I've become a bit neurotic from studying with him.

"But that doesn't stop Moody from being the best Auror."

Tonks gave a soft snort and cursed viciously, "Watch out, Moody might be teaching you Defence Against Dark Magic next year!"

William was speechless. How had everyone unintentionally sentenced Professor Lupin to death?

He can still be saved.

"By the way, what are you doing here?" William asked. "Aren't we supposed to be chasing Black?"

"I was just on patrol," Tonks said, arms crossed. "The Dementor couldn't identify the Animagus, so I was sent here by the ministry."

Big sister,

You went to Honeydukes's to buy snacks while on a mission?

This is such a slacker!

No wonder they couldn't catch Black.

Aren't you afraid something might happen?

Okay, it's no big deal if something goes wrong; just say it was a temporary worker.

Tonks really was just a "trainee" temporary worker.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Tonks put his arm around William's shoulder and laughed heartily, "Hogsmeade has a curfew, and they also set up Caterwauling Charm at night."

"If you sneak here at night, you'll definitely get caught."

"I never go out at night," William shook his head.

Tonks rolled his eyes, looking incredulous.

"There's no detection magic in the Forbidden Forest, is there?" William asked quietly.

Tonks gestured with his lips towards the snacks and began to bargain.

William couldn't help but laugh and said, "Alright, this time it's on me."

"No, there are so many Magical Creatures in the Forbidden Forest, and those weird Centaur, there's no way to set up a spell," Tonks said happily.

William nodded.

That's good, it doesn't prevent him from going to the Forbidden Forest.

"Oh, by the way, Tonks, thank you for providing such important information." William chuckled softly, "Let's buy some snacks too, it's on me."

"Really?" Tonks turned around and disappeared into the crowd to happily grab some snacks.

Five minutes later,

She came out carrying a huge pile of candy, all of which were snacks she had always wanted to buy but thought were too expensive.

Tonks suddenly stopped in his tracks.

She was dumbfounded...

Because William, Hermione, and Anne are gone.

"Tonks, that's fifty-eight Galleon in total. Thank you for your patronage!"

Mrs Swan's wary voice came from behind, seemingly reminding her... not to skip out on the bill.

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