It was a freezing cold winter's evening and a small group of Aurors had been told to stand guard outside the Hog's Head as a suspected attack on Hogsmeade was imminent.

The group which had been chosen was Nymphadora Tonks, Alaster "Mad-Eye" Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the three Aurors who also happened to be part of the Order of the Phoenix and the Advanced Guard who had collected Harry Potter from Number 4, Privet Drive just a year earlier.

Since the death of her cousin, Sirius Black, Tonks had been much more subdued than she usually was and Moody and Kingsley both wanted to know why. Nothing usually made the young Auror seem this depressed and, although she had been close to her cousin, they both suspected it to be something more than that which was getting her down.

They stood together in a line, eyes peeled for anything that was suspicious. Moody's Mad-Eye was flitting about all over the place and Tonks glared at it a little, "Moody, must you move your eye so much?" she asked in an irritated voice.

Moody looked at her and shook his head. "Constant vigilance, Nymphadora," was his reply and her hair turned an angry red in a matter of seconds.

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she exclaimed, glaring at him even more than he had been before. She had always despised the way he insisted on using her first name all the time when it wasn't necessary and he knew she hated it.

"Keep the noise down, I think I heard something," Kingsley said, making them avert their eyes from each other to look around Hogsmeade. Sure enough, a few seconds later there was another sound. "Who's there?" he called, his wand now drawn.

In just a matter of seconds, the atmosphere had completely changed. Moody and Tonks drew their wands as well and Moody's grip on his staff tightened considerably to make sure he was able to protect both himself and his colleagues should the need arise. Another sound came from in the undergrowth, followed by a flash of light coming towards them. All three of them were now on their guard, Kingsley firing a curse back at the undergrowth in an attempt to get the person to come out of hiding.

It wasn't long before the whole of Hogsmeade had become nothing but a blur of flashes of light and flames from the few buildings which had now caught on fire from all of the spells that were hitting them.

Backup was called by Moody's staff and gradually, the number of deatheaters still fighting was greatly depleted and eventually, all the deatheaters were gone.

Only then did Moody find Tonks had been badly injured and was lying in a bush unconscious. "Kingsley, could I have some help please?" he called to his fellow Auror immediately and they helped Tonks get to St Mungo's/